Saving Lives and Stamping out Disease

The Car Eating Chuckhole

After a 3 1/2 hour wait, a substantial amount of cursing, and a broken spare tire, We made it home.  Unfortunately, the damage was pretty severe.

As you can see, the wheel is significantly bent.  Worse, the wheel repair places are only open Monday through Friday.  Additionally, there are no used wheels withing 75 miles of Indianapolis.  I know, I called every salvage yard there was.  The Saturn dealer in Fishers has a new wheel in the warehouse two doors down from them.  Sadly, they can't get it out till Monday.  The Greenwood Saturn tells me that it is a special order that wouldn't get in till Friday unless I wanted to pay an extra $17 to get it here Tuesday.  Essentially, I am hosed.

Let's look at the culprit.  The car-eating hole is a beast.  I spoke the the gentleman that lives in front of it and he was pretty pissed.  Apparently he has been calling the city for at least a week without response.  Here is his substantial collection of hubcaps.

Nice huh? IN case you are counting, there are 7 there.

Want to see the Beast?  Here it is:

You can see how it bent my wheel.

Thankfully, there is a flasher there now to warn people not to get eaten.

I guess I am in my truck for he next couple days.  Stupid roads.... 

Flat Tires Suck

I am participating in some blog therapy following the unfortunate eating of my passenger front tire by the extremely shitty roads of Indianapolis.  Unfortunately, the evil crater of doom pothole that ate my tire ate the tire of the people ahead of me.  For the safety of your car and sanity, avoid the right lane of Arlington at Washington street.  I fully intend to contact the Mayor's Action center first thing Monday morning to lodge a complain.  Of course, this will do nothing and will likely not lead to reimbursement for my expenses nor repair the crater that caused the damage.

UPDATE:

My spare has a huge dent in the wheel and, thus, will not hold air.  I now get to play wait for the tow truck.  Thankfully I have AAA.  More info to come.

Report Potholes: http://www.indy.gov/eGov/Mayor/Pages/Pothole.aspx

Boredom Blogathon - More Clarian North Fun

While my wife took a nap, it became necessary to forage for food here.  On the way, I found the Family Recreation Room.  It is both larger and nicer than my house.

It has a sink, refrigerator, coffee machine, a place to eat and a laundry facility.

There is a little living room area with a fireplace.

Sadly, the fireplace was not on.

There is even a little play area for kids.

Here is a second gathering area.

Here is a longer shot of the room.

 

This is the taco meat.  Yes, real meat.  This alone is nicer than anything at the Wiz or the Mothership.

I think the dining area looks a lot like it belongs in a casino.

On the Other Side of the Fence - Fun at Clarian North

If you know me, you know that I really love medicine.  I deeply enjoy the process of solving problems, fixing people, and making people feel a little better.  I do not, however, enjoy being on the receiving end of the system.  Worse, I go crazy when it is a loved on that is stuck on the other side of the fence.  This time, it is my wife.  We have been at Clarian North hospital now for 18 hours or so and I am climbing the walls.   The only solution to this is to blog.

The stay so far:

The stay here began yesterday morning when my wife decided it would be a prudent to develop intractable nausea and vomiting.  We're currently of the opinion that this is due to an infectious process rather than the evil seed growing within her.  Sure, it looked like she was going to actually throw up her anus at one point in time, but through the miracle of zofran and fluids, she looks a lot less like she belongs in the Exorcist. It was my hope that we would go home this morning to convalesce in the Weger Home for Injured and Wayward Animals Nurses but Dr. Starr is a bit more conservative in his management.  I can't fault his judgment at all, I am just impatient.

Reviews:

Nurse: Aime from L&D - She totally rocked.  I was very pleased with her care and would recommend her as a nurse anywhere.  She was attentive, proactive, and fun to be around. I would happily have her care for any family member of mine.

Nurse: Lana from the Women's Unit - Lana was a lot of fun and got my wife tucked in for the evening.  We didn't get a lot of interaction, mainly because she actually got to rest.  That was quite nice.

Nurse XXXXXX:  Sadly Nurse XXXXX was not on her "A game".  We spent a fair amount of time explaining that Tylenol could be given rectally for fever and pain relief.  She didn't believe us.  Thankfully she was not involved in our primary care.  The PR tylenol was successfully delivered.

Carly from Guest relations - She made it feel like we had our on concierge.  Sadly we can't go check out the local food or shopping scene.  We can, however check out DVDs.

Dr. Louis Starr:  I like the guy.  He is very matter-of-fact.  He has a solid rationale for his plan of care and he appears to be a very low-stress guy.  I trust his clinical judgment and feel very comfortable with my wife in his care.  I also get the impression that he can handle any issues that come up.

Clarian North Hospital: 

• The cafeteria is well done and has a restaurant feel to it. Their breakfast selection made it possible for me to proceed through the morning without the desire to harm myself or others.   
• Sadly, the coffee bar serves only Starbucks. While most would not find this an issue, I prefer coffee that does not taste like ass. 
• The rooms are exceptionally nice.  My one criticism are the painful pull-out bed/chairs that have inflicted me with a case of scoliosis and a cervical dislocation.

This blog post will be updated as the "experience grows".

Breaking Up is Hard to Do

Dear Fast Food,

We've been together for awhile... longer than most relationships last.  You were always there for me when I needed you.  I could find you just about anywhere I needed.  Between the hours of 6am and 3am, a whole host of calorically abysmal treats were available for me to subsist on.  You made it so I did not have to think or prepare for my day.  A quick hello, some cash changed hands, and a non-english-speaking individual would hand me a steaming sack of something fried.  Sure, the order was wrong as often as it was right, but who doesn't love the surprise of real coke when expecting diet?

The truth is, you are smothering me.  Your additions to my midsection, neck, and thighs remind me that you were there.  Sometimes you just have to say goodbye.   I know that, even after you are gone, part of you will always live on in my arteries.  I have to grow up and cook on my own now.  Sure it will cost a little more, both in time and money, but I have found someone new in my life, me.  Yes, it is all about me, not you.  True, you may consider it selfish for me to think of myself and not of you, but I am ok with that.  I will always look in my car where your bags and wrappers once littered the seats and floors.  Real people will now take their place, sorry.

I am sure you will find others to seduce with you quick and easy access, your salty allure, and your sea of trans-fats.  You'll survive.  Without you, I will too.

XOXOXOXO,

Ben

The Puppy Hope

Here you will find the continuously updated information on Hope, the abused ACD puppy on her long and painful road to recovery.  We will do our best to chronicle her health updates and provide information on her care.  WARNING:  Some of the images on here will be graphic.The abuse and neglect of animals is a terrible thing and most of us never get to see what it looks like first hand.  Let me tell you, it is heartbreaking.  Look at these pictures, share them with your friends, family, and colleagues.  Then make a difference in the lives of our companions here on Earth.  Feel free to donate your time and funds to your local shelters.  Rescue a dog yourself,  your life will never be the same.  Or, if you want to help cover the costs of Hope's surgeries and medicines, feel free to donate  through Paypal or Gunpal using the buttons on the right.  Or,we can email you the address of the veterinarian who is helping us out with the surgery and send your assistance there.  She is a trusted friend, a gifted doctor, and a wonderful human being.  We can be reached at thepuppyhope AT gmail.com. 

via www.thepuppyhope.com

Changes Abound!

No More Ads!

Since my ad revenue was less that $1 over the past year it is evident that I am not cool enough to make the kind of gangsta cash required to keep the Cristal flowing and the Shorties rollin' (I have no idea what that means.) I have, therefore, removed all my ads on the blog.  It is also makes is easier to identify that I receive absolutely no compensation from any source other than my tip jar (and my exotic dancing).  I can also put more links up.

More Links!

You'll find Miblogs I read plus cool places to buy stuff (once again, I get no $$ from these guys).  

ETHICS!

I finally put my "Healthcare Blogger Code of Ethics" badge up.  You can read all the fine print at http://medbloggercode.com/about/ . It essentially says I agree not to be a douche about my patients and tell you that Joe Schmo (Not a real patient) has a wicked case of herpes that he got from the party he was at 3 weeks ago.  

COMING SOON

A new banner for a new year.  I haven't started yet, but I am taking suggestions.

More Christmas Dillo Fun - At work!

Since dillo's have a propensity for habitual drunkenness when left unattended, I had to take mine to work to keep it out of trouble.

It rode on the COWS (Computers on Wheels)

It visited friends

Made Coffee...

and became quite attached to some of the staff.

It sure beats studying!

Eurotrash Smackdown and The Prime Minister is Darth Vader

Seriously, can they not get Gordon Brown a microphone that works a little better. I was fully expecting him to start throwing out classic Vader lines... just with a British accent.

The Daily Dose of Ben Weger

Things I have tweeted in the past 24 hours



It's 3am. Time for nurses gone wild! #Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter