A real shoe-in for the perfect patient

Leave it to me to have funny things happen to at the most inopportune moments.

I showed up on time as instructed for 8am today for my carpal tunnel release surgery scheduled to begin at 9am. Shortly before 9, sitting in my designated pre-op room all dolled up in the ever-so-sexy hospital gown given me, I happened to look down at my feet with the most attention I had bothered to give them today and noticed I had on two different colored flipflops of the same style. I didn't even make an attempt to stifle my outbust of laughter because it was just so typically a Michele moment. Just then the doctor came in to mark my incision with the lovely, bright purple pen they keep strictly for that purpose and asked what I was laughing about. And when I showed her we both burst out laughing together. She then proceeded to tell me about her personal experience with wearing 2 different shoes at the same time. She told me that one morning she was trying on different shoes at home because she has plantar fasciitis (like me) and she was trying to decide which pair of shoes would least aggravate it that day. She got sidetracked and the next time she looked down at her feet that morning was upon entering the operating room to perform surgery on someone. As she is opening the OR door after scrubbing down, she burst out into laughter upon seeing her feet. She had on, not only 2 different colored shoes, but one was a Birkenstock sandal and the other one a flipflop. We burst out laughing again.

Now for the perfect patient part. While she performed the surgery she point out to the male nurse assisting her and the 2 other nurses in the room to look how my incision revealed a classic textbook case of carpal tunnel and that I was a calm patient (thankfully).

I give Dr. Pamela Reinhardt an A+++++++++++++ for excellent bedside manner.

(and me one for typing this with one had with my other one bandaged and throbbing)

Non-stop Sting

Beginning yesterday, in anticipation of seeing the one superstar I ever really care to meet, my apartment is filled with the sounds of Sting's music from the moment I get up until it's time for me to hit the hay.

I am SO thoroughly looking forward to this event. I hope that he plays all my favorites. There are so many of them, it will be hard for him to fail.

Here's a sampling of what I hope he plays

Drug-induced high

I think I am an addict. Is there a support group for people who get a thrill from teaching other people?

Back in February or March of this year, I sent an email to the chapter of Literacy Volunteers that is in the basement of Hawkins Hall, on the Plattsburgh State campus, telling them I wanted to be a volunteer.

Feeling rather like I had failed myself in taking (a much needed) break from my Master's program, I needed something to occupy my mind. I have to admit that I was naive about what being a volunteer in literary really involved. Yes the desire to help others and a sense of commitment were qualities needed, which I feel I possess. But what I didn't realize was the WOW-factor.

"What is the WOW-factor?" you might ask. It is my chosen title for the absolute THRILL you get when the person, or people you are teaching get that "Oh! I get it!" look in their eyes and sound in their voices.

My first dose of that and I became hooked.

Since the end of June, when I was assigned my first tutee, I have been getting regular "hits" off my newly-discovered drug of choice.

And I have discovered an "side-effect" (if you will) of my drug. You see, I never felt I lacked confidence in getting up in front of others, aside from the normal jitters most everyone gets, until I began my masters program at the University of Albany. Seemingly out of nowhere, I felt I lacked adequate knowledge and skill to get up in front of fellow Spanish-speaking students and professors. I knew I had had ample training to do it, but my confidence deflated like the Hindenberg when I started comparing my abilities to those of others. And until the day I decided I needed a break, it was still flailing about. Today, I got my first jolt of confidence back and it came as an aftershock of the WOW-factor.

Little does my tutee know what she is doing for me. I have explained it to her, but she cannot know the joy she gives me each time the light of recognition comes on for her and she truly grasps the material and it becomes her own.

People rarely know the effect they have on each other, and in many instances are too callous to care. The gift I received unknowingly from my tutee today, has re-opened my heart and mind to that almost-forgotten "Oh! I get it!" feeling I thought I lost. Humans can bring out the worst in each other, but we absolutely shine when we bring out our best. And in that instance, the plaintive words of Herbert Morrison take on a whole other meaning, a wonderful meaning: "Oh, the humanity!"

:) I'm back!!!