Laughs from the Day

Do you ever wish you could see yourself, to watch yourself as other people perceive you?

Today, I had two experiences that I wished exactly that. I wanted to see how I reacted as I bet I would have laughed at myself, at seeing my reactions to the situations.

Bathroom humor...I'm working at a hospital built in the 1930's. The facilities are old. What else would you expect from a building from that era? The hospital has been through huge expansion projects, though, and some portions of the hospital are much different from others. Today, I spent my day in one of the oldest parts of the hospital. I went to the bathroom. I sat down on the toilet, and the toilet was much lower than I was anticipating. I felt like I was going to fall down or into the toilet. Neither is an experience I particularly want to have. So, there I am in the bathroom, flailing my arms so that I don't fall. I wish I could have seen it...

In the afternoon, I sat through a 30 minute CPR refresher segment. I'd just finished a 15 minute break immediately prior and was still nursing the Pepsi I'd bought to help keep me awake. The instructor was going over some of the changes that have been made to the CPR protocol, and I was paying attention (for once, I know) as there were changes I wasn't familiar with. For this particular change, the instructor was talking about how the landmark for chest compressions had switched from the xyphoid process to the nipple line. There was a nurse in the class questioning this, particularly in reference to well-endowed women. As I was taking a swig of my Pepsi, the instructor made a comment about how this landmark still stands as nipples "go east and west, not north and south." I came thisclose to spraying that mouthful of Pepsi out of my mouth and nose, and all over the leather coat of the guy sitting in front of me. I'm sure it would have been funny to see that play out.