Living in the Sauna

Michigan is undergoing some crazy weather this week - temperatures have soared and the humidity must be about 8012%. It's unbearable. I don't have air conditioning, and tonight I came home to find that the heat had killed four of my beloved Amano shrimp.

So let's talk about Heat Stroke, kids, just for a minute, until my brain figures out what it wants to write about.

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, "Heat stroke is the most severe form of heat illness and is a life-threatening emergency."

One of the tricky things about heat stroke is that symptoms may vary widely between individuals. However, some things to look for are the following:

* headache
* dizziness
* disorientation, agitation or confusion
* sluggishness or fatigue
* seizure
* hot, dry skin that is flushed but not sweaty
* a high body temperature
* loss of consciousness
* rapid heart beat
* hallucinations

Additionally, if you are a shrimp in my aquarium, you may experience reddening of your carapace, followed by rapid death. [sigh]

I had a job interview yesterday for a position having absolutely nothing to do with nursing. The questions of a.) why I wanted to be a nurse, b.) why I wanted to do tech support, and c.) how has it happened that I've had such a "diverse" work experience?

Good questions, all, and none of them terribly easy to answer within the confines of a job interview. The first one is probably of more interest to you than the others, and I'll try to keep it brief. As much as I keep saying, "I hate people," I really don't hate persons. There's a difference. As a group, as a species, I'm not overly fond of what people do. However, as individuals, I tend to like almost everyone I meet. In the emergency room, everything is terribly, terribly individual. It's all about what That Person Needs Right Now.

I can do that. I want to save the individuals.

Anyhow. It's time to get back into the habit of writing again, so that my poor, beleaguered editor at Experience doesn't have a stroke of her own sort.

Welcome to summer, folks; hope you brought your own A/C.