I has surfaced...

Hello faithful readers - I have been a very lax sci blogger. In fact, some would say I had fallen off the face of the earth since August. Well for all intents and purposes I had, I consider it a well need vaykay or more accurately post stress funk, truely considered walking away from science as my psyche and ego had taken a bit of a battering, but I bend I don't break. This time it was was an extended held pose, consequently I am well stretched and have started applying for jobs again in the science field of mine - some not. Just thought I would let you all know I am alive and am doggy paddling again.

Just to keep you remembering how cool science is - it even does christmas:

Paediatr Anaesth. 2004 Dec;14(12):1016-20.

A Christmas tree in the larynx.

Philip J, Bresnihan M, Chambers N.

Department of Anaesthesia and Department of Ear, Nose and Throat, Princess Margaret Children's Hospital, Perth, WA, Australia. jennyphilip@hotmail.com

A 2 year-old boy presented with acute upper airway obstruction following a 15-month history of noisy breathing and hoarseness. An urgent laryngotracheal bronchoscopy was performed following inhalational induction of anesthesia. Using a fiberoptic bronchoscope, visualization of the larynx through a laryngeal mask airway revealed a flat plastic Christmas tree embedded within granulomatous cords causing almost complete obstruction and requiring tracheostomy prior to extraction. Twelve days later, the tracheostomy was successfully decannulated with the child's voice beginning to normalize. The family remembered the decoration from Christmas celebrations 2 years prior and recalled a coughing episode that predated the onset of hoarseness.

You gotta love it.

E.