melt my heart

a future SHUbox fan?
one of my patients is a fever + neutropenia [F&N] patient with leukemia. he is 5 years old and is going through an extra-grueling regimen that includes radiation because of the severity of his disease.

yesterday, he spiked another temp (sigh) just when we thought he might be close to getting out of the hospital. i went to check on him, because F&N patients can get sick, fast. i wanted to see if he needed a fluid bolus and maybe some additional antibiotic coverage.

i was relieved to see him sitting up in bed, talking to his mom and looking cute (in pediatrics, cuteness is actually a very good sign that a kid is NOT septic). he then started asking me about all the things in my coat pockets. he thought the pager was cool, but was most fascinated with this (the top was visible sticking out of my white coat pocket):

i told him it was the notebook i used to track the new admits, and he was like, “i want one! i want a notebook!”. my heart just about melted. at just $4 each at the O’BON website (and eco-friendly to boot), i think i am going to make his dream a reality. HOW #(*&$ CUTE IS THAT?

in lieu of a wordy post
this AM, i am going take a few minutes to just sit here and take stock of allllll of the little details swirling around in my head.

therefore, instead of a Q&A of the day from me, i’m going to request a Q&A of the day from you! here it comes:

what are your top 5 simple pleasures?

well, okay, i’ll play too. since you twisted my arm.

5. stationery!

4. the post-run high

3. slow mornings with my husband

2. fresh magazines in the mail. actually, ANYTHING good in the mail.

1. coffee in the AM

leave your list in the comments! just making my list brightened my friday AM a little, so hopefully yours will do the same for you.

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2.11.10

workout: i finally snuck in an AM run this week — 5 miles with 6 x 1-2 minute pickups to 7:30-7:45/mi on the treadmill. i’m sticking with my plan of just taking it easy this week and might end up with just 3 total workouts for the week! sometimes (like once every couple of months) i just need to take a cutback like this. i know it won’t hurt my training too much and i’ll come back feeling more fresh and raring to go next week.

cooking hiatus: i ALMOST attempted to make my planned african peanut stew until i realized it was a slow-cooker recipe that took hours (and i don’t even have a slow cooker!). oops! amy’s to the rescue, yet again! i also enjoyed some v-day chocolate for dessert:

from sees, courtesy of my parents. THANK YOU M&D!!! (i promise i’ll call + thank you in person, too!)
i eat just one/day and try to make them laaaaaaaast as long as possible.