He DFO'd

Technical term, stands for "done fell out." An appropriate use for this phrase is anytime somebody "done fells out." For example "Timothy was drinking his normal daily pint of whiskey when he done fell out" (actual quote from today in hospital).

Other appropriate uses are when you have done something that you don't want your doctor to know about (i.e., some type of "street pharmaceutical). Often if DFO phrasing is used, the story doesn't quite fit. For example "I was just walking in my back yard when I done fell out." The real story probably involves ingestion of antifreeze or similar chemical not meant for human ingestion in search of a high.

Another tip: if you have a DFO-er, be highly suspicious of cocaine use. This is especially true if said DFO-er is from Augusta, GA. Apparently Augusta didn't get the memo about crack falling out of vogue and is so stuck in the mid-1990's. So, if you suspect cocaine use and they are denying it or saying it has been years, then ask again, telling them it is really important. They will come back saying they last used a couple months ago. Again, stress the importance of how imperative it is to know exactly the last time they used it. This is where things will get fuzzy and they will pretend like they are thinking and will say two weeks ago. At this point, you tell them it is extremely important and that the only reason you are repeatedly asking them this is because they need a life saving medication, but if they have done crack recently it will kill them. At this point their memory will come to and they will admit to doing the crack just prior to DFOing. I couldn't make this stuff up.

Paranoid schizo's and other fun stuff

Haven't blogged in a while, you know the story. I am now on neurology over at the VA (for the non-familiar, that is the veteran's hospital). I had a gentleman come in today with unsteadiness. He also happened to have the additional diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia. His unsteadiness only occurs in the morning when he is getting out of bed and when he attempts to put on his underwear. Being the good history taker I try to be, I ask all the questions I can think of: Do you black out? Does the room spin? Do you drink alcohol? Have you had a change in medication? Has this happened before? You get the picture. As he isn't able to give me a straight answer, I finally ask him what in the world he thinks is causing his unsteadiness. He responds by telling me that it is the devil that enters his body every morning and causes him to be unsteady. He goes on to tell me how he figures the devil should leave him alone because he spends his days out in the backyard hanging out with Jesus and the Holy Ghost. Good for him.

Another quick story. I have another inpatient who suffers from multiple strokes and dementia. When I ask him every morning where he is, I never know what he is going to answer. Today when I asked, he told me that he was in jail, that Judy Johnson (name changed to protect poor Judy, if she exists) put him there, and that he wanted to go home. I told him that we were planning on letting him go home and you wouldn't believe how his face lighted up at that prospect. Poor guy. Yesterday when I was checking him for reflexes, he asked me in the most childish, sincere way you can imagine, "why are you hittin me?" Poor guy indeed.

So, how about that debate tonight? We're screwed.

Only cars in the parking lot

Well, surgery is done and true to form I hardly recorded any of it in my blog. So much for getting third year off to a good start. I do have a good excuse though: Surgery. I did general surgery here at MCG with the GI team. I was one of the first 4 cars in the parking lot every morning (5:00am): (literally, the first 4 cars - me and my 3 buddies also doing general surgery)

I usually didn't leave until 7:00-7:30pm. My first morning there, they gave me 6 patients (supposedly the max was 4) to go visit to learn all I could about them and them be able to present their story a half hour after I started - this is called pre-rounding. Keep in mind this was my first day and I had no idea what I was doing. I was able to at least meet my 6 patients, but when it came time to present them to the chief resident, I had no idea what to report. I'm pretty sure my presentation went something like: "Um, they're cool, no problems." Later in the day both interns (1st year residents, aka bottom of the bottom of the barrel - right above medical students) on our service pulled me aside to tell me that my presentations sucked - I emphatically let them know that I agreed with them, but I also let them know they had unrealistic expectations of me my first day. I'm a firm believer in being thrown into the water and I will learn how to swim, but don't be a punk about telling me how bad I am doing. Needless to say my second day was better and it was all uphill from there.

I did pull a couple weeks where I worked over 90 hours. Those were long.

Anyway, I am now on Radiology. We all refer to it as "radiholiday." I think I like it so much because I love not working. Literally, the doctors come in around 9:30am and as near as I can tell they are gone by 5:00p. And you know they are making decent money. Here is a picture of what me and my buddy Garrett did last Friday before work:

FISHING! Radiology as a potential career, here I come!

Yep, I'm Bored and I have a Confession

**I will preface this post by saying...it's a long one.  Be forewarned...I'm bored.  The amount of my boredom will correlate well to the length of the post.  Oh yeah, and the "confession" doesn't come until the end...so sit back, get yourself a drink or some popcorn or something, because you'll be here for a while (assuming someone out there in the Internet world is actually reading this). **

 

My favorite part about teaching school is that I get great vacations (you know, summers off, spring break, Christmas, all major holidays and a few of the minor ones).  Since rob has been in school for most of our married life, he has also had some summers off.  We have been able to take advantage of a lot of this time and do some great traveling (see www.egberttravels.blogspot.com).  This summer was no exception--we went one our wild tour across Mexico, then off to Jacksonville, NC for a family get together, and just recently got back from a weekend trip to Charleston, SC.  We had to squeeze all of those trips into a 3-week period between when Rob took step 1 of his boards and when he started up his surgery rotations in the hospital.  Well, as you may have surmised from the title of this post, Rob is back to work/school and I am not yet.  So I sit at home trying so hard not to spend money because a). we went on all of the trips mentioned previously, b). I have already surpassed my budget for buying school-related stuff and c). I am saving for one last trip to Charleston before school starts (Whoo-hoo for girls trips!!). 

Now if you have always had a job that keeps you busy year-round, you may not realize how expensive it is to not work.  First off, staying in the house all day gets a little old.  So right off the bat if you want to leave you have to factor in gas money.  Then you think to yourself, "Where should I go?"  My first thoughts are always shopping or eating.  Even if it is necessary, like grocery shopping, it still adds into the budget.  I also think about doing something outdoors, but it is so crazy hot and humid with pop-up thunderstorms threatening at any moment lately that that is really out of the question as well.  I've thought about joining a gym, but again, it costs money.  So I try to keep the shopping trips to a minimum.  Well that leaves me sitting at home.  While I could do something productive like clean or plan stuff for school, that usually doesn't happen.  So my other options are the computer, the tv, the kitchen, or a book. 

First off, the computer.  This is almost as expensive for me as going out shopping...possibly even more expensive.  I guess I realized this when I was booking a hotel online with the girls tonight and they were impressed that I have my credit card number memorized as well as the expiration and the security code.  I did not have that memorized before the summer started.  Online shopping is just so nice and convenient now that so many places offer free/cheap shipping.  In my defense though, most of the stuff I've ordered is for school and I will be reimbursed for it...most of it...

Secondly, the tv.  While I do have my dvr set to record Days of Our Lives everyday, I am not much for daytime television.  Mostly because I usually don't have time for it.  As I have had more daytime free time on my hands, I have come to see the dangers of the Food Network and HGTV.  I've always liked these channels, but it is a little too easy to get hooked from one show to the next.  They're all interesting enough to me that, if I don't have something else planned, I can easily waste away an entire afternoon and not even realize it!

Next, the kitchen.  I like to cook and bake. When I get bored, I make food--usually a dessert of some kind.  Now this can be a money thing again, but more pressing is the health issue.  I have a major sweet tooth and I could eat desserts all day.  Luckily, its been so hot that the thought of using any heat in the kitchen in the middle of the day is so unappealing that I have stopped spending my days baking.  But this leads to more boredom.

So that brings me to my last major choice for entertaining myself at home, which is reading.  And this is the part I am most ashamed of.  Now I know you're thinking, and no, I have not started reading trashing romance novels.  It's worse.  I started reading non-smutty, teenage vampire romance novels.  Yes, I've gotten hooked on the Twilight books.  I like to think of myself as having very cultured tastes in media.  I always read the reviews on movies (www.rottentomatoes.com) and books (www.amazon.com) before I watch/read them.  I try not to waste my time on "fluff."  But alas, I am counting down the days until the 4th book in the saga comes out.  And unfortunately for me, these books are super quick reads so it only takes me a couple days to get through them (not to mention I can hardly put them down).  So this will only satisfy my boredom for a few more days.  Well my sisters have been telling me to read these books for years now (or at least it seems like it) and I finally read them this summer.  I guess I can take solace in the fact that I got two of my other friends completely hooked on the books as well.  So at least now I have brought two other intelligent beings down to my same level of guilty pleasure.  So there's my confession.  I have succumbed to the boredom and tossed my pride out the window in favor of living in the fantasy world of vampires, werewolves (I am a big fan of Jacob), and the flutterings of a hormone-filled, teenage heart.

But don't worry.  I actually have to get to work on school stuff now (just a couple weeks till we start again!!!) so the boredom has probably already come to a peak.  Even though I complain, I know that once school starts again I will be dreaming of my carefree days of surfing the web, eating cookies, watching daytime television and reading books meant for pre-pubescent girls.

back to school

Just a super quick entry. I meant to be better with this thing, especially now that third year has started. Here is the short of it: I ended up doing good on the boards (note that i didn't say that I rocked them out - I have three close friends that all scored in the 95th or better percentile - you guys suck). I am currently on Plastic Surgery, but unfortunately I wrap that up tomorrow. It has been a really fun two weeks, even though I am quickly realizing how dumb I am when it comes to medicine (I don't know how to write notes in charts or round on patients, but when you are thrown into things, you learn really quick).

One quick story. I sewed on a 16-yr old girls nipple today after a breast reduction surgery. I couldn't believe they let me do it - after all, she'll probably want to use that thing some day. If I say so myself, though, I think it ended up looking nice. I was in the OR for two other surgeries today also and my legs are killing me. I'm gonna see if I can milk a leg massage out of Haley tonight...fingers crossed.

Haley in the garden

 
 
 
 

Garden update

With the boards coming up, no time to blog. I will however post an update on my garden. Enjoy the video.