Blister Beetles and Botulism

It's been a while since I posted, but to be honest, now that I am back to work my life is pretty uneventful. Since it's been so hot, Eric and I spend a lot of time at the local pool on the weekends. This weekend however, I wanted to venture out and discover what Texas has to offer. On Saturday night, Eric and I went to a Round Rock Express minor league baseball game. It cost $10 for admission but after a corndog, onion rings, nachos, 2 large sodas, crackerjacks, and a bag of warm, shelled peanuts later...it was more like a $60 date. It took all that I had to resist dippin dots. It ended up being a pretty exciting game. They won 9-3. We were on the 3rd base line so we had to keep on our toes especially since we didn't a glove. Our plan was to pop open our golf umbrella to shield us if a foul ball came flying our way...luckily we didn't have to test our reflexes or poke anyone's eye out in the process.

On Sunday, we spent another 2 hrs at the pool. The truck read 103* when we left the pool but cooled down to a refreshing 98* by time we got home a few minutes later. Regardless....it was a hot one and Eric ended up getting a migrane later in the day which I attribute to the grueling heat. After the pool, we took the B-dog to Lake Austin for a walk. In case you've been tracking the whole Lady Bird Johnson stuff that's flooding the news, she was responsible for creating the trail that encircles Lake Austin that we walked on. It's really not a lake...its just the section of the Colorado River (NOT The Colorado River) that runs through the city. Actually, they're thinking of renaming it Lake Lady Bird...lame huh? I won't go back if they change the name. jk.

The newest exciting news is that while Eric and I were walking Bentley a week or two ago, Eric exclaimed "What the hell did you do to the back of your leg?" I didn't panic too much since my legs always seem to get red and itchy when I work out. But upon closer examination, I discovered that that I had a trail of 4 blisters or so on the back of my left knee. They lingered for a couple of days and then resulting in a nasty reddish-brown scar. Hopefully it will fade. It seems as though I am the lucky recipient of an encounter with a blister beetle. great. Read more about them here.

http://citybugs.tamu.edu/FastSheets/Ent-2006.html

Oh...did you hear about the recalled chili dog sauce?? Apparently it contained a toxin made by a bacterium that causes botulism...a muscle-paralyzing disease. Wouldn't you know that about 3 days before the recall, I bought the very first can of chili dog sauce of my life...heck I didn't even know that they canned the stuff until Eric pointed it out at H-E-B. Wouldn't you know that it was one of the 10 brand names that were recalled, Austex Hot Dog Chili Sauce, 10-ounce can, UPC Barcode 30300 99533. Luckily, my "Best By" date was NOT April 30, 2009 through May 22, 2009. Well, I don't know that for certain since I threw the can away but the 2nd unopened can that we bought the same day didn't match the recalled sell by date. And so far no: double or blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, dry mouth and muscle weakness that moves down the body...but it could take up to 2 weeks before the symptoms progress...its been about a week....another week and I'm home free! This stuff is so potent that they recommend immediately throwing all cans away without opening them. "The toxin is so potent, if they get it on their hands or it sprays in their face, it could make them ill." 2 of the 4 victims are from Texas!?! Here's more about it. http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/18/chilisauce.botulism.ap/index.html

Well time for bed. Till next time...if there is a next time.....

"Dewey Suspension"
Brookside Gardens, MD

I survived my 1st week!

I began my new job as a PET/CT technologist at a local out-patient clinic in Austin. They have 15 locations throughout the Austin area; 6 sites have nuclear medicine and only 1 site has a fixed PET/CT (meaning that it stays on site at all times). I still can't believe that I got this job especially considering the few PET opportunities out there and the rather skimpy nuclear medicine market in Austin. Day #1 was really hectic...a lot of information at once...memory overload. Day #2 was even worse because I was expected to remember everything from Day #1 plus there was tons more to learn. On top of this, they're swamped. I thought that I did a lot of patients at GT. We averaged around 6-7 patients a day at GT. Here, they average around 11...almost 2X the patient load. However, their facility is absolutely textbook. The set-up is really ideal.

For all of you that are familiar with a PET facility, you'd appreciate a brief description. When the patient arrives, a paramedic starts the IV and checks the patient's blood sugar in a designated IV set-up room. They begin drinking the barium there and change into scrubs, gowns, robes, what have you? While the paramedic is injecting the IV, the PET tech (there's 3 of us)takes a detailed medical hx. Then, they're moved into 1 of 3 uptake rooms. Here, the PET tech injects the FDG and the patient relaxes in either a recliner or stretcher. Oh...the uptake rooms have a space heater to prevent brown fat and PET has its own separate hot lab. And wait...there's a bathroom right next to the uptake rooms...actually 2 bathrooms (one for staff/one for patients)...very convenient. The scan room is huge with lots of room for storage. Not only that, each uptake room and the scanning room has its own window (Now that's luxury!). So, although the patient load is high, the set-up helps to keep the workflow smooth. There's hardly a moment when the scanner is idle. It's a well oiled machine!

I would have to admit, I really dreaded Day #3 but it turned out to be the turning point for me. Everything started coming together and by day 4 and 5, I was scanning (pushing IV iodine contrast...nuc med techs can do that in TX!) and injecting independently. But I have to admit that I've never been so happy to see the weekend (except when I was teaching of course)!


The weekend was pretty uneventful. …a lot of relaxing poolside. Eric and I got annual pool passes for the low price of $25 each. In Kensington, MD Eric and I looked into getting a pool pass but the initial sign up fee was around $280 and then the season pass was an additional fee...Ric Diculus (SNL skit)! I had to question the lifeguard, thinking that he must have misunderstood me. Nope...only 25 bucks. We also have a selection from 3 neighboring pools, one of which stays open year round (and it's outdoor and kept above 65* all year round). That sounds a little chilly for my taste. We also went biking on the trails again. The evidence of the local creek flooding was apparent and the water reservoir was also bursting at its seams. Somehow we're always blessed to live by a large network of hike/bike trails. It must be fate. We've used them 3 or 4 times already! We also went to a local bar and listened to some really good live music from local singer/songwriters. Eric and I really enjoyed it. Hopefully, he'll have a lot of opportunities to start "playing out" here in Austin especially considering it's the "Live Music Capitol of the World".

The weekend went way too quickly and here it is Monday. I think that the US has it all wrong. We should work 4 days and have three days off like Europe. Maybe we'll move there next year! Well, I gotta go eat. I'm going to leave you with a photograph from my portfolio. I was going to post the whole kit and caboodle at once but since I won't have much time for photography since I'm working full-time again, its better that I trickle in a few at a time. For those of you that didn't know, I had my 1st photography exhibit at Georgetown Hospital during the month of May. It was a huge success. I displayed 25 photographs and sold 10. I almost broke even. Now I have around 15 to jump-start my next showing! This photograph is one of my favorites. I took it during our Oct. 2006 trip to Colorado. I titled it "A Rocky Pose" but its real name is "Balanced Rock". It's one of many red rock formations in The Garden of the Gods, located in Colorado Springs, CO.

"A Rocky Pose"