The Word Of The Day: Google+

So I went to put up a new post, and when I started the editor I use (I went back to Blogger's default editor a couple of weeks back), and I was greeted with the whole Blogger/Google-Plus (Google+) enjoinment message.I figured, "why not?" It makes sense to consolidate some of this stuff. In doing so, I suspect some things might look a little bit different. And if it does, it shouldn't be a bad thing by any means. If it is, I have 30 days to switch back. We'll see.

Some of my grades are available. Organic Chemistry: B. Biology I: B. Statistics: unknown as of yet. I suspect it will be around the same ballpark, though.

I am not surprised at the Biology grade; it could have been better, but I stumbled at the very end of the semester because I worked like a dog to get ready for the Organic Chemistry final, which was 10 points better than the mid-term. I was extremely happy about that, and I was just as happy about the final grade. Now I'm awaiting the Statistics grade to see how I did there; I am not sure how the final exam went, but I can say that it was a bit more challenging than I would have liked because of all of the cumulative material the professor put on it. That said, I think I may be okay. As long as it was better than a C-, I'm not unhappy, and I think it will be.

Yesterday and the day before I spent with my mom. She is dealing with some significant medical issues, one of them being a condition known as Myelodysplaysia. It is a syndrome where bone marrow becomes increasingly unable to produce red blood cells, and it is classified into different types. I don't know which type she was diagnosed with, but she has been dealing with it for close to 15 years. One of the side-disorders that goes along with it is pernicious anemia, which she has. For a considerable amount of time she has been getting  Procrit to help her produce more red cells, but when she saw the hematologist this past Monday we were told that it needed to be stopped because it has become increasingly ineffective for her. Yesterday she received a blood transfusion - 2 units over about 6 hours. I stayed with her while she was having the transfusion. She slept for the most part, and I read or listened to the news.

I'd forgotten how tiring it was to sit and do almost nothing. And I think my mom got a good night's sleep when she got home.

On the was back to her house after she was released, we were on the highway getting ready to turn off at her exit when about a quarter mile ahead of us a vehicle went over the guard rail and into the median. The vehicle (a Jeep Grand Cherokee) rolled end-over-end at least 4 times before coming to a stop. When it went up over the rail there was one of those large, high-visibility road warning signs ("buckle up", "click it or ticket", "texting is illegal", etc.). The sign got bashed as the car went over.

It was a spectacular sight. My mom and I were chatting and we both happened to look over at the same time. We both saw the same thing and couldn't believe it. So I pulled over, as did a vehicle in front of me, and called 911. The other driver that stopped also called, I think. But we both went over - as did a number of other people who stopped - to see what was up with the driver. My Mom, to her credit, stayed in the car.

The Jeep was on its roof. When we got to it, some of the other people there were trying to right it - the worst thing anyone could do under those circumstances as it was unstable and things could have become much worse for the driver, not to mention the problems that the people who were trying to move it could have brought on themselves. As it turned out, there was an EMT-Basic and a nurse that had stopped as well, which was all fine and good, but since none of us had rescue equipment, it didn't mean a thing.

I got down as close as I could to talk to the driver - he was conscious, he could wiggle his toes and fingers, and he didn't remember what was happening prior to the crash. I'm pretty sure he was belted but from what I could see his airbags had both deployed and both his windshield and rear window were popped out. And I stayed with him until Fire and Rescue arrived. State Police got there almost immediately after I called, and the trooper was good once he knew there were medical people on scene. When he was finally extricated from the vehicle - it took about 10 minutes to extricate him - EMS determined that he needed to go to a trauma center. So the highway got shut down for a landing zone to be set up. And we got out pretty quick after that.

My mom had expected that the driver was killed, but she was totally blown away when I told her he was alive and talking to me. She was also pretty impressed with how quickly everyone arrived; I don't think she'd seen anything like that. And it was a bit of excitement she didn't expect added to her day.

For that matter, I didn't expect it to be added to mine, either.