Back to school

For my soon to be fifth grader, this was the list of supplies she needed for school:

2  binders

4 single subject notebooks (multicolored)

5 folders (different colors to coordinate with notebooks)

Scissors

Colored pencils

Multicolored pens

Notecards

Pencils: 2 boxes

1 package eraser tops

2 Glue sticks

1 box of markers

1 box CRAYOLA crayons

Post-it notes

1 Highlighter

1 Box of tissues

1 canister Clorox/Lysol wipes

1 Roll of paper towel

I got it all at CVS for $60, which felt a little ridiculous.  Why SO MUCH stuff?  Especially since I guarantee after one month, all of these things will be lost in the recesses of her bag.  If I ask her for a single pen from her bag in November, she can't find one.

Also, a roll of paper towels??  She really needs to carry an entire roll of paper towels AND a canister of Lysol?  Seriously?  How dirty do they expect things to be getting over there?  

And this is why I have back problems.  Because I spent my entire childhood lugging around THAT.

WTF abbreviations

These are three more abbreviations I saw in a single discharge summary yesterday that I couldn't figure out without google:

WBXRT

CRAO

PSC

I really do think there should be a list of standard abbreviations that are acceptable and everything else should be spelled out.

Woman docs

It seems like I can't book an appointment with a doctor anymore without being asked if I'm okay with seeing a man.

OK, they didn't ask me when I booked an eye doctor appointment.  But when I recently scheduled an urgent care visit for a stomach bug that was taking a long time to clear up, they asked me.  And the OB/GYN office always asks.

Personally, my first pap was done by a man, and I really liked him.  My second regular ob/gyn was also a man and also great.  Yes, I'm a little more uncomfortable being examined down there by a man, but honestly, it's uncomfortable either way.  It depends on the doctor more than it depends on the gender of the doctor.  It's only a recent thing that there are enough female doctors that patients can even get a choice.

What bothers is me is that when they specifically ask me, it makes me feel like maybe I *should* request a woman.  Why can't they just mention the doctor's name and see if I protest?

Also, has a man *ever* been asked if he was okay with the gender of his doctor?

At work, I have also been put in positions from time to time where I was pressured to see a patient for no other reason than they had "woman problems," when I believed another doctor was better trained to treat their issues.  I'd have no problem with it if the woman had specifically requested a female physician, but that was never the case.  It was always decided that "she'd probably prefer a woman."  Sometimes I feel embarrassed to march in, knowing that I'm only there because of my XX chromosomes.

Badge reversal

We recently got an influx of new nurses at work, and I'm awful with names, so I've been struggling to keep it all straight.  I pride myself in knowing everyone's names, so I hate it when I have to ask for something from a nurse whose name I don't know.

Anyway, yesterday I was asking a nurse a question during a meeting, and I couldn't remember her name.  I checked her badge, but her badge was flipped over so I couldn't read it.

Then I looked around the room and discovered that with only a couple of exceptions, every single person in the room had their badge flipped over so you couldn't read their name.  (You'd think just by chance, half would be correct.)

There's something about that which really bothers me.  Badges are required at work for a reason.  Whatever that reason is, I'm sure 80% of badges being flipped the wrong way is not in the spirit of the reason.

I've got some good news...

I don't actually have news, good or bad.  But when you read the subject of this email, did you think I was about to announce I was pregnant?  Because if you did, congratulations, you're exactly like me.

I have literally had three conversations with women in the last week where they told me they had big news and I immediately thought they were pregnant.  And they were pregnant in NONE of those cases.

Friend: "I have some good news!"

Me: "!!!"

Friend: "I'm not pregnant."

Me: "Oh!  Um, I have to admit, I did sort of think..."

Friend: "You know I had my tubes tied."

Me: "Yes.  I did know that."

I find it aggravating that I am apparently so sexist that the only good news I can imagine a woman having is that she's pregnant.