Finer Points of Formalin

I only slept about 4 1/2 hours last night, and those were well fragmented at that, so I've only skimmed through my lectures for tomorrow instead of the in-depth coverage I normally give them, all so I can bring you this special report. Don't worry. I'll pay for it in the morning.

An unexpected and wholly delightful (NOT) consequence of my gross anatomy lab is what appears to be a formalin allergy. Formalin (a blend of formaldehyde and alcohols) is what I like to call Crazy-Ass Toxic. In fact, the ventilation system at Western is so good, recirculating the room every 4 minutes or so, that I'd only qualify the aroma as "moderately strong". That being said, OSHA acknowledges that a "strong" odor is probably pushing the 2 ppm concentration, one that is officially, as I said, Crazy-Ass Toxic. OSHA's standards are based on 15 minute exposures. We're in there with our faces an inch away from the body for anywhere from 2 to 4 hours. So I wear protective eyewear. I double up on gloves--1 latex on the inside and 1 nitrile on the outside--we wear scrubs and then a full length lab coat over the top of those.

But despite all this and my 2 showers/day, I developed a hot, pink rash with a texture akin to that of burlap on my neck after just 4 days of this. Awesome. A formalin-vapor allergy. It seems that my mineral makeup, which sits on the surface of my skin rather than absorbs into it, is enough of a barrier to spare my face the same fate.

The solution: pre-treat with hydrocortisone and tie up the affected area with a scarf. Not having a scarf that I was willing to sacrifice to this environment (and P.S., it's about a billion degrees in that lab, so I'm really loving this whole bundling-up thing), I've resorted to a red bandanna left over from a cowboy-themed Camp UKANDU a few years back.

So I'm ready. For dissection and/or a cattle drive.

And it's working. My neck is about 80% of its former self.

In other news, it's gotten hot enough recently that I spent a full day with the A/C on. Now I'm somewhat anxious over the potential cost of this A/C, despite setting the thermostate at 78. I've heard about costs ranging from a couple hundred each month to a whopping $900 each month. So I use the ceiling fan as much as possible.

And finally tonight, Gunther The Neighborhood Megalomaniac may have gotten his come-uppance last night, when J.D., a neighbor's un-neutered bullmastiff (?) decided to defend himself when Gunther started throwing his weight around in J.D.'s face. After I was able to detach him from J.D.'s jaws, the end result was that Gunther was covered in J.D.'s spit and was henceforth confined to the patio since he couldn't play nicely.

Hey. Maybe J.D. could also take care of our little Kim Jong-Il problem...