Dear Readers:
I have a wonderful wife and 3 of the best kids in the world. I have a great job as a respiratory therapist (RT) and I love to write. I have an education and have had many experiences, some inspiring, some inspirational, some downright ridiculous, and some funny. I cover just about any topic related to the airway.
Please note that while all posts on this blog are based on real incidences, names and places may be exaggerated so this blogger does not violate confidentiality of individuals and the workplace. Facetious posts are labeled as humor. This blog is meant to be educational in a fun way.
I am an asthmatic, so that puts me in a neat position where I have a little more empathy for my short-of-breath patients than the average Joe. So many of my writings may focus on not just advice for the RT, but for the patient as well.
I will base as much as I can on this blog on facts, as facts cannot lie. There may be some who disagree with me on some topics, although keep in mind this is my place to share my opinion. However, as with anything in the medical field, this is an art based on a science. If you so happen to have better wisdom, or disagree with my opinion, feel free to drop a comment, or email me at any time.
Feel free to quote the RT Cave at your will. However, this blog is meant to be a source to greater wisdom, and therefore I will, where appropriate and possible, provide links to my sources so you may do further reading. This should help if you're doing research for school or work and want to further your wisdom.
Instead of using space on this blog to alert you of the latest asthma wisdom or cool opinions I've found on the Internet, I find that Twitter works well for this. You can see what I find interesting in the blogosphere by clicking on the "My Tweets" tab.
I love to write, and love to teach, so I will spend many of my free hours -- when the kids are tucked in their beds -- right here blogging away. I do this as a goodwill offering, so all the money made off of advertising on this site is absorbed right back into the site. So if you have a product, or a web page, or blog, you want advertised, or simply want to donate a buck, just drop me a line. In this way we can help each other out.
I am also privileged to be an asthma expert for MyAsthmaCentral.com. There I provide the lighthearted view of what it's like living with asthma. There are two purposes for my posts here: 1) to show other asthmatics they are not alone, and 2) to share asthma wisdom.
While RT Cave is meant to be more of an educational site, my blog Hard luck Asthma is where I write about my experiences living with asthma on a day to day basis.
I will link to all my other medical blogposts in the right sidebar.
While I reserve the right to go out of sequence as an idea strikes me, I will try to stick with the following agenda:
- Monday: Asthma wisdom day, or a look at my latest post at MyAsthmaCentral.com or other asthma wit
- Tuesday: My answer to your asthma/COPD queries
- Wednesday: RT wisdom day
- Thursday: COPD/ chronic lung wisdom, or my answer to your lung queries
- Friday: My answer to your RT Querries.
- Saturday: Open topic day, feel free to email me with your suggestions
- Sunday: Philosophical discussion or On the Political Front
Every day, as of May 24, 2010, I will have a word of the day on the bottom of each post. A better vocabulary makes a smarter person.
I, Rick Frea am the creator, publisher, editor and chief writer for this blog. Jane Sage is my mentor and will occasionally drop a line. If you would like to share your experiences, be it whimsical or humorous, feel free to email me and I will publish your work.
Again, this blog contains a combination of satire, irreverent humor, facts and serious writings for a combination of audiences which include, but are not limited to, respiratory therapists, nurses, doctors, asthmatics, chronic lungers, and parents and relatives of the above mentioned.
I (we) do not try to be politically correct here at the RT Cave. When you worry about what others think you stop being who you are, and when you do that you start to tailor yourself to everybody so they like you. I don't want that, and therefore I write from the heart.
Not everyone who reads this blog will agree with me, yet I say nothing shocking. While much of what I write is straightforward, some of the things I write on this blog are things other RTs wish they could say to their bosses, nurses and physicians they work with, but can't for fear of losing their jobs or losing respect.
We RTs, therefore, like everyone else in the workforce, have a tendency to become politically correct in real life, and satirical in here in the blogosphere. So hang around, have a little fun, and perhaps you'll learn something in the process as I have.
Rick Frea
P.S.
1. The Drawings in the header are compliments of Dash Shaw, who has also drawn the comics I have written for MyAsthmaCentral.com. You ought to check out his other cool stuff.
2. The header was created by me thanks to Everyday Morgan.
3. Click here to see how I made this blog (good advice to spiff up your blog)
4. Click here to see why I became an RT.
5. Click here to read about my asthma.
6. Click here for public acclaim about the RT Cave
7. Click here to read poems I've written.
8. Disclaimer:
9. Copy write: This Blog is protected by Copyright: Copyright 2007-2008 by Richard Stephen Frea. This material may not be republished or redistributed in any manner without the expressed written permission of the author, nor may this material be cited elsewhere without proper attribution. All rights reserved.