You pucked with the wrong ice president...

Will this be the last time that I make fun of Sarah Palin?? Only time will tell. It's one of those laugh or else I'll cry things. Anyways, a friend of mine from high school posted this and I think it's hysterical- maybe even better than the prior hockey moms post.

Would you like some cheese with that whine...

Sorry, bear with me... I need to whine for a bit.

For those reading that actually follow this blog on a regular basis, you know two things. One, I have started Tuesdays as the Jack quote of the week. Two, I am actively looking for a new job/profession. In honor of those two things, I am going to do a quote today but not one involving Jack. One involving the absolute idiocy of my job lately.

Phone message: Please call Dr X at insurance company

So I call, get placed on hold for 7 minutes as they have to find Dr X since he has stepped away from his desk.

Dr X: Patient Y is under your care in the hospital?
Me: Yes
Dr X: Why are they still in the hospital?
Me: Well, she was admitted for emphysema worsening and isn't getting better. There's no air moving through her lungs and her oxygen levels are dangerously low off oxygen.
Dr X: Well, are you giving her antibiotics by IV or her steroid by IV?
Me: No, I switched them to by mouth since the studies recently have shown that it's the same efficacy by mouth and I thought I would save the insurance company money since the oral medicines are cheaper.
Dr X: Well, since there are no IV antibiotics or IV steroids, she no longer meets qualifications for inpatient stay. Don't get me wrong (and the following is a direct quote), I wouldn't discharge her either but we can't pay for her stay since she doesn't meet criteria. You can always go appeal our denial.
Me: Honestly, I have appealed a few denials and the decision has never been reversed.
Dr X: Yeah, we don't commonly reverse our decisions.
Me: Well, have a good day.

In an ideal world, this conversation wouldn't happen. I could just say that a patient needs to be admitted to the hospital and isn't ready for discharge and then can paid to help make them better. But this isn't an ideal world. So what I'm asking for is a realistic world. Just save me the 15 minute conversation, don't call me and just deny the admission, and don't even offer an appeal process.

What's up doc??

At last count, I think I have over 2000 people that call me their doctor. When you add in their family members that accompany them to the office or their hospital stays, that's a lot of faces and names to remember and, to be quite honest, I often don't remember them. Sometimes, I walk in to the room and people don't even look familiar to me. So, one of my biggest fears is to be face to face to someone out in public and not to remember that they're a patient or what their name is.

Well, yesterday I was at a farm festival in Weston with Emma and a young couple with their kid was walking towards me. The dad looked at me and smiled and said, "Hey, what's up doc?". I looked at him and smiled and gave him the "Oh, hey are you doing?" as I walked by. After a few steps and trying to think why none of the members of this family looked familiar to me and what in the world my patients were doing all the way up in Weston, it came to me... I was carrying two bunches of carrots and he was just trying to make a joke. Good thing I didn't ask him how his asthma was doing.

Autograph session...

This weekend Em and I went to the Rhode Island Childrens Book Festival. She got to meet the author of one of her favorite books (the Just Grace series) and got her to sign one of her new books (Fashion Kitty). She also got to meet Laurie Keller and see her speak about being an author and illustrator. She is a new one to us but did a great lecture and her books are very funny- I would highly recommend them to kids and grownups alike.

Jackism of the day...

Jack: "Do you know what my favorite foods are?"
Me: "Alphabet soup and chocolate chip cookies?" (What I made today... I thought he was buttering me up)
J: "Yeah, that and what else"
Me: "Apples, yogurt, bananas, peaches"
J: "Yup, and what else?"
Me: "Challah, matzah balls, spaghetti"
J: "Yup, and what else?"
Me: "Pineapple, pita chips, cheese"
J: "Yup, and what else?"
Me: "I don't know what else?"
J: "One more thing and it starts with an O"
Me: "Oranges"
J: "OK, and one more thing that starts with an O"
Me: "Onions"
J: "OK, and one more thing that starts with an O"
Me: "Oatmeal"
J: "OK, and one more thing that starts with an O"
Me: "Orangutans?"
J: "Nope, not that. One more thing."
Me: "Not sure"
J: "Well, you know I love olives. Oh, and grapes too"

A little bit comical...

But mostly not... But most likely a boon to public health.
www.inspot.org

Is it June yet??

I love the fall and the winter in New England but the lack of sunlight and me are not the best combination. I can't believe we're still 2 months away from the shortest day. The absolute inability to want to get anything done after 6:30 PM and we haven't even hit daylight savings time yet is ridiculous. I think we should rethink the Iceland thing and maybe move somewhere closer to the Equator at least for these months of the year.

The political blog resurfaces...

Does anybody else think this is a really bad idea??

Who knew...

Who knew that I needed a degree in philosophy and/or evolutionary biology to be a parent??

Jack: Mommy?? Tell me about the first people.
Me: What?
Jack: Tell me about the first people.
Me: What do you mean?
Jack: I was thinking... how did the first people get here? Whose belly were they in if they were the first?
Me: Do you wanna play hockey?

The rough life of Jacklet...

Well, I was originally thinking of taking the idea from other bloggers that I know of having each day of the weekend being a specific theme. I figured that since I spend Tuesdays with Jack and since there is always a great quote/ thought process by him that Tuesday's blog entries should be dedicated to some Jack conversation. But there were so many other blog-able moments today that I will have to share his quote with other things.

First off, Jack's comment of the day:
"Mom, is an elephant's trunk full of boogers?"

Second, I'm completely bummed that our alternate country of choice, Iceland, where we were going to move pending outcomes of next month's elections is going bankrupt.

Third, Jack and I went to Bruins training camp today. I was surprised that we were pretty much the only non-media there except for a few diehards and/or guys who make their living selling signed memorabilia on ebay. Luckily, those diehards were there to point out to me which guys were which because I would have no idea who was who. All of the guys came out one by one after practice to get in to their cars and Jack got all their autographs (and even a Bauer representative and a trainer's too- he didn't care). He did care the most about meeting Tim Thomas. He got to shake his hand, get his autograph, and get a photo with him. It made his day.

Wanna be like Sarah...

Silverman that is...
Just to take away from the sappiness of my previous post and go back to by political blog.

For anybody that needs proof...

From Wedding pictures

The wedding weekend was WONDERFUL!! Ellen was a beautiful bride and David was a handsome groom. The smiles on both of their faces were unforgettable! Unfortunately, the smile pictures are still being developed but honestly I think this was the only time I didn't see them with an ear to ear grin the entire weekend (they were being serious for their vows).

I continue to apologize profusely and perseverate about the matron of honor toast and not saying everything or anything that I wanted to say. Somehow, I completely lost my brain this weekend. Almost losing and/or losing my wallet, keys, and multiple other things multiple other times including my speech notes twice.

Let me summarize the real speech-
1) I wanted Krista (the photographer) to take pictures of everyone except for me... like the Oscars when they photograph everyone else responding to what could or might or will be said. Since I'm sure everyone was anxiously awaiting what embarrassing stories I was going to bring up about our childhood and how obnoxiously mean I was to my sister on a regular basis while growing up.
2) I wanted to thank all of David and Ellen's family and friends who had come from near and far to celebrate such an important day and how much that meant to be and how much I knew that meant to them.
3) After all of the ribbing that Ellen got for her wedding binder... it was a wonderful weekend with so many amazing details including the shawls that all the bridesmaids and Emma are wearing that my mom and Ellen made. And that I hope that it was everything that she and David had wanted it to be.
4) How while writing the speech I couldn't remember anything of what Ellen said at my wedding. And that I figured out that it really wasn't important what she said or what I said. What was the most important was that I know that she has been and will always there for me and how I will do exactly the same.
5) How I knew from day one that David was the one for her and then every day forward confirming it. From talking to Ellen on the phone about him after meeting him, to talking on the phone with David, to talking to Ellen about deferring NYU to move to Mississippi for some guy, to meeting him at the same time as all of the rest of our family and that he fit in right away (making fun of all of the right people in all of the right way), to visiting them in Mississippi, to watching David play with the kids, to seeing the engagement ring pre-engagement, and on and on and on.
6) How I had such an amazing time getting to know their friends this weekend. It is still hard to think of Ellen as a grownup and a professional since she is my "baby" sister but I really enjoyed getting to know this other side of her through others' eyes. You can really judge a person through the people that hang out with them and I was completely in awe of the friend base that they both have accumulated over the years.
7) Most importantly, I wanted to toast to a lifetime of happiness and love. To a lifetime of being there for each other through thick and thin. And to looking forward to a lifetime filled with wonderful memories. And to looking forward to Mom now bugging Ellen about making her a grandmother again instead of me.
TO DAVID AND ELLEN!!!
So there it is... maybe I can stop obsessing and get some sleep tonight.

The Grinch is coming...

I heard my first "Happy Holidays" today. I just can't deal with another "holiday" season. It's not even Halloween yet, people. Please just enjoy the season that you're in. OK, soapbox stepped off of...
In happier news, the bride and groom are coming today! Yippee!