Archives for July 2006

Well now someones gone and done it. They’ve blown my record. Tsk tsk.

I’ve been writing in this blog for just over 5 months. Somehow it seems longer, but it really has been only a short time since this site came into existence.

I’ve had 1175 comments. I’m amazed at how many people have taken the time to stop and comment on the latest post, or on the site in general. Thank you for taking the time to read, and to let me know that you’ve been reading by leaving a comment.

The 1176th comment is however quite different from all the rest. It’s the first “bad” comment:

“*snore*
do you really think anyone cares to read a blow by blow of your medical experiences? get a life.” signed Bored.

I’m laughing! If you’re so bored “Bored”, why did you even bother to write a comment? You obviously took the time to scroll down the page in order to read Steamrolled, or you were visiting from the Carnival of Blogging Chicks. Either way, I’m not really bothered by your comment, just mystified that you took the time to write something if the post was so dull. When I’m bored I just move on and perhaps visit again later to see if the next post is more interesting.

Just to clarify though, I do have a life. It’s just kind of on hold, or at the very least moving in slow motion right now because I do have medical problems. Unfortunately for “Bored” a person with medical problems will occasionally write about their medical experiences, as dull as that may be.

In case my cartoon header didn’t spell it out for you “Bored”, I’m a nurse. See the nursing cap and the stethoscope up there on the table? When I do get back to work in the Emergency department I’m pretty sure that there will be times that I will be writing (as confidentially as possible) about other peoples medical experiences. I’m sure there will be days that I come home and write about the patient whom I comforted as they died; a child who stuck a toy figurine up his or her nose; a patients angry or crazy relatives; or the latest shooting victim. The tone and content of this site might change when I have “more of a life”. For some it will be more interesting, for others perhaps not their cup of tea. Only time will tell.

If I was feeling healthy, and was back to work, there’s a good chance that this blog would never have started. But I’m off work at the moment, and I’ve got some spare time on my hands, and well, since I’m ill I need to keep my mind occupied so I don’t dwell on my situation and how bad I’m feeling. So I write.

I actually started this site with the full intention of writing about Crohns disease and how it was affecting my life, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It’s too depressing to talk about and I’m trying to stay as up beat as I can so I write about anything and everything that pops into my head or that I encounter in my day to day goings on.

I’ve found that over the years with this illness that if I stay busy and keep my mind occupied the pain doesn’t get to me as much as it does when I’m just sitting around not doing much of anything. Writing on this site, my 4 other blogs, and my two huge websites, as well as helping all of the people that write to me about their sick pets keeps me pretty busy. I think it would keep anyone busy! It’s also therapeutic.

I don’t write on this site to entertain people. I write what I want to write, and I do it for me. I’m not going to lie, I know people are reading my site so I try to write in an interesting way, and try to amuse at times, but the main person I’m writing for is ME. I love the comments and the feedback that I get from the people who read this site, and I’d hate it if I suddenly wasn’t getting any comments, but I’d still write.

As for the post that “Bored” took the time to comment on, well that was all about me, but in a way it wasn’t written just for me. I wrote that out so that others would know that sometimes common tests that are performed thousands of times can go bad and that complications can develop afterwards. The medical tests are important and they could save your life, but things don’t always go smoothly. I was in a potentially life threatening situation – it could have been a bowel perforation that I suffered from after the tests, instead it was a bowel obstruction. Both are very serious. Luckily I’m getting better and finally starting to feel more like myself.

One other thing before I step off my tiny soapbox (and probably fall!). I talked about my cartoon header earlier. I’ve been reading on some sites that people “hate” blogs with cartoon headers and some even go as far to say they won’t read them, or vote for them in battles etc. I’m sure those people haven’t read this far so perhaps my point is falling on deaf ears, but I just want to say that it’s very unlikely that my header will ever contain a picture of me.

I use a ‘toon to represent me in order to protect my privacy and that of my husbands. I work in a huge hospital yet I know almost everyone that works there. Regular patients also know me and would recognize me if they saw my picture on a blog. While I’m not totally hiding my identity I really don’t want to make it easy for someone to connect this site with me.

My ‘toon reflects my life – nursing, plants/gardening, music (that’s my husband and my stalker neighbor in the photo), and my work in herpetoculture (see the iguana on the couch?). I don’t really look like the cartoon me – but I do have auburn hair – cut short and layered, I’m tall, have long legs, hazel eyes – on which I wear contacts or sometimes glasses, I’m on the slim side right now due to my illness, and I’m very lucky that I take after my parents and my siblings and look younger than my age. My nose is a little bigger than hers though. I likely wouldn’t dress quite as she is dressed, but the way she’s standing kind of reflects my klutzy nature. LOL

So I’m sorry if you don’t like cartoon headers, but as you can see I did that for several reasons and I tried to make my ‘toon reflect my life and looks as much as I could. All she needs is either a garden trowel or a syringe in her hand and she’d be just about perfect.

Ha ha, all this for one bad comment that really didn’t bother me. Really. I just thought that given this comment perhaps my readers should know a little bit more about me and this blog.

I finally got ’em:

No wonder that monkey on my back was so heavy! There were two of them.