Let’s start with the links.

I am a big fan of Atul Gawande.  His latest article in the New Yorker, Letting Go, had me riveted.  If you are familiar with my blog, you know that I am a big proponent of knowing when to say when where advanced medical treatments are concerned.

There were many passages that resonated with me, but this one did so the most:

The difference between standard medical care and hospice is not the difference between treating and doing nothing, she explained. The difference was in your priorities. In ordinary medicine, the goal is to extend life. We’ll sacrifice the quality of your existence now—by performing surgery, providing chemotherapy, putting you in intensive care—for the chance of gaining time later. Hospice deploys nurses, doctors, and social workers to help people with a fatal illness have the fullest possible lives right now. That means focussing on objectives like freedom from pain and discomfort, or maintaining mental awareness for as long as possible, or getting out with family once in a while. Hospice and palliative-care specialists aren’t much concerned about whether that makes people’s lives longer or shorter.

Yes.  That exactly.

Next, I wanted to share a YouTube video that I saw at Head Nurse.   It’s called Orthopedia vs. Anesthesia and it touches on the single-mindedness some specialists have.   I laugh out loud every time I watch it.  As Jo says, it’s well worth the 3 minutes and 22 seconds that it will take to watch it.  Go!

If you haven’t read the Letter from Afghanistan on GruntDoc’s blog, you need to go do that.  Also well worth the few minutes it will take you to read it.

Lastly, there’s a new girl in my life.  She was born on July 22nd in the wee hours of the morning.  I went through the labor and delivery completely med and epidural-free.  Since there are apparently no medals handed out at the end of such an accomplishment, all one really gets are bragging rights, which I am going to take full advantage of right here.  :)

I am the luckiest mama in the world :)