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Showing posts from December, 2009

The tallest snow man.

This great snow we had reminded me of a snow storm of years gone by. The year was 1997 or so... I believe I was a freshman or sophomore in college. A freshly fallen snow had inspired me. "I shall make a snowman! Taller than any snowman that anyone has ever seen!" I wanted to inspired both shock and awe. (not to be confused with Pres. Bush's war strategy)... anyhow, I would succeed. I enlisted the help of a friend and my sister and we got to work. We quickly discovered the snow wasn't so good for snowmanogenesis. Too dry. Garden hose and bucket in hand, we pressed forward. Both muscles and brains flexed, ladders and tools to "erect" the worlds tallest snowman. Once completed, we stood back and admired our handiwork. A job well done. We took pictures, posed and embraced. Later that night my family and I returned home. Message light blinking. My dad pressed play... a disguised voice comes on the answering machine. A very Hank-Hill-esque voice sa

I blame my dementia.

Evidentally, when you have dementia, no matter how mild... you can do just about anything and blame the dementia. People will forgive. I had a patient who supposedly had dementia but she did know she was in a hospital and could recall her bowel movements from earlier in the day. She was standing in the hallway waiting to be discharged. She pulled her pants down and took a big beefy dump right in the middle of the hall! Okay, this is wrong for several reasons. 1. she can walk. 2. if you're demented enough to not seek a toilet, you're too demented to have the presence of mind to pull your pants down. My theory, she's just a grouchy cantankerous old woman who lives to give people hell... and poop. dngilb md.

A work day to remember.

As you know, life has been heavy. The lives of my patients are heavy as well. I found this to be burdensome to my mind and spirit... and thus my body as well. I had dreams of being a radiologist. Radiology use medical knowledge, but the patients are just images... just a puzzle to solve. I don't have to look the suffering in the face day in day out. As a hospitalist, I wondered, "just how long can I do this?" Today, I had my favorite patient ever. He was an amazing blessing to me! To me, it was a divine appointment. At first he was impressive to me because at the age of 69 he took on the cause to lose weight. he started walking 2.5 miles a day, lifting weights, and started writing down every single item he ate. "turns out I ate way too much" he said. He lost 50 pounds! He looked so vital. Next, is what really impressed me... he started talking about Jesus. Not just the way I talk about Jesus... with even more love and passion than I can explain. As

Even Mother Teresa doubted.

Doubting is part of the normal spiritual growth. Evidenced by Mother Teresa's diary. "my smile is a great cloak that hides a multitude of pains... [people] think that my great faith, my hope and my love are overflowing, and that my intimacy with God and union with His will fills my heart. If only they knew." David

Mind over manner.

Yep... its true. The mind is more powerful than matter at times. But you can't control half of your nervous system. I controlled the voluntary nervous system just fine. No flinching, no yelling of profanities. Honestly, I've been stung by a yellow jacket and it hurt worse than the lidocaine injection. Dr. Zekauskas numbed me up well, and I felt nothing. But just knowing there were needles, scaples, probes and forceps digging around in the back of my neck was enough to cause the involuntary (autonomic) nervous system to play interesting tricks on me. I had to lay down as to not pass out. I can't help it... I've always been this way. Blood draws, allergy testing, finger pricks... all irrational. I can do those things to people no problem, but when its me, its a completely different ball game... and its out of my control. I'm one epidermal inclusion cyst lighter... but in 2 weeks I have to go back for him to dig out the remnants of the cyst lining so it won