good, clean fun!

mood: same as before.
state i'm in: also same as before.
tune: heather small "proud"



a passing thought before i mention my elective.

saddam hussein's trial has come to a head today, the 6th of november. the american mid-term elections are tomorrow, the 7th of november. presently, the republicans stand a very good chance of losing the house of representatives, maybe even both houses of congress. i just wonder if mr hussein's sentence will give the impression of "progress made" in the pushing of shit uphill that is the american campaign in iraq.

a pure coincidence of dates i am sure.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

my favourite quote of the elective thus far:

Dr O: "yeah, young mr R fell and hit his head hard on the machine as he was being put into the MRI."

Dr H: "well, no better place to do it really."

-----------

whilst on the subject, here's some random funny MRI pics. for those unaware, this thing is a giant magnet that can suck a pacemaker our of your chest, or a metal hip from your pelvis. unfortunately, tragic accidents have happened.


























----------

neurology is pretty cruisy. everything is 10 or 15 minutes late, free lunch on offer if you need it, take a couple of hours off to go shopping, see some patients, head home early, have a chuckle at the PWT (not exactly a medical abbreviation), wish Mrs P a safe journey home to england.

rarely are the patients "sick" so to speak. true they have their share of problems: demyelinating disorders, such as multiple sclerosis; neurotransmitter receptor deficiency disorders such as myasthenia gravis; electrical disturbances such as epilepsy. but these patients are suffering with chronic debilitating disorders, not sicknesses, and tend to do so with remarkable resilience that i have immense admiration for. there is no shit, piss, spew, snot, blood, or anything else dirty for that matter. all in all, good clean fun.

----------

second favourite quote thus far:

as "the stroke team" (that includes me, hehe) scurries around the wards we pass a bed with the curtains drawn.

Dr H: "ooh, there doing a lumbar puncture..."

we all peer in, and a second later:

Dr H: "struck gold!"

a few drops of cerebrospinal fluid drip into a waiting test tube. the patient glances toward us with half grin, half grimace. not sure if she shared Dr H's candid approach to the sharp iatrogenic pain in her lower spine.

----------

best part of the elective thus far:

Mrs P is an 81 year old woman from england. she was in australia when she had a stroke affecting her left side and also her ability to express herself adequately in words, a condition called dysphasia. my first thought when i read about her was what on earth is an eighty-odd year old woman with risk factors doing travelling to the other side of the world.

when i finally met Mrs P, other than the difficulties mentioned above, she was a spitely and clever woman, feisty yet eloquent. i had just been having a long chat to one patient, and was about to leave that room to find another patient to talk to when Mrs P caught my attention. she was in the bed by the door and was smiling at me with a face i could not refuse. so we had a chat, and i got to know why she was here, and about her delayed flight home. i was very impressed in her character, as she spoke with pride about the achievements of her daughter in telehealth, where health advice is given via telecommunications to those in remote parts of the state.

had another good chat today, and she spoke (with increased ability compared to last week) about some of her life thus far. she studied natural sciences at cambridge from 1943-46, before working in a research institute in the united kindgom. then her and her literati husband took off to the united states. she changed direction, moving into ecology and conservation biology of the salt marshes of the eastern seaboard. global warming poses an immense threat she believes.

Mrs P told me that she appreciated me encouraging her to speak about her past.

the medical history is the important history to the medico, but it is a different history that matters to the patient. in the medical setting, i believe both need to be respected. all the best Mrs P.