Under the Skin

All over the internet, we're told to "ask your doctor" and be "involved in your healthcare."  Personally, I find this difficult.  Basically, I don't like being a bother.  And I have worked in healthcare.  Yes, this is a double-edged sword.  I know how healthcare works, enabling me to suggest avenues that most people wouldn't know about.  For example, I recently had a blood draw done, and when they called me with the results, they informed me that one of the tests hadn't been ordered.  Instead of going back to the lab for another blood draw, I knew enough to say, "Well, that test would be done in a gold top, and they have two gold tops.  They couldn't have used it all for the tests that they did, and it's only been three days.  They will still have the samples, because they're a CAP-accredited lab, and CAP requires samples to be kept for look-back purposes for a period of time."  So, where an average patient would have just gon

I know that I haven't written anything for some time.  I've been busy.  That might be an understatement.  I am currently getting ready to have my oral qualifier in a little more than a week.  And as I've been transitioning into my new life as a PhD student, the way that I blog has been changing.  I still like the idea of blogging, but I've also been finding that online presence is not as important as I have made it in my life.  Being tied to the internet has not ever made me happy.  So, even though I don't intend to stop blogging, I will probably only do so when I have thought out a topic that I have something to say about.  Those have traditionally been the blog posts that I have felt the most fulfilled in writing, and the ones where I feel like I am contributing to the greater human experience.  I know that there are those who have been missing my book reviews.  And I am still writing book reviews.  Don't you worry!  If you want to learn my thoughts on the b