cat and moose

so i think we are now down to just under 9 hours of daylight here. the sun is staying very low across the horizon after it decides to come up at the crack of 9:15. we will get a small reprieve this week as the clocks fall back, but it doesnt take long to catch right back up. its an amazing day here. 17 degrees and blue skies. snow (an inch or so) on the trees and in the yard. this first snow pic was taken at 9am as i left for work. what light!?

my family is returning from their travels today. (hooray!) i will head to anchorage this evening to pick them up. i am SO excited to have them home.

work has been good this week. for your reading pleasure, my top 5 diagnoses were:

1. abdominal pain (holy shit!)
2. sinusitis
3. bronchitis
4. peritonsilar abscess (holy shit again!)
5. rash

the 3 abdominal pains were all females of reproductive age. this makes for scary detective work. 2 of three ended up having ovaries adheased (sp?) to bowel. off to gyn for surgical consult. one is still somewhat of a mystery with a white count of 19, a nice left shift and inguinal lymphadenopathy. after lots of diagnostics and antibiotics, she was referred.

i have now seen a few peritonsillar abscesses. this does not look like a fun thing to have inside your mouth. here is the what i have been doing for this: IM decadron, IM rocephin, levaquin 750 oral x 7 days, decadron oral 16mg divided first day, 8mg divided dose x 2 days, 4mg divided dose x 2 days then 2 mg last day. the pateint returns 24 hours after initial visit for a look-see. if the swelling isnt any better (it has been on all three occasions) they will get sent to ent for an incision and drainage. oooooh what fun this would be! so far it hasnt had to come down to this. thank goddess.

so there you have a glimpse of what 15 minutes of my day might look like. arent you jealous?

elections are right around the corner. everyone out there make it out to do your civic duty, and vote okay? we are now registered voters in alaska. (im sure the only 2 registered dems here)

i have never heard the word oil so much as i have since moving here. every single detail about this election seems to be hinging on a new gas pipeline proposed for alaska. oil and natural gas is so very pleantiful here in alaska! we will never run out of oil here, we plan to drill it out and sell it only to alaskans. screw the wildlife, they will find somewhere else to go, it is alaska after all. its a big state! you will all be getting oil for christmas, but only if you are very, very good.