Proud of Ya
I'm very proud of you if you're still checking this journal. Your determination has finally paid off -- with a new entry! There is no pending plan to discontinue this journal, although the posts will most definitely not be contributed on a daily basis. Hell, I'll be lucky if I can establish a weekly posting pattern. I'm currently procrastinating as I wait for the mug of green tea I just chugged to kick in. My eyes have been closing while studying, so I'm loading up on caffeine to make it through the next few hours before bed.
I spent 3 hours at my preceptor's clinic this afternoon. He is based at Memorial Hermann Southeast hospital on Astoria Boulevard near the Gulf Freeway/Beltway 8 junction. Upon my arrival, we immediately left the office and entered the hospital, where we rounded on 3 floors. One patient with chest pain was discharged, a patient with a blood clot in his leg was recovering nicely, a 91 year-old woman with a host of problems (near deafness, gallstones, abscess in nipple, and rash) was rather zonked out and doesn't seem to have much time left. We couldn't find the last patient's chart, so we inquired at the nursing station. A nurse pleasantly informed us (with a smile on her face) that the patient had passed away this morning. This was my first exposure to death in medicine -- the doctors and nurses seem like seasoned veterans because they don't appear to skip a beat following a death. Apparently the gentleman was horribly ill with pneumonia and Lou Gehrig's Disease and had refused the intubation that was offered as the only option to keep him alive. His death didn't bother me because I had never laid eyes on him, but I know that losing my first patient is going to be a sobering experience. It's kind of abstractly disturbing to know that this man's last farewell involved a briskly dictated "death note" into the hospital's automated dictation system, completed with the phrase "patient expired at 10:15 AM today."
I've been glued to all the hurricane aftermath news, and I wonder if I'll notice the thousands of refugees who will soon be transported to my neighborhood (the Astrodome). Rice University will be accepting Houston-area students who were supposed to be attending classes at Tulane University. Baylor College of Medicine will also be taking on 3rd and 4th year Tulane Medical School students who have been indefinitely displaced. Personally, I still hate Tulane for beating our baseball team this summer, but I'm proud of our Houston institutions for stepping up to the plate (pardon the pun) in a time of uncertainty and need.
Shame on GM and Ford for announcing massive vehicle recalls (nearly 1 million vehicles) yesterday. With the magnitude of the hurricane disaster, virtually all other news is falling off the radar. The trampling death of 1,000 Iraqi's today got 2 minutes of coverage on World News Tonight, a very reputable news program. For the mathematically challenged, today's stampede deaths equal a full third of the 9/11 deaths and perhaps more deaths than those related to the hurricane. There was no interruption of broadcasting for days on end to report this tragedy, because the broadcasting was already interrupted by hurricane coverage. All I can hope is that George Bush takes the fall for this one. I know he didn't cause the stampede or the hurricane or the gas prices that are sure to approach $4, but this shithead has had it coming for a long time and I'm going to be thrilled to see him dragged under by these recent caotic events.
OK, enough updating for tonight. I hope you enjoyed this entry. Tomorrow I will be involved with the "most difficult dissection of anatomy" as we study the butt. Apparently, it's extremely hard to carefully dissect the muscles of the ass. Who knew?
Music of the Moment: "Gimme That Zero Bar" by Sloppy Seconds
I spent 3 hours at my preceptor's clinic this afternoon. He is based at Memorial Hermann Southeast hospital on Astoria Boulevard near the Gulf Freeway/Beltway 8 junction. Upon my arrival, we immediately left the office and entered the hospital, where we rounded on 3 floors. One patient with chest pain was discharged, a patient with a blood clot in his leg was recovering nicely, a 91 year-old woman with a host of problems (near deafness, gallstones, abscess in nipple, and rash) was rather zonked out and doesn't seem to have much time left. We couldn't find the last patient's chart, so we inquired at the nursing station. A nurse pleasantly informed us (with a smile on her face) that the patient had passed away this morning. This was my first exposure to death in medicine -- the doctors and nurses seem like seasoned veterans because they don't appear to skip a beat following a death. Apparently the gentleman was horribly ill with pneumonia and Lou Gehrig's Disease and had refused the intubation that was offered as the only option to keep him alive. His death didn't bother me because I had never laid eyes on him, but I know that losing my first patient is going to be a sobering experience. It's kind of abstractly disturbing to know that this man's last farewell involved a briskly dictated "death note" into the hospital's automated dictation system, completed with the phrase "patient expired at 10:15 AM today."
I've been glued to all the hurricane aftermath news, and I wonder if I'll notice the thousands of refugees who will soon be transported to my neighborhood (the Astrodome). Rice University will be accepting Houston-area students who were supposed to be attending classes at Tulane University. Baylor College of Medicine will also be taking on 3rd and 4th year Tulane Medical School students who have been indefinitely displaced. Personally, I still hate Tulane for beating our baseball team this summer, but I'm proud of our Houston institutions for stepping up to the plate (pardon the pun) in a time of uncertainty and need.
Shame on GM and Ford for announcing massive vehicle recalls (nearly 1 million vehicles) yesterday. With the magnitude of the hurricane disaster, virtually all other news is falling off the radar. The trampling death of 1,000 Iraqi's today got 2 minutes of coverage on World News Tonight, a very reputable news program. For the mathematically challenged, today's stampede deaths equal a full third of the 9/11 deaths and perhaps more deaths than those related to the hurricane. There was no interruption of broadcasting for days on end to report this tragedy, because the broadcasting was already interrupted by hurricane coverage. All I can hope is that George Bush takes the fall for this one. I know he didn't cause the stampede or the hurricane or the gas prices that are sure to approach $4, but this shithead has had it coming for a long time and I'm going to be thrilled to see him dragged under by these recent caotic events.
OK, enough updating for tonight. I hope you enjoyed this entry. Tomorrow I will be involved with the "most difficult dissection of anatomy" as we study the butt. Apparently, it's extremely hard to carefully dissect the muscles of the ass. Who knew?
Music of the Moment: "Gimme That Zero Bar" by Sloppy Seconds
posted by Yours Truly at 6:40 PM
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