O Tannenbaum.

How lovely are thy branches. . . .

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This weekend I:

•  Looked at the Calendar and felt bummed that I have to work at Grady on Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. (Bleccchh.)
• Looked at the calendar and couldn't believe that it was already time to be thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.
• Played hide and seek with Isaiah and Zachary on Saturday morning.
• Thought about my friend Davina and her son, C.J.
• Went to a baby blessing for my med school classmate-slash-ob/gyn Tracey's super cute twin sons.

• Went to CNN to do a segment on avoiding colds over the holidays (even though I was majorly feeling like I was coming down with something while doing it. . . . )
•  Officially came down with a nasty head cold. (Ha.)
• Wondered why people, even doctors like me, refer to colds as "head colds." 
• Went out to dinner (despite my nasty head cold) with one of my favorite people/college sorority sisters/bffs whose name, "Joy," fits her perfectly.
• Felt bad when Isaiah started crying and asking me not to go out before leaving to meet Joy.
• Felt better after explaining to him that "Mommies need playdates, too"-- which he seemed to actually get.
• Commented to myself that I couldn't believe that so many Christmas decorations were up already while driving to the restaurant.
• Toasted with Joy, who had made it out of the house from her hubby and two sons, to "being grown" over a delicious red wine blend before dinner.
• Laughed when I told Joy about how Harry says that at a certain age (our age), all moms call "red wine with a girlfriend" their idea of a par-tay. (Totally true.)
• Kept talking nonstop with Joy over our red wine so much that the server had to come back three times. (Oh, those Mommy playdates!)
• Split a steak salad with Joy, who unfortunately preferred "medium" to my "somewhere between medium rare and medium."
• Felt my mouth watering when the steak on the salad arrived more "medium rare" than "medium."
• Was openly happy when Joy said she didn't want to send it back after my wimpy offer to do so. (Told you she was a "joy.")
• Came home and held Harry's hand for a little while before zonking out on Saturday.
• Woke up feeling like my head was stuffed with cotton balls and like my nose was a leaky faucet.
• Decided that this was why people say "head cold."
• Ate a breakfast that I could barely taste.
• Rubbed my nose completely raw with paper towels (since I was out of Kleenex and it was the closest thing in the kitchen.)
• Dragged into Grady to round with a nose that looked exactly like Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer.
• Heard a nurse tell me that my nose "looks exactly like Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer."
• Heard a patient tell me that my nose "looks like that cartoon character on the Puffs Plus commercial."
• Heard another patient ask me "Did you wash yo' hands? Cawse you sho' look sick."
• Wore a mask on rounds after that last comment--which I hate doing since it feels like I'm less connected to patients that way.
• Decided that masks also make my nose run even more which, if the patients could see, they'd realize is much, much grosser than hearing me sniffle. Much.
• Sat next to a patient and helped her do Word Finds while she took chemotherapy.
• Scratched another patient's back.
• Ran out of a patient's room mid-sentence due to a coughing paroxysm that I was about to have.
• Went to visit one of my favorite Grady elder patients of all time (aka an "F.P. all-star") after running into her daughter during my coughing paroxysm. 
• Felt touched when her daughter said to me in the hallway, "Momma was just asking about you, Dr. Mannings!"
• Felt warm inside when I went to see the patient and she squeezed my hand tight and then kissed the back of it saying, "Hey, baby! I was jest asking about you."
• Talked to the patient about Thanksgiving and Christmas, and about our favorite Christmas songs.
• Downloaded and played her favorite Christmas song for her right there on the spot--Nat King Cole singing "O Tannenbaum." (Go iTunes.)
• Stood quietly at the bedside holding my iPhone with an outstretched arm for the entire song even though I had eight more patients to see, was feeling sick, and needed to get back to rounding.
• Forgot how sick I felt when I saw her start crying with closed eyes listening to "O Tannenbaum" coming from my iPhone.
• Forgot how sick I felt when I saw her daughter start crying while watching her mom crying while listening to "O Tannenbaum" coming from my iPhone.
• Decided that Nat King Cole's slow and controlled voice was a good reminder for me to slow down.
• Hugged a nurse who gave me a box of tissues to keep in my pocket.
• Thanked a patient for trusting me to take care of her after she told me that she'd asked the ambulance to "Please take her to Grady Hospital."
• Quietly vowed to not let her down.
• Talked to a resident about how dressing professionally helps patients feel more confident in their doctors.
• Listened to the resident as she tried to explain otherwise.
• Asked if she could please "Do it for me until she reached the point of wanting to do it for her patients."
• Got confused while trying to enter my notes onto the electronic medical record.
• Heard Nat King Cole in my head again and remembered to slow down.
• Left the hospital and, even though I felt sick, decided to skip to my car.
• Remembered that I'd had excellent parking lot karma while standing at the elevator, and then skipped to my ground level parking space.
• Stopped at Panera to get some chicken noodle soup for my head cold and my soul.
• Came home to an empty house.
• Fell asleep on the couch with all of my clothes on before I could even eat the soup.
• Felt appreciative when Harry continued to hold down the kid fort while I slept.
• Thought about the fact that I have to work on Thanksgiving and Christmas this year while eating my reheated chicken soup.
• Thought about what some of my patients might be dealing with on Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.
• Decided that I was more okay with it than not okay with it this year.
• Felt thankful to have a job at Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.
• Felt thankful to have a job that I love at Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.
• Ate gingerbread men cookies with the kids.
• Thought about my friend Davina and her son C.J. again.
• Prayed.
• Downloaded the rest of the Nat King Cole Christmas album and listened to the whole thing.
• Listened to "O Tannenbaum" twice. . . .
• This time, I cried a little bit, too.

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Slow down and listen to this. . . . .happy holiday season. . . .