The 4th

Sam Time

Dear World, 

Today we're going to my Dad's house and we're going to party. 

*End of Sam Time* 

So this year was interesting because it was the first year that I've been away from home on the 4th of July. My family doesn't really do anything huge every year but it was weird not to be with them this past year. Even though I became really homesick towards the end of the evening (I miss you Mom, Dad, and Anthony, but especially Harold), the fun that I had compensated for my emotions. Susan and I got up early and worked on the deck. We made pretty good progress and I am getting much better with power tools. After that, we hung around the house for part of the day and then went to Cameron's (Sam's dad's) house for a cookout. He had a pool and we spent some time hanging out and relaxing then had some delicious food. We then planned to come home and watch a movie since we thought that there was a ban on fireworks due to the drought. Turns out, people in the town of Berea don't really care whether or not they start fires. Dr. Zook, Susan, Dr. Zook's parents, their neighbor, and I all sat on the part of the deck that was complete and we had the best view of the fireworks. From there, we could see fireworks across several of the counties. At some points it was overwhelming because we wouldn't know where to look. It almost felt like watching a fireworks display at Disney world. 

Needless to say, it had felt like a Saturday so getting up for work on Thursday was not my cup of tea. Since Sam stayed at Cameron's, there was no six year old bouncing off the walls to wake us up. We typically leave the house at quarter of seven but next thing I hear is a cry of minor panic from Dr. Zook from the upstairs screaming, "WE OVER SLEPT!" I looked down at my cell phone and saw that it was 7:52AM and quickly got myself together. Having planned to shower in the morning, I felt like I was running my fingers through bacon fat trying to put my hair up. We quickly got into the car and headed off to work. 

During the day I felt like most of what we saw were Suboxone patients. Although I understand that you need to see Suboxone patients every week, I'm starting to get bored with them. They either do what they're supposed to or you find benzos or other drugs in their urine. It's difficult. Although they are boring, you get a patient or two that has an interesting story for the week. Some of the patients that come in I can hardly believe their stories. For example, one woman who we saw today stated that she had to go have her children tested for methadone exposure because their father was running a methe lab out of their nursery and there were chemicals everywhere. Some of the stories I hear are completely unbelievable and I don't know whether to feel sad or sorry for them or just be angry that people have such a total disregard for other human life. I suppose that's the power of addiction though. 

We saw a lot of older or geriatric patients yesterday as well. Although I don't particularly like working in geriatrics, we have one older lady that I really enjoyed seeing. Patient 58 is a female patient who is 82 years old and weighs 90.8 pounds (She was very proud of that extra .8 because she's been trying to gain weight). Over the course of her life she has broken both hips, a wrist, and an arm. She had been doing particularly well and hasn't fallen down in quite some time. The thing I liked the most was she was still able to walk on her own, however slow, and was still very sharp. She was able to banter with her daughter and is incredibly sassy. Seeing this brought me extreme joy. You see, I have a grandmother in a nursing home back in Baltimore who is 96 years old (soon to be 97 this October). She has severe dementia and her short term memory is almost completely shot. Although sometimes it's rather funny to see what she's going to come up with, I laugh just so that I don't cry. Seeing Patient 58 reminded me that it doesn't have to be like that and that is not everyone's fate. As long as your keep your mind and body active you will lead a fairly healthy life. The saying "use it or lose it" really does apply here. 

On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, some geriatric patients are incredibly complicated and confusing. Patient 60 was a 92 year old female who was quite whiney to be completely honest. She is one of ten brothers and sisters and is obese. She is confined to a wheel chair and has severe edema in both her right and left legs. She was seeing a "wound specialist" for a gash in her left leg. She complained of pain in her right hip and part of her back. She stated that she had a CT scan and MRI. She noticed that her appetite was starting to fade and she is unable to sleep on her left side. She is seen by home health care who comes and checks on her as well as takes her blood for testing. She claimed to not have any cartilage in her knees and a pinched nerve in her spine. This patient made it difficult for Dr. Zook or I to get a word in edge wise and just continued to talk and talk and talk. She also did not care to listen to what Dr. Zook had to say about her care because she seems to believe that she knows better. We get a lot of patients that enjoy telling Dr. Zook how to do her job and I'd imagine that this is a problem no matter what practice you are involved in. I don't understand why people go to doctors if they're always going to completely disregard everything that the doctor says. It's very frustrating and confusing at the same time.

Until Next Time,

~Wacko Jacko~