Insomnia

Ever feel so tired that you can't sleep? I know that some of you insomniac bloggers out there can relate to this. As I was surfing around the web, I found this article from WebMD. I talks about relating lack of sleep to low job satisfaction.

Researchers found men and women who suffered from insomnia were more likely to say they disliked or even hated their job the next day.

To me this is like -- DUH! Like I couldn't figure this out on my own. I needed a multi-million dollar study to confirm this? Of course, I agree with this. You've seen me on one of my "low job satisfaction" night when I asked "Why?"

Managing sleep is a difficult thing for me. I really appreciate everyone's encouraging words this week as I'm trying to get ahead of the curve again after some time off. While you're working, it's go-go-go-go -- I mean full steam ahead -- not trying to miss deadlines and trying to get things done on time. I don't know about you, but it takes me a few hours to wind down. My mind is continually going, sometimes replaying the day, and wondering whether I did everything right or whether I messed up somewhere.

And, then actually trying to sleep. When I actually try to relax, that's when my mind drifts to the day that just occurred and then drifts to the day ahead trying to plan ahead and anticipating all the pitfalls that will occur. I'm glad that I found blogging, so that I can at least get some thoughts out of my head so that I'm no longer thinking about it. I think I'll try to go to sleep again. We'll see what happens. At least my job satisfaction will increase, right?

Almost there

It's been a long 72+ hours, and I think now I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel (is that an oncoming train?). Balancing the tightrope of completing immediately important work with completing catchup work from last week -- this is what has been keeping me late night after night after night this week.

I do feel as if the tide is turning (how many cliches can I use in this post?). I'm really looking forward to getting back to the "usual posts" (whatever usual means). I've been doing more commenting on other's sites rather than my own posts -- and that's ok. Thanks for checking in. I'm getting closer to getting my life back...

One more thing...

I can't remember where this goes.

Rat race

When I get back from vacation, I always feel the need for another vacation. I'm not going to lie, it's been tough being back. Being on call your first day back to work was tough - was really busy and did not get a lot of sleep. I also had a couple of hospital meetings on Monday night as well.

The goal is to get the work done as much as you can. Unfortunately, other things suffer. I know that I have not been taking care of myself the last few days - not getting enough sleep. That kind of sleep-work then sleep-work cycle again. Not eating right. Not having a chance to relax a little bit (that was supposed to be last week, right?) Definitely have not had a good workout in a few weeks.

This is life in the fast lane. Of course, if one of my patients told me this, I would immediately yell at them for not taking care of themselves and putting themselves at risk for getting physically sick - forget their mental state. I know they're mentally exhausted - as I am right now.

Time to step back and take a break. That's what this blog is for. Glad I have it. Hopefully tomorrow will be better than today. We'll see....

Grand Rounds

GR 2.46 comes to you from Mexico this week from Mexico Medical Student.

The main theme for this edition is “Culture Convergence” and the idea, being that I’m an American medical student studying in a foreign country, is that opportunities for learning new ideas, experiencing new ways of doing things–good and bad–are all a part of daily life.

There are six musical interludes between readings. Very well done edition of GR. Next week, the host will be Hospital Impact. Happy reading!

Narcissistic

While on call, I've been catching up on my bloglines, which was over 300 posts when I first checked it yesterday morning. I've been slowly whittling it down through the day and night. To be honest, I haven't even checked out the results of my Comments posting from last week. I've just been fascinated about all the people who have been writing about me.....

PK had the Blogaholics Anonymous meeting last week and Cathy did a little promo for it as well. I just wanted to say that you did a great job with the meeting. I really liked the pictures and it looks like you had a good turn out. What was up with the bear?

I did get tagged by Moof and by Dream Mom with the book meme. I'll have to start working on that.

May also asked her readers about the etiquette of comments. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, that was a good discussion as well.

Ladybug and Hoping4More made empassioned pleas for my release from the desert island. I wish I was catching some real rays (not blograys) in the tropics somewhere.

Theory of Thought is a blog that I've been recently reading. Just for fun, I submitted the Denmark post and then was awarded one of the "So You Think You Can Blog?" awards. I encourage you to check out this blog and submit something yourself. It's great fun!

I also found myself on some new blogrolls. Thanks so much! I'll try to reciprocate. If I forgot you on my sidebar, please let me know, because I may forget.

I know I'm setting myself up to be analyzed by Dinah. She states that I like blog polls (true) and that I deliberately ignore her posts (false). I like to kid around with Dinah (it's only because she started it -- HA!)

Anyway, here's the blog poll question. Some people would call this posting narcissistic, because all I do is talk about me. For me, I call it gratitude and appreciation for everyone to even take an interest in my blog. You make the call. There's no right or wrong answer here. Just fun!

Withdrawl

Sorry if it looked like I fell off the face of the earth last week. I left Wed morning after my posting was done and went a meeting. I fully intended to continue blogging -- because, as you know, I can't live without it. I brought a friend's laptop with me. I had a very difficult time trying to access the internet at the hotel. I called all kinds of IT people and even got the "hotel internet connection kit" (which was $10 a day to have in the room), but still couldn't get it to work.

So, I got through my blogaholic withdrawl symptoms ok with friends, frivolity, and, of course, adult beverages. I'll talk about it soon. I'm back to work today and on call today and tonight (Ugh!). Soon as I get some order to the chaos, I'll be back blogging. Right now, the mission is to find the top of my desk at work. I know it's down there beneath all those charts and paper...

Update: I just checked my e-mail. WOW! Now, I'm really feeling guilty and really, really embarrassed. Thanks for all the comments and the e-mail messages about your concern for me. I should have at least tried finding someone with an internet connection, if for anything else, to explain my situation. I mean, someone at a medical conference should have a connection, right? Thanks again. Sorry for all the trouble. I'm going to start sorting through my comments and e-mail (oh yeah, and fitting in some work today -- HA!)

Comments

The mysterious comment section, it's mysterious to me (how redundant is that?). This is something that I'm curious about. How do you utilize the comments in your blog?

For me, I know that it's a great opportunity to have a conversation with your readers. But, I have to be honest, sometimes I feel funny commenting thinking I might bias the conversation. Or, in the course of my day, I may not have the time to comment as much as I would want.

When I look at some blogs, I see the person respond to each and every comment that is made. I think that's nice and courteous. But, in all honesty, it makes me feel kind of guilty. I'm thinking, "Should I be doing that, too?" Am I a slug for staying out of my own comment section?

Help me out here. I need some advice. What's your philosophy on the comment section? My name is Dr. A, and I'm a blogaholic....

Head butt dance

I thought that there were no more capitalists is France. Apparently, I'm wrong as exhibited by this story. Whether you're still in withdrawl from the World Cup, or really didn't care about it in the first place, everyone remembers the "head-butt heard around the world" during the World Cup final game.

Well, there has been a song made about this infamous event, and right now it's the number one ringtone in France and it's the number two song there as well. There are even plans to spin this off into different languages.

Here's the loose translation of Coup de Boule (Do The Head-Butt)

Watch out, it's the head-butt dance! (Head-butt, head-butt)
Head-butt to the right (Head-butt, head-butt)
Head-butt to the left (Head-butt, head-butt)

Go, Bleus, Go!
Zidane, he hit [him], Zidane, he slapped (him)
(Head-butt, head-butt. Head-butt, head-butt)

The guido, he was hurt
Zidane hit (him)
The Italian is not doing well
Zidane slapped (him)
The referee saw it on TV
Zidane hit (him)
But we lost the World Cup
We had a good laugh anyway

France: The country with good wine, good song, and good head-butts. I still pick Denmark, though. They're just happier there. Don't you think?

Pandemic hype

Yesterday, I started seeing the first articles saying that the bird flu may not turn into the global pandemic that was once thought. According to this CNN article, the US CDC is now stating that the change from the bird flu virus to a human-bird flu virus may not be that easy.

"We were not able to see efficient transmission from an infected animal to a healthy animal, " according to Dr. Jacqueline Katz, one of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers working on the ferret experiments.

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not minimizing the 134 worldwide deaths confirmed by the World Health Organization -- most of them in Indonesia and Vietnam.

But, is the tide turning on how worried the press is about this? Remember Y2K? This was supposed to have a worldwide effect that literally crippled the planet Earth. Did it happen? I don't think so. It can certainly be debated why. Maybe the world was prepared for it? Or, maybe it was just hype to scare everybody.

Is that what's happening now with this bird flu thing? Worldwide, there are literally millions and millions of dollars being spent for planning for a pandemic flu that may never happen. I'm definitely all for prevention whenever and wherever possible, but did a worldwide media fire storm put us down this path before the real facts were known?