So today is Administrative Professionals Day. As the high level admin here, I took one for the team and ordered flowers for everybody. I used an online flower site.

Little did I know that this site sends its bouquets in boxes, unassembled!! So I had to assemble 11 sets of Alstroemaria this afternoon...oh the irony. Anyway, in the process I discovered one of the perks of working in the health care industry. On my 9th set of flowers, I sliced my left index fingertip open pretty soundly with the scissors, and wasn't sure what to do to stop the bleeding. (Small cut, but lots of blood...) Who should wander into the kitchen but the Manager of Hospital Development, who of course has a nursing degree and also happens to be a Mom. In a flash she created a makeshift butterflied tape thing to "seal" the wound, gauzed it, and then stuck another band aid on top. After profusely thanking her as a coworker, boss, nurse, and mother (don't worry Mom, you're still my favorite nurse-mother!), I was then faced with the dilemma of finishing my flower arranging duties without getting my little war-wound wet. Perk # 2: an ample supply of surgical gloves.

But I also happened to have my own pair. We're filming a training video for a specific type of donation: Donation after Cardiac Death, or DCD. It's a slightly different and less common occurence than donation after Brain Death, so the video is to familiarize our staff with the differences. I volunteered to act in it and got slated with the role of grieving sister (so, in case you were having an existential crisis about whether or not I could cry on cue, then know this -- I can and did. I credit the staff members who were playing themselves, though, because their obvious sympathy and support is what made it real enough for me to cry). In any case, we filmed in a nearby hospital's ICU and OR and I sneaked a pair of bright blue surgical gloves, since they're handy (har har) for just about everything under the sun. And I happened to be wearing the coat we filmed in, the gloves forgotten in an inside pocket, to work today.

The DCD video will be shown at the staff meeting next Tuesday. I'm thinking of dressing up Academy Award styles...

I also have to give a shout-out to my friend Noah, who dedicated 4 hours of uncompensated time to editing the film for us, thereby giving me a shotgun education in the wonders of Final Cut Pro. Thanks Noah!