Tony, Tony, come around

This week I found two things I had been missing for quite a while. The first was a down glove, worn nearly all the time in the winter, a favorite--probably fallen out of my jacket pocket at some unknown location, and I never expected to see it again. I was at work on Wednesday and lo and behold, there it was, perched on the coat rack in the locker room, lonely and waiting for its owner. The second was my consecration bracelet, of which I have lost more than any one person should in a lifetime. I assumed I lost this one while shoveling one day and so was waiting for the snow to melt, confident that I would find it eventually, but impatient for that day to come. And so for this I implored St. Anthony, patron of lost items, with a confidence that I couldn't explain. I found the bracelet two days ago, while loading a piece of furniture into Michelle's trunk (long story) and there is was next to the ice scraper and the washer fluid. Tony comes through again!

Devotion to St. Anthony, especially in relation to lost items, has been a Catholic practice for many years. It is believed to have arisen from an incident in the saint's life, where he prayed for the return of a psalter (book of Psalms) that had been stolen, and the thief was moved to bring it back. Since learning about this devotion as a teenage, the words "Tony, Tony, come around, something's lost and can't be found" have crossed my despairing lips many times. In some ways, I hesitate to put faith in his intercession, because is it really any different than the superstitions we are to avoid? And yet, he has never, never failed to lead me to the lost item (except for the previous 4 or so consecration bracelets), so I also hesitate to abandon the practice.

This most recent time, when my consecration bracelet once again went missing, I immediately called up St. Anthony, and felt a peace in my heart that he would answer. I sensed that God wanted me to trust Him, wanted me to find it, and wanted me to delight in His help. And that I think is the distinction. Between superstition and intercession. God delights in us, and wants to show us His delight. I feel this every time I see a beautiful sunset, whenever a white butterfly joins me on a hike (it means Grandma is with me), and every time one of my obscure prayers is answered in an unexpected way. And I think He delights in showing me that He can surprise me in the little things.

Several weeks ago, Michelle had lost a favorite ring and had invoked St. Anthony's help. A few days later, I found the ring in a bowl of grapes in the fridge; it had come off while she was washing them. She was ecstatic. Delighted. Just as I was when I found my glove. And my ring. I smiled at God: "You've done it again," I thought. Just as someone leaves a love note, God wants to show us that we are always on His mind. And that the saints are a powerful aid for all things, great and small.

So I will continue to trust in St. Anthony's intercession. Not because I am superstitious, but because I believe in God. He can choose to answer either way, and it doesn't change His power or His love for me. An item that stays lost doesn't mean I didn't pray hard enough or the right way; just that it stays lost. God still is. And He still delights in me.

I kind of want to post this everywhere

I know that Urgent Care is easy. And the hours are better. And you’re busy. But there are just some things that shouldn’t be seen at Urgent Care. To avoid the frustration of multiple trips, waiting too long, leaving with no answers, or being judged based on your chief complaint (it happens; I’m not proud of it, but at least I’m honest), try to follow these rules.

1)      We do not have unlimited access to specialists, nor will the specialists see you sooner if you are in the Urgent Care. We get countless walk-ins and even referrals from doctors wanting their patients to have an echocardiogram or EEG, see the pediatric dentist, or get in sooner with their rheumatologist. It’s not going to happen. If it’s truly emergent, you may be admitted at our main campus and see those specialists within 24 hours, who will then decide on any workup/treatment. Otherwise, we have to go through the same channels your pediatrician does to get to the specialists, and the vast majority of the time, we are only consulting by phone, often with a resident, fellow, or mid-level provider. The end result is usually adding you to their growing appointment list, often months out. If you want a specialist, have your doctor call them instead.

2)      Please don’t come in with 6 months of chronic symptoms without seeing your regular doctor first. If you’ve had something going on for more than a few weeks and haven’t been able to solve the problem with Dr. Google or with multiple trips to other ERs, chances are it won’t be a quick fix for us either. Our job is to rule out bad things and get you the right follow up, often with your regular doctor. Plus, if we start a lab workup or want to order tests, your doctor won’t always be able to follow up on the results (and chances are we won’t either, since many of the labs and imaging studies come back once our shift is over). Additionally, if you don’t get better in two days and decide to come back, you will be seen by someone different, who will have no idea how you looked the first time, may have a totally different approach, or may disagree with what has already been done. It’s a lot easier to solve long-term issues with a long-term plan—namely, your own doctor who can see you through the illness and follow up on what they recommend.

3)      We are an URGENT care. We are not an “I just had a quick question” or “I didn’t want to make an appointment with his doctor” care. The following are all real complaints that have come in to our Urgent Care or ERs—ear pain for 20 minutes (no meds given at home), band-aid stuck to leg, need a refill on Prevacid (which is now over the counter, by the way), the child felt warm, grandma said he needed to be seen, was exposed to someone with a sore throat but doesn’t have any symptoms. There are nurse lines for these sorts of things. We are always happy to offer reassurance, but please don’t expect me to rush in when I have other rooms filled with asthmatics, broken bones, migraines, seizures, pneumonia, partially amputated fingers, or other things more…urgent. It’s always the people who don’t really need to be there that balk at the wait times. Imagine waiting until your pediatrician’s office opened. In two whole hours.

A perfect day

Halfway through January and yet to post...strong start, Dr. Z. Ah well, I have mostly good excuses.

Today I will tell you about why I love days off. In residency, a day off was a true rarity: about 1 in 6. That's a bad average even for the Rockies. Ouch. And so, those days, while also much looked-forward-to, were more of a survival mechanism than anything. Laundry, grocery, get some Vitamin D, sleep, work out, and probably happy hour, and then it's back to bed in preparation for another call.

Now with more than a day a week to work with, I can relax a little bit more. Not only that, but I live in Colorado, so even in January, my days off can be outside. Case in point: yesterday. My plans were a little thrown when my ski buddy caught the plague (maybe a slight exaggeration), but no matter. After finishing my coffee, I swapped the poles and goggles for gaiters and hiking boots and headed to the foothills.

A not-so-small amount of panic set in when I set off from the car--the only one in the lot at the trailhead--and saw a large sign warning of mountain lions. #shouldhavebroughtthetaser Instead, I gripped my camp knife knife-fight-style and sang loudly and poorly whatever songs popped into my head to warn those lions I was a-comin'. Thankfully, I saw no mountain lions, only three brother deer who did not stop to pose for my camera phone.

I managed to round trip 7.6 miles in a little under three hours, including a lunch break at the "scenic overlook". Not sure how scenic you get at 6,000 feet (it was a little ponderosa valley with a winding road through it), but at least the sun was out and I remember to pack Candy Cane Joe-Joe's for dessert. Plus keeping a decent pace meant I was plenty warm in a t-shirt and pullover, no hat or gloves needed. Did I mention how it's January?

Day not done, because what day off would be complete without margaritas on the front porch (again, January!!), homemade meatballs and almond butter cookies, and playing ninja with a four year old. Yeah, you can be jealous. Shoot, I was a little jealous and I was there! Stayed late enough to miss rush hour but still home in time to watch last week's Blue Bloods and lights out by 10. A great day.

All of this because I was just reading an interesting article about how to fall in love with someone (a different topic for a different day) and one of the questions to ask your partner is "What would constitute a 'perfect' day for you?" Well, I was going to use several of the questions as writing prompts for myself, but when I got to thinking about this, I was a little bit annoyed at spending a bunch of time planning a perfect day, because a) I knew it would never happen, and b) why shouldn't today be the perfect day? I can choose to make whatever I want out of my day. I mean, some days I have to work, some days have other things in store, but all in all, I enjoy my job, I enjoy my life, I have good friends. The perfect day is one where you get to the end of the day feeling loved, feeling accomplished, and say to yourself, "Man, that was a good day". Shouldn't every day be the perfect day? And if not, what excuse do we have besides ourselves?

Thus my day off yesterday shone, and today too, for that matter. Not that you need a play-by-play of all of my days. Cause what a waste of time that would be. For both of us. Now go enjoy your day!