Friday, July 6, 2012

What An Anesthesiologist Ate Today




0730--Upon Awakening this Morning:
one fig
one mini-biscotti

1000--Breakfast with my child:
one chestnut crepe
pineapple-banana-orange smoothie

1100--On the way to work:
black coffee

1500--'Lunch':
three packets of graham crackers, six crackers in all, on a mini-break from a long case

2000--Dinner:
arugula and red pepper salad with salad dressing
two plums
Zero Vitamin Water in Pink

During this time, I cared for one child, one cockatoo, two rats, one turtle, one snake, and four mice.
I cared for myself. And I cared for one patient in a seven-hour case. I also straightened up the house; I do not have domestic help.

I drove between sixty and seventy miles today, between daycare, work, and home.

And I had six hours of sleep, but I slept badly, only falling deeply asleep for part of this. The reason my sleep was so disrupted is because I was post-call, and had only two and one half hours organized sleep the night before.

I would very much like to exercise. I have equipment in my basement. But not spare time in my day to use it.

This is the face of medicine today. All of us workers in the Health Care Field, have all the life being drained out of us by the economic system. It makes us industrialized, work entities who are rewarded for our efficiency at taking care of people.

Today was a short day. A colleague of mind who understands four weeks ago I just had major surgery, covered for me from 0700-noon. My second-call assignment would have been thirteen hours with one gap of thirty minute break if I had not. My normal wake-up time is 0430.

Not by our Heart, are we compensated, in the medical field.

In Heaven Dollars, I came ahead:

1) making my child's favorite breakfast
2) putting a first-time surgery patient with cancer at ease in Pre-Op Holding. The family too.
3) Being a continuous source of Reiki in the Operating Room.
4) By following the five steps Usui recommends in Reiki (look at right side bar) better than my usual.
5) By giving Reiki to my patient in the long case.

In Earth money, I can pay one eight the payment for housing, after taxes.

Is it worth the price? You tell me. I am okay with it, for now. I am conditioned to live like this.

Sometimes in my mind, I go back to when I was a little girl, going camping. I found a meadow for the first time, and walked on fallen logs around and through it.

That was Heaven for me. I go there every now and then. In thought. One day I hope work will seem more like Heaven too. With lots of sleep, and time to eat, and time in the day to accommodate more than just existence and employment.

Namaste,

Reiki Doc