The Ostebos

Right now I'm finishing my clinical rotations in the ICU at the Veteran's Hospital in Salt Lake. Needless to say, I LOVE it! I have never before worked with such amazing people. The nurses and doctors recognize that it requires a team effort to restore these patients to full health. They are so willing to impart information and help with the learning process. They are always looking out for me too making sure I have ample opportunity to take stool samples, empty catheter bags, dump chest tube suctioning contents:) Most of the patients are war veterans who served in WWII, Korea, or Vietnam. They have some great stories to tell!

The patient I took care of on Friday was amazing! Two hours out of surgery and the man was cracking jokes. He had all the nurses and doctors rolling! I thought...how great that despite his ailments, he was brightening the day of those taking care of him. I went into his room to say goodbye and this is what he said to me...great words of wisdom. I think he shared the secret to life. We all know it. It just seems so much more validated coming from someone backed up with 88 years experience. And he said it full of emotion that it really moved me.
You have your whole life ahead of you! So I want to tell you some things I have learned from my life. The worst thing you can have is a closed mind. Always have an open mind. Always keep your mind busy. The greatest thing I learned to do was to work hard! I feel that principle is lost in your generation. Your generation is turned inward. Everything becomes all about me. So make sure you keep your body busy, your mind busy, continually serving others. I think I lived in the best generation because you know how many moms it took to raise a boy? At least eight. I hope the same for your generation.

The man giving the prayer in church said something funny. Maybe I shouldn't laugh...no it was too funny to not. He says, "We are so glad to come listen to men of God (giant pause)...and women." He sat down and died laughing.

These are just thoughts I've had recently:
So it seems to happen to me more often than not...I'll be getting a drink at the taller drinking fountain, only to see someone in my peripherals waiting for my fountain completely aware there is a shorter fountain right next to me. So then the question, do I smell? Do some people have massive personal bubbles? Does alot of the world have back problems that limits them from stooping a few inches lower? Maybe I'm unaware that the taller fountain is in some way glorified...who would even think of using the shorter fountain.

I love driving down the freeway and watching the cars on the other side of the freeway zip by. I'm still watching the road...just with one eye. So I'll be watching the cars with my other eye and then all of a sudden...a massive gap....no cars. What? Weird! What happened to the cars? And then I look in the distance to see hundreds of cars driving tightly together in V-formation. Wow, those cars must really love eachother. And then upon closer examination I notice the mother duck. Yes, the cop car. Proudly leading its entourage of ticket-fearful drivers! Makes me laugh everytime!

I drive alot commuting back and forth from the hospital or Logan. On one occasion I was so annoyed with the traffic due to construction. It usually doesn't bother me, but on this particular day I was close to just coming to a screeching halt in the middle of the road if I saw one more orange cone. But before I caused a pileup, I tried to change my mindset. And it was really cool to think about how the road system can be related to life. The road system is huge! So much good has come from our road system. We are connected to almost anyone, anywhere. Everything we ever needed, we have because truckers bring in products to the stores. We can get from point A to point B lickety split. Such is our life. It is a road system, with much good coming from the road system. But how do we grow into a great road system? Construction! We are continually in a state of construction in the gospel. If we weren't in construction to grow in different areas of our life, our roads would be vulnerable to the elements, to snow, rain, traffic. We always have to strive to make our roads better, a little improvement here, a lane there. We have lots of resources to help build our roads, the gospel, friends, family, books, the scriptures, church, the temple, the Lord, prayer. And with continual improvement to our roads soon enough we become an amazing infrastructure of roads going every direction. These roads can be compared to the lives we touch, the things we learn, the people we meet, the experiences we gain, the lessons we learn, the talents we develop.

I did it! I did it! I created....yes....a blog. Today I should be at the hospital right now doing a preassessment on the patient I'm taking care of tomorrow, and here I am getting caught up in another technicological time sucker. But...there are benefits to this blog thing as opposed to dishing out 500 texts a month only to get the bill. This is free! And not just that, I get a chance to document my life, my story. I spent two hours this morning writing in my journal and only pumped out 4-5 pages. Ah the freedom of typing. So I'm making a goal to do this thing twice a month!