Thursday, April 16, 2009

Oh Happy Day

I survived that month of internal medicine. Hallelujah. Raul was on Labor and Delivery at the same hospital for the last two weeks of my rotation, and I called him for help on a daily basis. He is smart, and fluent in Spanish (very helpful with patients on my service that were always trying to die and did not speak any English.) In the end, three of my patients had heart attacks while they were on my service, and another 2 had cardiopulmonary arrests - while I was on call. It's really a terrible feeling hearing "Code Blue, Code Blue - 7East" and knowing that it's most likely your patient that's coding. But, I survived (and so did they), and it's over and I learned a considerable amount. I am very happy to be back to psychiatry. I'm on outpatient internal medicine now, but I've taken a couple psych calls. I saw a decompensated schizophrenic off meds that had smoked catnip earlier in the day. And another very agitated person that proceeded to call me all sorts of very rude names when I told him he was being placed on a 5150. Oh psych patients, how I've missed you. Crazy, but completely medically stable. I don't have to worry about your heart failure or your transplant rejection or your ischemic limb. Ahh (I am sighing in relief.)

So, I consoled myself while on medicine by spending rather exorbitant amounts of money on fabric. I'm not going to admit to exactly how much I spent because it is rather embarrassing. I was apologizing to Raul about going overboard in the fabric purchasing department, and he said, "Don't worry about it, you're not buying heroin." And I realized that he was absolutely right, and my guilt completely evaporated because heroin is bad news. Over the course if this year, I have encountered many a heroin addict, and I have gotten into the habit of thanking Raul on at least a monthly basis for not being addicted to heroin. I am being completely serious. Thank you for that perspective, Raul. If everyone could spend their money on fabric instead of heroin the amount of suffering and devastation in this world would decrease a gazillion-fold, and there were probably be a lot more nifty handmade goods circulating around out there. Enough with the crafty grandma-style fantasies, let me show you some of the stuff I made with my haul.

Two quilt tops:

Numero Uno:


Made from a Moda Wonderland fabric charm pack (the fabric comes pre-cut in 5"x5" squares. What genius!) and the sashing is Kona Cotton from Micheal Levine (aka heaven.) I was talking to Quilting Grandma about how it was a little difficult to line up the sashing, and she said that there's a rule in quilting that quilts should be scrutinized only from the point of view of someone galloping by it on a horse. That's a good rule.

Numero Dos:


And this is a stripe quilt from the West Hill by Heather Ross fabric line. So easy and sew fun!! I became totally spoiled working with this fabric. It is so soft and so decadent. I don't think I will ever be able to use the Cheapy McCheaperson fabric from discount fabric stores again.

And finally, a visit from some favorites of favorites!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shannon,

I love the rule with the galloping horse. I shall go out and find one now so I can look at all my quilts in a new (more forgiving) light. I know you just spent a ton on fabric, but when can we get together for a family dinner or a fabric buying extravaganza???

Love,
Mary

Lorrel said...

Did you have those quilt tops made when we were there? I so enjoyed spending time with you and Raul, and pets. Dinner was so tasty, the cake was great even though you had some problems with it. Good time had by us, that's for sure. I'm happy thay you are happier with this rotation. It sounds like Raul is such a support to you. Way to go Raul! Love you guys.

J.Po said...

I hear what your saying about heroin and cheap fabric. I thank the stars every day I don't blow my cash on dope and will never buy craptastic fabric again. After getting $100 in Amazon.com money for answering a series of invasive questions about my health, I spent every last cent on Amy Butler fabric. The quality of that stuff so immensely exceeds the crap I used to buy. It is truly amazing. One of these days I'll convert my old blog into a craft-only blog and we'll keep up on such things again.

Glad to hear you survived! And that you're not a heroin addict!

 
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