Another night on call. Ask me anything.

[Aristus]

I swear, the people on pain meds always wait until clinic is closed before calling for refills. They must not think I can see their charts.

"I'm sorry, sir; you just had that refilled three days ago. You're not due for another refill for three weeks."



Hold me...or at least ask me something...

Or, you know...both...

[Lady Freedom Returns]

1. What is your favorite song?n/t

[Aristus]

2. I have several.

"Mekong" and "Nada" by Roger Kline And The Peacemakers.
"Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen.
"The Rainbow Connection" by Paul Williams.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

3. Hope this helps your night go by happily!

[Aristus]

4. Oh, LFR!...

I love this! I really love the gospel-style chorus accompanying him...

I'm going to dash off this reply, and then enjoy...

[Lady Freedom Returns]

5. It has been a long time since I have heard this!

I forgot how wonderful it is!

[Aristus]

6. I know there are 1,264,827 cover versions out there.

But the original still has it where it counts.

Wonderful is right...

[HipChick]

7. I call a dial a doctor..

Our company sponsors it, so we don't have to take time off work to go to the dr..

So far, very powerful anti-cough medicine, antibiotics...

I don't need sleeping tablets ....already zonked out

[Denninmi]

8. I just bought XC skis.

Be brave and mount the bindings myself, or pay the pro's at REI $15 to do it?

(Not that is any doubt whatsoever in my mind about the correct answer).

Oh, a follow up - will it actually snow in Michigan this winter?

Last year, none, it was so warm that flowers such as pansies bloomed all winter. I want snow.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

9. I hope you get lots and lots of snow, my dear Denninmi!

I would let the folks at REI do it, but that's me...

Have a wonderful time skiing!

[Denninmi]

10. Thanks.

Yup, not a hard decision. Trash $300 skis by screwing it up, or spend $15 to get it done right.

I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid!

[Aristus]

11. Pay the pros? - Yes.

Snow in Michigan? - Does the Pope shit in the woods?

[Denninmi]

12. Yup, the NWS here is calling for a normal winter.

Last winter we had 60's in Jan and Feb, and 80's-90's in March.

[geardaddy]

14. Pay the $15.

It'll be worth it.

[Denninmi]

15. Oh yeah.

I was just being goofy for fun, I never intended to do it myself. AAMF, I've got the skis and bindings in the car ready to go over there either today or tomorrow after work.

[geardaddy]

16. Nice!

Do you have the whole range of waxes then too?

[Denninmi]

19. Yup.

They had a kit, and it was on sale. I got all of the gear off a website, backcountry.com. It's fun shopping at 4 am on Black Friday while laying in bed under the covers with just the glow of the fireplace and the iPad and the dog sleeping on the floor next to the bed.

I even live chatted with a sales consultant about what I needed. He recommended everything, skis, bindings, poles, boots, and the maintenance kit.

Looking forward to doing this again, I used to XC ski when I was in high school and college, but that was 25 years ago.

[geardaddy]

20. We did XC skiing as a family when I was a kid in the 70s.

Lots of northern Minnesota action. It was more touring than racing or anything. Just out in the great outdoors and watching wildlife.

[AnneD]

13. If I put on my call light...

will you fluff my pillow and hold my glass of water while I drink from the straw.

Edited to add...there is a special place in hell for the inventor of the call light. He will be jumped and beaten by a gang of nurses.

[Aristus]

18. Why yes, I'd love to fluff your pillow.

Save the nurses the trouble...

[AnneD]

24. LOL LOL LOL....

Watch how you adjust that pillow.....

[Aristus]

26. I AM watching...

Isn't that where you want it?...

[AnneD]

29. You're...

such a bad boy.

[Aristus]

30. Yeah,

I get that a lot...

[irisblue]

17. when you tell them no drugs, do you let them know about EMRs?

I'd find that part irresistible. Or tell them it's not your first night...ever.

[struggle4progress]

21. Listen, dude, I have, like, this super painful belly button lint plus really horrible dandruff,

and I need an after-hours emergency refill, because I forgot to refill my pain meds before the Feds shut down my pharmacist

What can you suggest?

[Aristus]

22. Remove the belly button lint in the shower with some warm water and a mild soap.

T/Gel shampoo for seborrhaic dermatitis.

And what was the other thing again?...

Is this on? Is this on?...

[struggle4progress]

23. owie! owie! owie!

[kentauros]

25. Do you mind if I pass through, reccing your thread?

[Aristus]

27. Not at all.

Thanks!

[Denninmi]

28. Have you ever tried Terra Chips?

Maybe they don't have them on the West Coast.

They're my favorite chips - exotic vegetables like taro, yucca, plus things like sweet potatoes, beets, winter squash, parsnips, carrots.

Love 'em, snacking on my carefully measured ounce of "Sweets and Beets" right now.

[Aristus]

31. Nope. Never.

They sound good. Have you ever eaten them with hummus? Try that and tell me how you like it...

[Denninmi]

35. I eat anything with hummus.

It's one of the things on the plan the dietician worked up for me. Hummus could make a cardboard roll from paper towels taste good.

We have a very large Arab American population in the Detroit area -- we have the best Middle Eastern shops and restaurants. And a lot of Japanese restaurants and sushi because of the auto industry.

Ok, another one for you -- Ajver. It's a roasted vegetable spread/sauce from the Balkans. Red peppers are the main ingredient, along with tomatoes, carrots, onions,,eggplant, garlic. Think of it as salsa based on peppers with tomato notes. Great as a carrot dip, pasta or pizza sauce.

[rDigital]

32. So you're an on-call nurse? Do you have any cats at home? nt

[Aristus]

33. No. I'm a Physician Assistant.

Three or four weeknights a month, and one weekend a month, I pull what's called 'outpatient call'. I don't have to rush to the hospital for a call the way doctors do. Instead I give calling patients advice for their problems. Most often, it's a panicky mother calling about a perfectly healthy baby whom she is convinced has a 'fever'. That, or some guy who waited until after the clinic closed to call in for a refill on his meds.

Every once in a while, I'll get someone trying to scam narcotics from me. Doesn't happen. I know every trick in the book...

No cats at home. Or anywhere else. I'm a dog kind of guy.

[rDigital]

34. No cats...bummer. ; ) I was a pharmacy tech for 4 years.

Narcotics scamming was the name of the game. I feel your pain, it never ends and they have no scruples. I swear every single day we had a fake script, the goofballs would even make up a DEA number for the script without realizing that there is a method to how it's calculated.

The biggest offenders? alprazolam, Vicodin, and everyones favorite Percocet. The amout of tylenol these people were shoveling into their livers was simply mind boggling. Well in excess of 4grams/day.

[Aristus]

36. One of the fun (if more transparent) ploys is for the patient to "forget" the name

of the medication he or she wants.

"Um...there's one medication that really works for my pain. It's...um...tram...uh...tr-...trama...uh...tr-...tramadol? Yeah, that!"

Then I pretend to them that I didn't know they were going to do that, and just explain, matter-of-fact, that the State of Washington classifies tramadol as a narcotic, and that I can't prescribe it for chronic pain.



A couple of weeks ago, I had a patient in my exam room who was extremely drowsy and falling asleep right in front of me. I thought she was on a heroin nod, but when she collapsed, I had her taken to the ED, where they ran a tox screen. Turned out, she had overdosed on lorazepam, alprazolam, and clonazepam...

[rDigital]

37. Holy benzo-bonanza! Quite the shopper you had there. nt