Happenstance:

Brooke, rel, Macy

Last Friday was one of those days. You know, one of those days when you're sub par, and you're not playing golf, so it's not a good thing. Part of it, I'm sure, was the fact that the upper respiratory bug going around was weaseling it's talons into me. I was going through the motions but without enthusiasm. I did force a cheery disposition when I introduced myself to my patient and reviewed their medical/surgical history with them before initiating anesthesia.

After the case was over and I had transfered the patient to the care of the PACU nurse, I returned to the OR suite to cleanup and set up for the next procedure. I noticed two young women standing in the area just adjacent to the OR proper and surmised that they were either nursing students or Allied Health students ; usually seniors from one or more of the surrounding high schools who take part in a program where they shadow different health professionals to get an idea if they might be interested in a career in the health care field. They had masks up so I couldn't see their faces. I aid hello and introduced myself and while they were telling me their names I was looking at their name tags. Macy?....the back of my mind nagged me, "you know that name, why, who, where?" Then in a matter of seconds it came to me. I only know one person with the name Macy, and she's from my town.

On this blog, back in December 0f 2007, I introduced my readers(http://pciyrtpy.blogspot.com/2007/12/best-laid-plans-i-had-every-intention.html) to a girl from my home town, a high school junior who was competing nationally in a CMT (http://www.cmt.com/videos/interview/191725/music-city-madness-2-macy-van-arnam-bio.jhtmlhtml) contest and I encouraged any and all of my readers to go online and listen to her sing the song she had written, and to vote for her.
Macy came in second in the competition but she came in first in our extended community and became an instant celebrity. (http://pciyrtpy.blogspot.com/2007/12/morristown-teen-is-runner-up-in-cmt.html)

I had never met Macy face to face and now here she was job shadowing me in my OR. WOW, holy smokes, what a thrill it was and talk about sub par: well no more. I was energized and in full form, teaching, singing, joking and just generally on top of the world. Funny how an unexpected surprise can lift your mood so quickly and dispel those down in the dumps demons.

Brooke; Yes I did some one on one teaching with Brooke during the anesthesia induction. Again, as I looked at her name tag I knew that I had a connection with this girl also. Later in the case, I called Brooke over and whispered a question in her ear, to which she nodded in the affirmative and voila, I was correct we did have a connection (not to be shared here; confidentiality and all that don't ya know). In the same vein but different, Brooke is a celebrity in her own right in her community. Brooke lives twenty miles down the road from Macy and attends a rival school. She is a member of that school's State champion basketball team(http://www.northcountrysports.net/sxbasketballgirlsplayoffs.htm). This accomplishment is all the more spectacular since Brooke's school has a K-12 enrollment that is less then some city school's senior classes.

So, there you have it; how happenstance turned my mediocre day in to a bright and exciting day.

Brooke, rel, Macy

P.S. Head over toKB's blog and wish her the happiest of birthdays.

http://koffeebean-koffeebean.blogspot.com/