AWKWARD

I had a totally awkward moment today. I will preface this by saying that Duke Raleigh is a SMALL hospital. I have come into contact with almost every employee at least once, so it is weird when I notice someone new. This morning I woke up for work at the usual time but HAD to take a shower. Typically I take them at night, but I sweat profusely during my sleep last night... This also requires some explanation. We have pretty much decided to turn off the air conditioning because our last bill was over $200. Ridiculous! So instead we will sweat. For those who know me: NO. I have not been sleeping in my usual get up of sweat pants and sweat shirt with the hood over my head and 5 billion blankets. I have been instead sporting underwear and a tank top with a sheet. I am about one more night of sweat away from going completely comando. Sorry if that is "TMI". Despite the alteration of my morning routine, I still arrived at work early and was able to spend some quiet time in my car before having to clock-in at 6:45. If you are wondering why I didn't just clock-in early, it is because we are penalized if we work before our shift because we "weren't asked to come in early." As I was sitting in my car, another car speedily pulled in next to me. I made eye contact with the driver, who happened to be a young man dressed in casual clothing. I thought it was odd that 1. I have never seen him before, and 2. that he was dressed this way. The situation quickly turned awkward as I realized that my mental guessing game of who-he-was or what-department-he-was in, was accompanied by me staring. Let me rephrase that, it turned awkward when I realized the staring was mutual and that we had in fact, made eye contact. I hate when that happens and quickly looked away, hoping I would never see him again.

At 10 am I went down to the OR to watch a laproscopic gallstone removal. As I was waiting for the nurse, I saw that man again, this time dressed in scrubs and sipping on coffee in the OR. Greatttttt. I was rescued by the scrub nurse and went into the room to watch the hour long procedure which was actually pretty cool. The doctor made an incision in the woman's belly button, inflated her with gas to have better visibility, inserted three tools into small holes in the upper right abdomen, and used a video camera to navigate. The removal was done while looking at a screen, and the doctor "played around" with the camera and showed me all of the woman's internal organs. Guess what, a liver really looks like liver you would buy at the store. Gross, huh? The doctor was a nice older man with long hair who insisted on teaching me about 70's music during the procedure. It was funny. After he and the surgical tech stitched the woman up, I headed back to my floor to work. When I arrived to the elevator, I found that I was not the only one needing a lift. I was accompanied by an older gentleman with a linen cart, and of course, the young man from earlier, still dressed in his OR gear, and with a lunch box. We all got on in silence. The old man got off first, and then it was just me and the doctor man. I tried to avoid eye contact and kept glancing at the top of the elevator as if that would somehow make it climb the building faster. I have no idea why I was so intimidated/quiet. I am usually a talker and have no problem chatting up people I run into. He broke the silence and said, "I am surprised they let you get away with wearing Carolina Blue at a Duke Hospital." Instead of taking it is a joke I replied, "well actually I have to wear this color. It is called Ceil Blue." He then said something about how yes, the different floors and departments wear different colors to differentiate themselves. As the elevator stopped, I practically ran out and said something to the extent of "Have a good day." I then realized I had turned the wrong way and had gotten off on the wrong floor. Bahahaha. So dumb!!! I don't know why I acted like such a girl or was so awkward about it. I mean, he was just a cute, young, surgeon, right?? Jokes, jokes. But seriously, I do NOT act like that around strangers. I made myself laugh at how embarrassed I was. Anddd if I am being serious, I don't think I would ever be interested in a doctor. It is funny how the science of medicine is so foggy, yet many doctors appear to be black and white. I need more mystery in my life. Who knows though... I may still be a nun and collect babies from the foreign lands I visit :)

In other news, our new friend Ponni made us an amazing indian dinner tonight. Her and her fiance Kevin just moved to Raleigh from California so that Kevin can go to graduate school. They are really sweet and cute. I can't wait to get to know them better!