01 April 2007

Hey, What Happened to Saturday?

Actually, Saturday was pretty much shot as of about 4:30PM on Friday. I left work Thursday morning with one patient in the hospital and returned Friday to a madhouse. And it all went downhill from there. As if the heavy caseload weren't enough, the news services started announcing that the FDA is doing testing on pet foods from another contract producer in the big pet food recall.

As you might imagine, this ratcheted up the general hysteria and our poor receptionist was nearly in tears trying to keep up with all the phone calls from panicked people who decided that we must have some special insider knowledge. Because we manufacture the foods ourselves in our spare time, of course. One woman called at least three times because she didn't want to believe that her cat's food hasn't yet been affected by the recall. No problems with her cat, mind you, just trying to get a head start on whipping herself into a frenzy. Because it's not like we have actual sick animals to take care of or anything (FWIW, so far we've seen three cats that probably were food-related cases - no deaths yet, but certainly life-threatening illness).

Then at 2AM, animal control from a nearby town brought us 5 dogs and a cat from an abandonment case they'd discovered that evening - pet hoarders who abandoned the farm when the couple split up. The lone surviving cat appears to have survived by cannibalizing the cats who died. The dogs were scared, thirsty, hungry, and all looked like hell, but appeared to need TLC more than anything. There are many times when my job gives me reason to hate people, and this is definitely in the top 2 or 3.

Then to top it all off, a major surgical case came in right as my shift was ending and the waiting room was once again filling up and the phones once again started ringing off the hook, so I stayed on a few hours extra to keep my replacement from having a huge backlog once he got out of surgery. With a lot of caffeine and a nap at the halfway point, I finally made it home around 1PM, then to bed just before 4.

Sunny Days

The weather has been quite nice this past week, and although the dry air of the last few days has been murder on my hands and lips, it's dried up the mud nicely (just in time for rain, according to the weather forecast). I'm not the only one who's been enjoying the spring weather. Rosa loves being able to nap in the yard again.

032907Sun_Princess

She's not so thrilled about having her naps disturbed, though.

And although last night was a bust for knitting, I've been able to get a bit more done tonight on the second sock to the one I started way back in December as my holiday travel sock.

040107Sock

I'm halfway through the gusset increases, so I hope to be able to get the heel completed by the time we get home tomorrow from Boston. We're going to be making a day trip down to go to a GLBT wedding expo. It doesn't look like it's going to be a huge affair, but we wanted to see if we could get any ideas for the wedding. I'm also hoping that we'll have time to stop in at Woolcott & Co. while we're in the neighborhood.

Then Monday is my birthday, and I actually have the day off. Last year I was scheduled to work on my birthday but I got out of it by getting the flu. Not recommended, really. Scout is making me think maybe it's a 37th birthday thing, but Cate wasn't sick as a dog for hers last fall, so perhaps it's only a problem for us Arieses. Anyway, I think my parents may come down or meet us in Portland for dinner to celebrate, which should be quite nice.

I Thought 2008 Wasn't Until Next Year

There's been some debate going on in the comments at Joe's blog this week. I've really stayed out of it, largely because it's too damn early to really start adequately assessing the candidates. I have been reading Glenn Greenwald's blog on Salon, though, and today's post articulates and puts a voice quite nicely to why I've felt a real unease about Hillary's candidacy. After all, what good does it do us to perpetuate a system that doesn't really work for the people the way it should?

8 comments:

Sheepish Annie said...

I wondered how your day was going yesterday...I had a bad feeling that you might be a bit busy. I can understand and forgive the concerns of involved pet owners during times of recall. It is a pain, but at least they care about their animals. The couple that deserted their pets are just beyond my ability to forgive. My BFK is a rescue cat from a horrid situation and one of the lucky ones. People can really suck.

Rest up from the day and stay healthy for the birthday. 37...I remember being such a young whippersnapper!

Sean said...

OH, crap! I won't be at the shop to meet you. A boy needs a day off, you know. Make sure to check out the Mountain Colors bearfoot!

I don't even know what to say about animal neglect and abuse. Having a pet is a choice that takes action. You don't go buy a pet by accident. And to choose to have a pet and not care for it, or worse, neglect it is criminal!

Unknown said...

It's always difficult for me to understand how someone could purposefully mistreat animals. I can only hope the laws of karma apply.

I hope your trip to Boston is fun, and that you have a great birthday.

Enjoy.

Scoutj said...

As a wiser (due to age), and much older friend, I do not recommend getting the flu on your birthday. ;)

I am going to dye your yarn today so you can get it during your Birthday week!

Anonymous said...

I'm with Joe; they'll get their's in the end! I just can't understand some people; a pet is supposed to be a part of your family, not a possession you can just abandon when you're sick of it!

I hope you have a great day in Boston.

knitnzu said...

Hey I just noticed the scrolling visitor list, way cool! Sure sucks that part of your job. I just don't get those people. Wouldn't it be entertaining to treat them the way they treat their animals? Happy birthday! 37? you babe!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday, a day early. I hope you find a fun way to celebrate!

JJ said...

I love meeting vets who knit! We've had some questions about the pet food recall, but since I'm at a tertiary care facility, it mostly gets filtered out before they get to me. This is a good thing since it's been a little while since I've done any general/emergency medicine. I'm glad to see that the deaths have been relatively minimal, though renal damage is always tough. At Davis, hemodialysis is available, but it is prohibitively expensive for most people. It's a shame that pet ownership/guardianship is becoming a luxury these days.

Take care. I sure don't miss those LONG emergency shifts. Still, they were sometimes fun and never boring!