"Doc meets Dorf" Day 5.... Do I know you?

Another day, another dollar! .......wait, I'm not getting paid. :(

In comparison to last week, Mother Nature decided to be pissy this week and have it rain. No morning commute with the bike is fun in the rain.

Today was my longest day in the office. 8am to 5:40pm. It would've been there longer if I didn't have a dinner to go to at 6. 

This morning on the train I was looking to see how much time I could miss of the two weeks. While looking for this information, I found out that there is a log book for the internship. Well thanks to no one for ever telling me that. Luckily I only have to write up 6 patient encounters (four of which I got done on the train to work). 

We started punctually at 8:30 again and started seeing patients. This went on to about 1:30PM. I've apparently been in the office long enough because I am starting to see patients again from last week. It's funny the tid bits of information I remember about the patients. It gets even more interesting when I all of a sudden know more about the patient than the doctor because the other doctor saw the patient the last time and now the patient was with the other one. 

I got to question and examine two patients again today. One man with a hurt knee that I correctly diagnosed and a man with GI-tract problems. 

Today I finally had a lunch break. I went into downtown and found myself a grocery store to buy a salad. I need more vegetables in my life. All these baked goods I've been buying (out of convenience) just aren't doing it for me. I sat down by the church and did a bit of people watching. I came to the conclusion that all the people in this town are either way younger or way older than I am. Not a single person looked to be my age. It's actually quite sad. I keep wishing this town had a university because its so pretty!  I seriously think I'm a bit in love with the architecture of this town (I've probably proclaimed my love 4 times already in this blog, lol). Today while doing house calls we drove by some gorgeous houses. If I ever win the lottery I am buying a house there just for the hell of it! 

When I was back in the office we did the house calls. Two patients had to be seen. The first older lady is living in the apartment above her daughter. She was so confused and disoriented that we decided she needed to go to the hospital. Her daughter has a chronic illness herself and is now to the point of not being able to take care of her mother by herself anymore. I felt really bad for her. Not only was she dealing with her own sickness but also the severe sickness of her mother. She wants to help her mom but in her state she's just become to weak, I can't imagine how awful that must feel. Her mom just kept looking at me during the visit and then finally said she recognized me. I told her that can't quite be true since I've only been there a week. (FYI, she had a great glamor shot on the wall as well)

The second older lady is living with her son and daughter in law. The daughter in law was there with us. The old lady has somewhat severe dementia. She broke her arm and wasn't complying with the sling. A positive aspect of dementia (if there is even one or can be put that way) is that they seem to recover quickly from injury. It's not a central topic in their daily life so it doesn't become such a mental fixation. I they move the injured body part and it hurts, it does for a bit but then they forget that again. She was using her arm almost as though nothing has happened and it was healing nicely. You also have to weigh the benefit of physical therapy with a patient with dementia and maybe better movement over not putting her through unknown situations and having her get by just fine in life (I don't think she has the ambition to become a pro athlete anymore at this point). She also seemed quite aware of my presence and kept looking at me. At the end she also said that she seemed to know me from somewhere. Do I have such a generic face?!

We headed back to the office for a few more appointments. Dr.D also dropped a surprise announcement on his team today. He is going to retire by the end of the year. Of course everyone should retire at some point and enjoy their free time but I to also a shame that such a good doctor won't be working regularly. Makes me think of what kind of impact it has on his patients. Especially the older ones that he has known for 15 years. Sure the new guy or girl will know the medical infos from the computers but there is no way that person can know the last 15 years of that person's life, family circumstances and life events. So the word was out. Dr.D told me that there had been rumors going around town before in the last years that he had retired but now it was official. As soon as we has our next patient, his retirement was already a topic of discussion. I assume this is how it will be from now on until he actually leaves. His reason? Well, first of all his age and second of all, to put it in his translated words, "medicine is a wonderful thing but I've gotten sick of the surrounding circumstances. I'm over fighting with the insurance companies all the time." It's unfortunate that the system has gotten so whack that it will actually convince doctors to go into retirement. 

I asked if it would be okay to miss the last scheduled patient so that I could hop on the train back. I didn't want to miss my train and be an hour late for my planned dinner. As I've said, I really try to stick to my commitments because I know there will be enough instances in my life where it won't be as possible. Unfortunately I don't have enough time to stop by my apartment and change. I hate walking around in white running shoes unless its in the office or hospital. On well, at least they will be hidden by the table.

Baci, V