Unskinny Blog – Just Blows Me Away

Monday night. I’ve updated some things on the old sidebar. New rotation, new books. A whole new me. Sort of.

This weekend was both good and bad. Friday night I was post-call, took a nap, drank 4 beers, and played some Madden. Saturday was cool. I spent some much needed time in my apartment and in the city. MY time for ME. Saturday night Pete’s taint rolled up and we went and ate sushi. He had some good insights on the current drama deal – it helps that he knows all the parties involved. After sushi, we walked downtown and saw “HERO”, the newly imported Jet Li vehicle. I enjoyed it. I found it to be a good if not great film, though I could probably be talked into it. Visually stunning. (At this point, I glance sheepishly at the “Mick Flicks” link and think ‘Someday, oh someday, I’ll update that beast’.)
After the movie, Pete’s taint and I met my friend John from med school and had a few drinks at a local bar. Good city flavor for a good night.
Sunday was terrible. I had to go in to the hospital early. It was my last neurology call, and they made me pay. I was there all day and all night, missed lunch, missed dinner, and basically got bitter. The neurology department essentially uses internal medicine residents to pull call for them, because they don’t have enough residents to do it all on their own. The sad thing is I don’t really like neurology, so my interest level really isn’t there, and every admission is just a big piece of pain, as far as I’m concerned.

Here’s a word on strokes. If somebody gets a stroke, they take aspirin. If they get another stroke on aspirin, we switch to aggrenox or plavix. If they get another one, they’re screwed. In the meantime there are a lot of MRI’s and CT scans done. The classic harp on neurology is that it’s a lot of puzzle solving and very little treating. Basically, a neurologist uses their superior knowledge of brain anatomy to pinpoint EXACTLY where a person had their stroke. This is based on the physical exam (i.e. slurred speech vs right arm numbness vs left leg weakness, etc) and the various MRI’s and CT scans. After that, they proudly pronounce exactly where the lesion is and do nothing about it except give aspirin. It is the king of the “mental masturbation” specialties. So there.

My month in neurology was long and painful, for many reasons. Not only personal drama, but I just don’t like it all that much. The clinic is painful, the write ups (of which I still have a few) are really painful.

Now I move on to pulmonary clinic. Essentially a lot of emphysema (medically this is called ‘Chronic Pulmonary Obstructive Disease’, or COPD) and asthma. It will be good stuff to learn more of, since we see it a lot but I am essentially ambivalent about the rotation. A lot of it will revolve around old people in wheelchairs with oxygen tanks rolling through the halls as if straight out of the Golden Nugget slot section and into the clinic. Not being able to breath is dumb. With the exception of an infrequent joint or cigar, I encourage people not to smoke. Stay in school, kids.

OK, time for some work. I may post again shortly. I would still like to yammer about the Olympics and some old books I read. And update Mick Flicks. Man, it’s not fun to think of blogging as work, but there it is.

Five days until San Diego.