General Discussion

1. Kekule's dream about a snake with its tail in its mouth leading him to figure out the 6 carbon ring structure
2. OH means an alcohol
3. Saponification means making soap

And, if you need to smell something contained in a flask, gently wave your hand over the opening to waft a bit of the aroma toward you. I had forgotten that, and got a huge blast of ammonia that nearly knocked me over.

I spent most of my career as a peds nurse practitioner, which struck a good balance between nursing and medicine. I enjoyed the independence and problem solving aspect of it, the nursing "whole patient" orientation, and also was grateful for not having to be the one to break bad news to parents about dire diagnoses. I was happy to leave that part to my physician colleagues.

I worked until 1 month shy of my 70th birthday, at which time, due to my dislike of electronic medical records, COVID, and people wanting telemedicine visits, which I do not consider safe, it was suddenly time to be done. The only part I miss is new babies and first-time parents. That was always my favorite. I love to teach, and new parents are usually eager learners because there's so much they don't know.