Operating Room 101

Rule #1: When you are in the Operating Room, don't touch anything blue. Do not cough, sneeze, or laugh over it. Do not smell it. Do not taste it. Do nothing. Stand at least one foot away and say "Oh, that looks sterile!"

Rule #2: When applying a mask, do not peel off the sticker that says, "peel here." When removing the said mask, you get a nose wax with it.

Rule #3: When watching surgeries, don't offer to watch the same one twice in one day.... You will regret it.

Rule #4: Try not to laugh at the patient, despite how ridiculously funny they look.

Rule #6: Talk to the one who makes the most money. They usually have the most to teach you.

Rule #7: Talk to the one who makes the least amount of money. They are the funniest.

Rule #5: It's ok to dance to the music with the surgeon, the scrub tech, and the circulating nurse.

"Anything" of Excitement...

I had a friend ask me the other day what I was excited about.

ex·cit·ed

   [ik-sahy-tid] Show IPA

adjective

1.

stirred emotionally; agitated: An excited crowd awaited thearrival of the famed rock group.

2.

stimulated to activity; brisk: an excited buying and selling of stocks.

My immediate thoughts were of course turned to Josh, but I didn't just want to spout out the expected. So I asked him what he meant. "Anything" he said.

So "anything" of excitement was what I told him.

I was excited that we had left extension early. I had drank an extra cup of coffee at 6, and a medium diet coke at 8. I was awake enough to make the 2+ hour drive back to Greenville, and get some study time in.

I was excited to talk to Josh when I got back, because I didn't use to be able to. I love living in Grad Hall.

I am excited to be a nurse. I love nursing, and when I hear other people complaining about their job, going to work day in and day out, I just get happy thinking about being a nurse. I am going to love what I do. There aren't many who can say that. Beyond that, I know what I am doing isn't just another job in the factory. I will be making a difference, saving lives, bringing new lives into existence. What could be more invigorating and exciting than that? I can go anywhere and do anything.

I am excited to someday move to Tucson and eventually marry Josh. It isn't so much the mushy gushy part of our relationship. It's the sitting on the couch next to your best friend watching the football game, taking walks to the park, promising to teach him how to make pecan pie, telling stories about work, praying together, carving initials in a tree. It's being there together. Not the 1891 miles and 3 times zones apart. Not the "only seeing each other once every couple of months." Not a short phone call or once a week skype date. It's just hanging out and being together that I am excited for..

I am excited to live. I am excited to love. I am excited to someday see God. I am excited to sleep.

Why? Because I expect them? Because my anticipation has been building and therefore my excitement has?

I don't think so. I think my excitement is sheer joy. Reveling in what I don't deserve, but what I have been given. My excitement is in the gifts from God, whether big or small.