Peterson Family Update #8920-gamma

No, there is absolutely no rhyme or reason to how I label these kinds of updates, but there is a method into how I time them for myself.  Basically, I say to myself "holy crow, so much has happened lately that I don't know where to begin!"  Maybe there are a lot of small thoughts that are important but not significant enough to justify an entire blog to themselves or maybe there isn't enough time to dig into all of those ideas in a timely way.  Or sometimes it's because I've been waiting to talk about something until someone asks me the right question, and no one seems to know to ask the right question--this is a confounding habit of mine and not blame that I setting any particular direction.  As such, I have a myriad of little thoughts that require expression and it is, once again, time to deploy the bulleted list.  

• I go once a year for a dermatologist check-up.  With my medications and conditions and being as pale as I am, I have some predilection toward skin cancer, so we keep an eye on it.  Last week, we took a biopsy on a basal cell carcinoma.  Waiting on the results for that.  I'm not worried, per se, as the doc said it seemed pretty superficial, but I am a bit jostled, as I had my own suspicions on what it was (based on common Crohn's crossovers) and hadn't considered that.  It was a reminder to check my blind spots and assume nothing.  I'll be reaching out for biopsy results this week.
• Luna was spayed a couple of weeks ago, which meant that she needed some additional care that she was not always happy about.  There was the resulting weight in the household as we tried to rein her in from jumping up to her favorite spot on the couch or going down the stairs too quickly or from playing in general, lest we strain her stitches.  I'm glad to say that we are over that hump, and she's back to her normal self (and my current writing companion as I sit).  Andy set up social accounts for her, if you'd like to get some extra doses of Luna between blog posts.  

• I definitely underestimated how much relief I was going to feel after getting the vaccine.  I can make plans again as I feel my world start to open back up.  That doesn't mean that I stop all of the precautions, but I can at least remember how to stretch again.
• I have two grandparents in assisted living facilities and another that is receiving home health care.  At least one of these is DNR, but there is a real possibility that the other two have some advance directives as well.  As COVID has rolled through some of those facilities, I've been wondering whom I might be saying goodbye to first in the back of my mind.  
• It occurred to me recently that my program will be over in six months.  Six months and then I will be done with nursing school.  Holy crow.  
• Speaking of which, I got a hot tip the other day about a nurse residency program that was hiring (basically, a transition from school to real-life practice), quickly updated my resume, wrote a fresh cover letter, and had an interview the next week with another two days after that.  I'll make a broader announcement later, but, yes, it feels brilliant to have post-school plans already lining up.  :)
• Part of my clinicals involve going into schools, to consider the health needs of individual students and also the school as a community, as a system.  I happen to be at a school district that uses Skyward, so it's surreal to me in ways that are a bit different in how it's surreal to my peers.  This feels familiar to me, that I'm used to being a foreign but friendly entity in a school building.  It's...nice.  I did like that as part of my job, to see people on their home turf and in their own context, whether it was a secretary or a lunch lady.  Simultaneously, I have the chance to see what COVID protocols in a couple schools actually look like, instead of hearing about them by proxy.  Something I neglected to mention in my vaccine post last week is that it is not yet available to persons younger than eighteen, meaning that there are parts of this that will continue to be real for schools and their populations for longer than the rest.
• The weather has slowed progress on our major house projects.  I look forward to being on the other side of both of these.  
• I am not surprised by the events happening in our capital--specifically, the second acquittal of Trump--but I am increasingly disappointed.  The amount of double-think and double standards is truly appalling.  
• Black lives still matter and will always matter.
• This term moves and feels different than previous terms--Andy and I are still trying to find a rhythm for how we connect as a couple and still meet our individual needs.  It's a continual process of communication, and that continued insistence toward transparency, honesty, and empathy find ways to make it work and keep that connection.
• I feel no small amount of guilt for not keeping as well in contact with individuals during the pandemic, during school.  There's blame to share, certainly, so it comes in waves.  I'm starting to think about what post-school is going to be like, how my energy may be spread differently and how I want to utilize that.  
• I've been hosting Bob Ross Paint-a-Longs every other week or so, where we gather on Zoom with whatever art materials we have--even if it's just the paint program on one's computer--and watching an episode together, sharing our "masterpieces" afterwards.  It's been a joy just to explore and play, with persons of all skill levels.  A beautiful bright spot in the dark.  

And that's the jist of things as they are.  We've a snow day at school, and I'm using some of the time to relax a bit before another clinical shift tomorrow.