I can't do it all

Oh my gosh. My head is spinning.

I know I wrote a blog like this a couple of years ago but I am feeling this all over again. I am so stressed out that I can't even stand it. If you are old enough, you will remember the old commercial, "Calgon, take me away!" That is how I am feeling right now. I am swamped at work. I am swamped at home. I am swamped in all other things, too. I mean usually I can handle work and I can handle home but all the other things are putting a wrench in my finely oiled machine.

I can't tell if it is because it is summer, but work has been so out of control. Summer brings different stresses. At the office, I see most of the younger patients. So everyone that is in school wants to get their teeth cleaned in the summer. That is great, and I am thrilled that they are getting it done here, but this also means that I am doing a ton of checks. This is usually not a big deal, but I have been doing a bunch of smaller procedures. That is a filling on Bobby, two fillings on Suzie. Not that I mind those either, but these appointments usually don't have a lot of wiggle room. I like to see about 6 patients a day because that means appointments are about 1-2 hours a piece, and that is tons of wiggle room. If I am seeing 10-12 patients, man I am a running around. You all know how it is. You have 30 minutes to do 18-MO. You seat the patient on time and do a couple of minutes of talking. Then you get started. A little block of Lidocaine. You go and do a couple of hygiene checks. You come back and you ask if they’re feeling numb. They say yes and point to the back of their cheek. We all know that they have anesthetic in their cheek and none of it hit the IA nerve. So you give them a booster. You hit the bull’s-eye and they are numb. And just as you begin to crank up the handpiece, the front desk calls letting you know that your next one is here. See, you didn't start the handpiece until the 25 minute mark of a 30 minute appointment). Now you are just begging for someone not to show up. At the end of the day, you are exhausted from running around like this. Then you sit at your desk and realize you haven't written a single chart up in the last three days. Arghhhh! Calgon, take me away!

I am getting the broken window fixed, getting the new safe bolted to the floor, and getting the computer guy out here to set up my new (awesome MacBook Pro) laptop to work with EagleSoft. Then there’s having the floor guys to come back to redo the floors after ordering new product and the like. I have insurance forms to fill out. I had to call the detective because there are unauthorized transactions on my account, and then a call to the fraud department at the bank (yeah, that is easy, trying to get someone on the phone at Bank of America. I am on the phone at least 10 minutes before I even talk to a person). Oh my gosh. I am dying here.

I go home and all the kids are wound up like toys. I get accosted when I walk in, "Daddy, can we do X?"(X = swimming, go for a bike ride, throw the ball, play the Wii.) Again, I love doing this, but this along with work stuff is exhausting. I fell asleep on the couch yesterday afternoon at about 6:15, after we went in the pool. Then my 21-month-old came over and wacked me in the stomach and woke me saying, "Daddy, daddy, daddy."

And there is still more stuff. Because it rains everyday here, the lawn needs to be mowed at least once a week, then edged. Hedges need to be trimmed and the weeds need to be whacked. Then my mower pooped out on me on Tuesday. You have got to be kidding me! I had to run after work to try to get my mower to the shop before they close at 5 (and it is across town). And my son, who now mowing lawns, needs the mower to get fixed fast because his lawns need to be mowed. Can you feel the stress? My "honey do" list is daunting and it keeps piling up. The pool is looking a little green because of all the rain, and oh yeah, I am the pool guy too. But I have no time to run to the pool store to get chemicals.

Then my poor wife asked me something simple like, "What do you think about sending the boys to basketball camp next week?" And what she gets out of her loving husband that she promised to love ‘til death do us part is, "I don't [bleep] care." I feel like I am failing at all things.

On Friday I am going to Gainesville to see Gordon Christensen speak. I have to get up at 5am to drive to G-ville to make it to the lecture on time. But you know what? I am so looking forward to the drive.

What gets me down the most is that I have been so busy I have not been able to relish in the good things that are going on. I think I forgot to tell you that I have an article being published in AGD Impact in September (trust me, I will remind you). I am so excited about that. I found some back-ups from my stolen computer. My kids and wife love me. I got a thank you card today. I really love thank you cards. Someone liked us enough to get the card out of the drawer, write it, find out my address, put a stamp on it, and send it. That makes my week.

I hope you all are having a good week. I know life can get crazy. And I mean really crazy. If it is, just remember to think about all the good things that are going on. I have to finish this so I can run home and go for a bike ride with my kids.

Have a great day,
john