Medicine – Page 2 – Physician In Numbers

Monday Melange: Medicine

I have been saving links to posts by other people for over a year. Some of these posts just struck my fancy at the time, others I find myself thinking about for weeks or months afterwards. I would like to share them with others, rather than hoarding them on my list of saved posts. I hope some of them speak to you as well.

It’s almost September, and another year has started at the medical school. In honor of those eager, earnest students I see (and in memory of the eager, earnest student I once was), here are some articles I have saved about…Medicine. With some segues into health, finance, the business of medicine, and the meaning of life.

Is There A Secret Handshake? When Your Spouse Is A Patient Where You Work.

Since the pathology on my husband’s tumor was benign (hooray!), I feel okay writing a bit about the experience at the hospital. Specifically, your spouse having a surgery done at the same hospital where you work as a physician.

People can have some odd ideas about doctors. Like, that we don’t get sick, or never have to deal with the same run-around they do when they try to call an office.

I had one patient tell me “well, since you’re a doctor, you don’t have to worry about high blood pressure.” Which, since he didn’t know anything about my family history, salt intake, or blood pressure readings, was clearly not a particularly informed statement.

In The Shadow Of The Big C

The SARS2-CoV pandemic shut down a good portion of our lives this spring, and changed the rest. We were asked (or ordered) to stay at home. We were advised (or ordered) to wear masks when going out. No shopping, no shows, no parties, no travel.

For the most part, this didn’t bother me much. I was pretty upset to cancel a trip in March, but I eventually got over it. I went to work, Mr. PiN made sure there was food on the table; we watched movies and discovered Amazon Prime Video.

However, our household was affected in a very serious way by the shut down.

Last Week We Had The Talk

The other day my husband and I had a pretty serious discussion. It wasn’t about our relationship, or finances (directly), or any of the usual suspects.

In fact, we were talking about my upcoming hospital rotation. Mr. PiN asked me directly: did I want to back out of going to work? Did I want to quit my job?

In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the question isn’t all that crazy.

Monday Melange

My mind is still tremendously distracted as I try to adapt to life in a pandemic. Instead of writing a full post for today, which would require a bit more concentration than I have right now, instead I would like to highlight a few pieces I found on line and have been referring to frequently.

One Hard Thing Each Day

I have been very anxious about the situation with COVID-19, and also Mr. PiN has some (badly timed) health issues, which have me worried too.

Last Wednesday, I read some advice: when feeling overwhelmed and uprooted, pick just one thing to do. This way you have a goal each day, and a good chance at accomplishing it.

A Day Of Firsts

Today was a day of several firsts. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, everything is changing, quickly.

The Stories We Tell Ourselves

This week, I was supposed to be attending WCICON20 in Las Vegas. I have been looking forward to going for months.

I wanted to attend the first meeting, in Park City, but couldn’t arrange the time off. Many people posted how much they enjoyed it, and I was looking forward to meeting people who want to talk about finances, education, and even wellness. More, I was looking forward to meeting people who aren’t all internists. Maybe I even had some fan-girl interest in meeting the people behind the blogs I read (or podcasts I listen to) each week.

Not to mention, I was looking forward to 1 week away from the office, away from the EMR, and possibly in some sun.

However, in the past weeks, we have had to deal with the arrival of the novel coronavirus in our country, and the prospect of quarantine (or self-quarantine).

My Goals Versus COVID-19

The weather is wintry, but the lengthening days tell my hind-brain that Spring is coming. And in my home, Spring means Spring Cleaning. Tidying. Emptying the kitchen cabinets and all the closets of old, unusable items.

On the other hand, this year we have the novel coronavirus, the cause of COVID-19, making its way across the globe. There are currently only a few known cases in the USA, but very likely there will be many more soon.

It has been 11 years since the swine flu outbreak, but I do recall hospital policy: you were not to come to work if febrile. If you had proven swine flu, you were to stay home for quite some time, until you were unlikely to spread your infection to patients and other staff.

My husband is very concerned about the possibility of having to self-quarantine. In addition to the possibility that we might get stuck in our home for a while, he also has to worry about his 2 elderly parents, who live just a few miles away. He worries about possible food shortages and how they will get supplies if this virus hits our city hard.

Wednesday Wool-gathering 4

A few random thoughts, inspired by my recent rotation through the hospital wards.