Lab Week - We ROCK!

For those of you who are new to my blog and don't know, my cake decorating business is really a side business. My day job is as a Medical Technologist. Every year, at the end of April, those of us who work in the medical laboratory field get to celebrate the small yet important role we play in the overall patient experience. Each year has its own theme with a poster designed by someone in the medical laboratory field. I loved the poster for this year!

And with this being my first year as a permanent part time employee since Lucas was born (I've been picking up hours on an as needed basis since then and was finally hired to a part time position earlier this year), I wanted to take part in the festivities. And what better way than by making cupcakes?

Yet, these are no ordinary cupcakes. These are special cupcakes. Lab cupcakes! And I got to use a new toy - food markers! The cupcakes themselves are red velvet with vanilla frosting. I usually do cream cheese frosting with red velvet cake, but since I knew that the cupcakes would be sitting out for a while and I know what happens to cream cheese when it sits... I made something that is much less likely to become a breeding ground for bacteria.

So now for some explanation of the decorations... These are dedicated to the techs who work in Blood Bank, readying units of plasma and blood for transfusion to save the lives of patients every day

And here are the lab coats that we wear to keep ourselves safe from spills so we can go home with our clothes as clean as when we left. (and they look pretty sharp too!)

 And last but not least - my personal favorite. White Blood Cells! These are the cells in your blood that help to fight infection. The pink one is a Neutrophil - they fight bacterial infections. The blue one with the round purple circle on the left is a Lymph - they fight viral infections. The blue and purple one on the right is a Monocyte - it's not what you have a lot of when you get mono, but those cells gobble up the viruses and bacteria that make us sick. Kind of like little vacuum cleaners.

Happy Lab Week!!