Jesus Christ, Otolaryngologist

While the Wizard of ENT seemed like a knowledgeable, experienced sort of fellow, there were a few things in his practice that threw me.

For example, in our exam room, there was a certificate showing that he was a member of the Christian Society of Otolarygology. And nothing else on the walls.

My first snarky thought was, I had no idea that a simple carpenter had any surgical experience. My second, scarier thought was, this guy is old enough that his medical knowledge may have been significantly influenced by religion. Does he really use the most modern methods? Does he use prayer as a substitute for knowledge of best practices?

Apparently, this exists, and the website is kind of scary. What I found most off-putting about the website was the distinct lack of medical resources. Plenty of spiritual ones, but no medical ones. In fact, you could use the same website, use a find and replace for Otolaryngology, and insert any surgical field, and no one would be confused.

Christian Society of Podiatrists. Christian Society of Orthopedics. Christian Society of Ophthalmologists. All of them could use this website for their ministry.

Is this enough to ask for another doctor? Could I find a doctor in that practice that wasn't a member of that society? The second thing that gave me pause were several conspicuously placed Bibles throughout the practice. My guess is, if you were a partner, you toed the spiritual line.

Like most things, I turned to the internet. Those two things made me worry that perhaps I wouldn't be getting the best medical care if my doctor was distracted by his faith, but I had other resources. I took some deep breaths, and tried not to let prejudice or fear get in the way of fact.

The practice's website was noticeably devoid of any spiritual references, as was my doctor's specific page. And I find that he went to top medical schools and residencies (even if it was in the 1960s), has acted as Director of Surgery for a local, well-renowned hospital, and has held official positions recently in the American Academy of Otolaryngology. Also, their website was a font of information about Moodle's surgery, including links to modern best practices.

Information has a way of calming me down. The more I know, the better I feel, with just about everything. And now I have information. I have good reason to believe that whatever the Wizard believes, he believes in modern medicine, too.

Belated Introductions

Yo, world.

I started this blog a few weeks ago, and I decided to just dive right in to what was happening around me. After all, the main point was to have a journal of recollections of what was going on. The blog forces me to explain it in a way that it is accessible to people who aren't with us while it is happening, so that a million years from now, it will still be accessible to me.

A few people have stopped by to read, and that's cool. If you can relate to my stories, please feel free to leave a comment and talk about it. If you don't feel like chatting, that's fine too. Lurkers are welcome.

Most of my stories have been about my young daughter, Moodle. Obviously, that is not her real name. Nor is my name Happy, nor is my husband's name Max Powers. Since she's our only child and still so young, this is all fresh and new to us, and all these little adventures seem big. You'll learn a lot about her, I'm sure. She'll be two in May.

But I'd like you to know a little about me, too. Hopefully, as Moodle gets bigger and more independent, my world will grow back to its pre-baby size, while my butt does the opposite. So, in honor of my 33rd birthday, I figured I'd spend a few hundred words talking about lovable, furry old me.

I'm a working mom. I'm a physicist for a national lab, and I like what I do. I better like what I do, because I spent an unreasonable amount of time in school for it. I work remotely, which is hard sometimes. I'm separated from all the people who are also excited about what I do, and that can sap my motivation. I work part time, and spend the balance of my workdays wishing we had a maid/cook/personal assistant, just like everyone else in the world who has to clean and cook and run errands. My daughter is in a preschool-style day care full time. I will wax poetic about how much I love day care another day.

We moved to Indiana less than a year ago. I'm not a midwesterner, nor am I a country girl, so this transition was a little hard for me. It was the right choice for my family, so I'm happy about it. But, since I'm not from here, and I don't technically work with anyone, it has felt a little isolated. I'm working on being a big girl and making friends. Maybe this blog will help.

I'm an atheist and a humanist. This can be a little scary in rural Indiana. I've often considered putting an "A" or a Darwin fish on my car, but decided against it because I'm too busy to deal with vandalism. But I do volunteer and give blood, and advocate for science education and the advancement of science and math education for girls. I give to charity, and do what I can to make the world a better, nicer place (that's the humanist part). This is not intended to be a blog about freethought parenting, but it might sneak in here and there. Especially since I live in Indiana, a state that seems intent on violating the Establishment clause whenever it can.

I knit and crochet really poorly, play the guitar even worse, and need to exercise more. My husband and I are learning ASL, because we started with baby signs, and just kept going. We're getting better with vocabulary, but are almost to the point where we will need some formal instruction to become fluent. I used to be an above-average swing dancer, but now I really have to be in bed by 10:45 or so to function the next day, and that doesn't fit with the swing crowd's schedule. I'm probably still good.

Overall, I'm pretty cool. I can't tell a joke, but I have a wicked sense of humor. I like beer and wine, but find I can only have a few drinks in a week before my body doth protest. If you find yourself hanging out with me for any period of time, you will witness me say something that causes an awkward silence to descend over a room. Most people put up with stuff like that because, like I said, I'm pretty cool.

I'm Happy. Nice to meet you.