Rough Day –> Better Day

I had kind of a rough day yesterday. First, re-entry into work was a bit painful. The nature of my chosen specialty is that there are always results coming in and requests to follow up, and when you go from Wednesday to Monday — well, there’s going to be a backlog.

I really can’t complain because a) it’s always reasonably manageable and b) I am lucky to have the hybrid schedule that I do. I am also glad there are almost no true emergencies in those results and many of them take ~2 weeks to come back in the first place, so a several-day delay in dealing with them is okay. But it can make post-vacation days hard. I could certainly try to get ahead of a backlog on my own time, but I have not chosen to do that so the alternative is a pretty intense Monday.

I was able to catch up and all was well. I am also however dealing with some scheduling issues for next year (essentially trying ensure the reality of my schedule reflects the 60% I am officially working) AND had some knee pain on my morning run that really had me worried. NONE of these things are disastrous but together it was a lot and I’m glad for a fresh start today.

Good thing #1: I tried a knee compression sleeve last night and on my run today and it was a noticeable improvement. I had some significant pain ~4 miles in but then gave my knee a good stretch and focused on making sure I was bending it normally, and then the pain went away entirely for the remainder of the run (8 mi total that included some strides). So that was good. I got a mild talking-to from my coach (well, via our google sheets doc) because I started fretting about the race (should I do it, should I do the half, etc) and he reminded me that it’s okay to just take each day as it comes. He and I will very likely know when the time comes what it make sense to do. (AKA: STOP PLANNING. sigh.)

Good thing #2: I *did* catch up yesterday. And my little checkout sheet experiment is working and definitely saving me time!! I want to make some adjustments and eventually get them printed on index-card sized paper. I am really interested in finding ways to make my clinical work more efficient, more patient-friendly, and more enjoyable. As for the scheduling stuff, that is a work in progress but I feel (mostly) confident it will work out okay in the end.

Good thing #3: I did take A&G out to dinner yesterday (C will be next week). So that was one bright spot. We ate ramen and pork bao buns AND I even have leftovers available for lunch. Mmmm.

TODAY:

• podcast interview! a meal planning ep for BLP – exciting!
• BLPA #6 – I can’t believe this cohort is almost done! It went SOOO fast!
• Digital Detox final session!!! A check-in. This cohort went through the summer (not ideal timing, I realize now . . .) and this final session will be a reunion of sorts. A nice time to think about how we want our digital lives to evolve going forward, though. I’m hoping to do a Digital Detox round in January – I feel like that timing will be a LOT better!
• ~2 ad reads
• kid orthodontist appt