15 Minutes a Day

Archive for the ‘Life’ Category

Last Thursday morning I was wheeled into an operating room at Sutter Roseville Medical Center (SRMC) for an appendectomy. Yes, it was a surprise and it was INCREDIBLY painful before the nice ER nurse administered some wonderful medications via IV. After the surgery I spent 2.5 days as a “guest” of SRMC, whose staff took wonderful care of me. Prior to the administration of IV pain meds and surgery, I had never felt such intense abdominal pain in my life! Now, that’s saying something because I’ve known intense abdominal pain off and on most of my adult life. Enough said about that.

Since surgery my pain levels have been minimal. I have a pretty high pain threshold and I shake off pain killers and anesthesia fairly quickly when they are necessary. However, I do know that pain can knock down your immune system, so when I have surgery or suffer an injury, I try to remember to take the prescribed pain meds as ordered. The trouble is that most of the instructions say to take the pain meds so many times each day “as needed.”  So if I don’t feel that I “need” a pain med, I don’t take it. A recent experience may change that practice for me…

A couple of days after coming home from the hospital, I took my pain medication in the morning and then, before they wore off, I laid down to take a nap. When I woke up a few hours later I didn’t have any pain, so I didn’t take any more meds. However, I was feeling run down and basically flat. I didn’t associate that feeling with pain and just tried to rest and relax. Later in the evening I did start feeling some pain around my surgery incisions (my appendectomy was done laperscopically so I have three half-inch incisions) so I took a pain pill. Forty-five minutes later I felt MUCH better all over. The flat feeling was gone and I felt completely normal!

In talking with friends and family about this experience I have learned that physical pain can manifest in a variety of ways – like my flat feeling. One person described a burn she had where she started feeling very cold even though her burn didn’t hurt. She took a pain med and the cold & shivers went away. Another friend called this type of experience “deferred pain”. This probably has to do with my high pain threshold. My body was reacting to the pain I wasn’t feeling by making me feel run-down and tired.

Have you ever experienced something like this? How did you handle it? I’d love to hear your stories…

My husband and I paid a visit to the Sacramento Zoo today. Neither of us has been there in a very very long time. It’s a lovely little zoo and is part of a park complex with lots of family entertainment. If you are planning to visit Sacramento, CA I encourage you to pay a visit to this nice little zoo.

As I look at the giraffes I could not help but wonder how anyone could doubt the Theory of Evolution in favor of “Intelligent Design”? Evolution is based on sound science and keen observation of geographical and biological evidence by thousands of scientists over hundreds of years. “Intelligent Design” is based on Judeo-Christian mythology and has no basis in scientific fact. Also, look at the photo of the giraffe at the right. What is intelligent about the design of this creature? What kind of reason would an intelligent designer have in creating this creature? What part does it play in the environment in which it lives that adds to the environment?

However, if we look at the giraffe from the evolutionary point of view…

• Giraffes have long legs to help them run from predators and to make them tall in order to make them more difficult to take down by predators that are lower to the ground.
• Giraffes have their characteristic long necks that enables them to reach higher sources of food than other animals
• The spots on the skins of giraffes provide them with natural camouflage in their savanna environment.

From the view of “Intelligent Design” the giraffe is nothing but a whimsical joke. From the evolutionary point of view the giraffe is a marvel.

I’d rather believe in the marvel than in the joke. Wouldn’t you? What is your opinion and why?

A friend of mine told me about his Photo 365 Project and I was intrigued. The idea is to post one photo a day, but the catch is that it has to be a photo you took that day. I found a place to post my photos pretty effortlessly and I finagled my Mom into doing this project with me. It’s fascinating so far what we have both posted. We started on September 1st and will go through August 31st, 2011.

I started on my trip to Crescent City, CA on September 1st. It’s a lovely little city and I was enchanted with it. It was easy to come up with new photos every day. Today was my first full day home and I was exhausted, so I snapped a picture of my dog. I am finding that the ordinary days are going to be the hardest ones to get interesting pictures. I’ll have to be very cognizant of new and interesting compositions and ideas for venues. I’ve already started exploring. Perhaps this will be a good excuse for me to explore my own community a bit more.

You can follow my progress here. You can see my Mom’s fantastic photos here.

Outdoor Mural in Crescent City, CA - Taken on September 1, 2010 by Catherine Ford

Greetings from beautiful Crescent City, CA! I’m on the road for the rest of this week. Tomorrow and Friday I will be teaching a class at Sutter Coast Hospital on how to build web sites on the Sutter Health Intranet (MySutter – Different from MySutter Online). I love doing this job! I find teaching so much fun and want to do it more than I currently do. Hence, why I’m going to school to earn a doctorate!

I’ve also started a new project today. A friend of mine on Twitter told me about a project he’s doing called Photo365. The concept is basically to take one photo a day for 365 days. If you’re interested, you can follow my progress here. I will also be posting some of the other photos I take on this blog. Today’s photo-of-the-day is a carved wooden statue of a mermaid riding a whale. I believe it’s carved from drift wood. I was very taken with it. Please take a look and let me know if you have any photography tips. That’s part of the point of the Photo365 Project – improving your photography skills. My Mom has agreed to do this project with me, so I may occasionally post links to her photos too. She’s much better at photography than I am because she’s been doing it longer than I have.

I seem to be picking up lots of books lately. I find the variety amusing. Perhaps you will too. Each book has a different reason for interesting me.

• Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation by Cokie Roberts – This is a look at the lives and times of the women behind the Founding Fathers. Not only the wives, but also mothers, sisters, and daughters. I’m only part way through this book, but I’m planning to buy copies for all of the women in my family. This is an often overlooked side of our history and Cokie Roberts does a good job of examining it.
• Grimm’s Complete Fairy Tales - Have you ever had books you just thought you should read? That’s why I’m reading this one. So far I’m pretty disappointed. I like the ones you’d expect – Cinderella, Rapunzel, and a few others. Mostly however, I’m left scratching my head and wondering how most of these fairy tales survived to the present. It’s a very pretty book though – Green leather cover with gold lettering and gold edges on the pages.
• The Assault on Reason by Al Gore – This is a good book for those who embrace reason and wonder why more people don’t. Mr. Gore does a good job of explaining how the Right Wing is using fear to influence Americans rather than allowing reason and facts to be the guide that the Founding Fathers wanted it to be. I’m only part way through this book and will write a book review when I’m done.
• Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business by Eric Qualman – This is a fantastic book for anyone diving into social media and is concerned about how to use it and how it can positively or negatively affect your business. Again, I’m only part way through this book and will write a book review when I’m done.

On my waiting list:

• The Pillars of the Earth (Deluxe Edition) (Oprah’s Book Club) (Paperback)
  
• Lean Six Sigma Demystified: A Self-Teaching Guide
• Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot
  
• Ethics, the Heart of Leadership
  
• Truth and Consequences: Special Comments on the Bush Administration’s War on American Values
  

What are you reading right now? Is there anything you can recommend to me? I’m open to just about anything. Please post your recommendations in the comments below…