Medical Endurance

2009-11-07T00:31:00.001-05:00

OH YEAH!!

I'm getting Married on Dec 19th 2009! holy cow it's soon, but really excited. A new adventure....

2009-11-07T00:19:00.003-05:00

It's been some time now since a new post, for which I apologize. I will with all due diligence try to maintain this in better working order. The Bronx finished up nicely, i never felt out of place....ok well maybe a little but i enjoyed my time. Got to practice Spanish and see something I've never seen. After i moved to Michigan for a few months and LOVED surgery, do believe that will be what i do with my life, and now I'm back in Maine teaching anatomy and OMM. Loving working with the students, and think the extra year has really helped learn what i need to do to make it through the next phase of my life.

Races:
During the past 6 months I've done multiple road bike races, time trials, a half marathon, and the BIG event a 24 hour Ultracycling race. The road bike races went well. I've found I'm a wonderful domestique able to accelerate through the flats and drag a group with me to the end. The big race the 24 hour race was one of the hardest things i had ever done in my life. At the end i was simply pure exhaustion and pain. I placed 4th overall and 1st in my age group with 360.3 miles (only 9 miles seperated 2nd through 4th, a long time for three guys to battle it all out). Brianna and my brother Mark were amazing crew members and i couldn't have done it without their amazing support.

I'll have to write more later about that race, and my future plans. For now staying in shape and running a few 5k's. Swimming again but still debating if i will do more triathlons. They are just so expensive when running or riding a road bike race is only 20-30$. The question is do i love tri's more than cycling?

Avoid the Legs

2009-02-09T19:50:00.003-05:00

Lesson learned today.

You may at some point find yourself dealing with a psychotic patient, and you may even have to draw blood on said patients. This requires a whole team of people, at least two to hold down the unwilling/uncooperative patient, and another to draw the blood. When holding down patients arms please be mindful to use entire body weight, as a patient under stress tends to have significant strength and will if possible attempt to slap/hit/smack/punch/ or bite their way to freedom. I managed to hold down my assigned arm effectively the second round (narrowly avoided teeth on the first try), and just when I though I was well and clear of the ordeal I find a pudgy foot smacking into my side as the patient screams in Spanish "DIABLO", "TODOS DIABLOS AQUI" or "DEVILS" "ALL DEVILS HERE". Oh I love my job!

And for those that think we're horribly mean to restrain the patient, I don't like doing it, but the patient was unable to make sound decisions for themselves and the procedure was necessary in order to treat the temporary disease they were experiencing. No doctor enjoys performing procedures without the patients approval.

Micro Economics What We Can Do To Help It

2009-02-09T19:35:00.003-05:00

Hi, so if any of you actually read this and have about 25$ to spare towards supporting a microeconomic loan i would highly suggest going to www.kiva.org. If you've heard about microeconomics the principal is to support small business ventures of people in developing countries. The loans are used to start or expand current business practices. You might remember in 2004 Muhammad Yunus of India was awarded the Nobel peace prize for his work in exactly this field of work. Now we as individuals can perform a similar function on a much more individualized basis. For example if I wanted to donate 25$ for specific project listed on the kiva website I would do so through an account I set up. After a period of time the loan will be re-payed by the lender. Once the money is reimbursed I will have the option of reapplying the loan to a different project or taking back the money.

Yes I know a major argument against this is what if they don't pay the loan back, but according to the site and outside critique of the organization over 90% of loans are re-payed. So if you have the money and wish to help create a sustainable micro enterprise that would be life changing for a whole family I highly suggest you visit this site.

The link to the site is also located in the side bar of this blog.

I know I haven't said it before but best wishes to all as they go about their day.

How to Loose $260

2009-02-07T17:03:00.003-05:00

Well so I did it, I made my one bonehead move in the Bronx. I got sucked in my those damn street gamblers and managed to loose a very good chunk of change. I was betting and getting each bet right time after time, and then when it mattered I managed to loose it all in one fell swoop. So the lesson learned today is that you're not smarter than the street card guys, and to never ever bet on stupid shit again. To make myself feel better about the whole situation I'm going to strictly limit the amount I spend over the next few months to try and make back some of that money within my budget. God I feel like a big looser, but well good stories and I know from now on never ever to do that again. Some lessons are just much harder to learn in the pocket than others.

So i implore all 2 of you that read this blog to never gamble on street guys! lol

Goal for the next month - to live on $100 or less a week I'll update on how that goes.

A little While

2009-02-07T16:51:00.002-05:00

Well it has been a little while since I've been really able to sit down and make a post. I think seeing the newsletter about me from Evotri prompted me to get back in here and write a few things down.

Some updates, as you know I passed boards, and I'm currently living in the Bronx working in internal medicine in the Bronx. Before this I was up in Waterville Maine doing Family practice. Family practice ended up being a lot more interesting than I thought it would I got to do joint injections, remove toenails, biopsy skin. It was a pretty good month, and it helped to have a great doc to work with. Dr. Charlebois was a wonderful teacher, and is an excellent doctor for minor procedures. Learning how to take off someone's toenail was by far the coolest thing I did there.

For the past week I've been living in a basement studio apartment in the Bronx. I'll be here for another 2 months. The medicine in an inner city hospital is interesting. The resources seem to be all there but the nursing staff is a little hot and cold. Some seem to really enjoy their jobs and go around smiling and having a great day, while others begin counting down the seconds that they get to go home as soon as they get to the floor. I was noticing near the end of my shift on friday that at all times there are two independent conversations going on at all times. One is amongst the nursing/housekeeping staff, and the other is among the doctors. I'm not sure why at this moment, but at least in this hospital there is a large separation between the two peoples. It's an unfortunate thing to see. But other than that small issue everything is going great, the patients are all interesting, the area is really nice with lots of good food, and I like what I'm doing. No interesting stories as of yet, but I'm sure they will come.

Training is going well, I think because of all the traveling and late hours I'll be working this coming year, biking will be more of a priority this year. I'm going to do more bike races through the summer, and then next year when I'm in the fellowship I'll start to re-train for triathlons. I may do a few sprints this year but the priority is going to be in biking. I'm excited to see how it all goes.

It's DONE!!

2008-12-15T16:15:00.002-05:00

Finally I managed to pass the boards, not with great color but I did pass and thus allow myself to continue with my stalled education. I spent the day attempting to line up rotations from NY City to Michigan. I'm excited again for the future, and can't wait for the new year to come. It's a good new beginning for myself I think.

Training is going well, I just found a whole new level of difficulty on the 15 year old trainer I'm using. It managed to humble me quiet effectively. Up to this point I had been doing hour+ sessions, sweating but working well the entire time, but with this new level.... I had to give a pretty good effort to make it through 55 minutes. Buckets of sweat later I gave up on the idea of doing a swim work out later today.

I think in the coming season I would like to do a few more Time Trials on the bike. I did one last year and really enjoyed it, and I think that doing a few more this coming year will really allow me to enjoy the sport I tend to enjoy the most of triathlons. I think in a few months I'll change the bike I have right now (Cannondale six13) to a complete aerobar setup since I don't plan on doing any regular road races. I think in the next month or so I'll plan out my 2009 race schedule.

Below is a great story my mother came across and if any of you have the time to read it you'll get a great laugh!

Dave Barry on His Colonoscopy

...I called my friend Andy Sable, a Gastroeneterologist, to make an appointment for a colonoscopy. A few days later, in his office, Andy showed me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over the place, at one point passing briefly through minneapolis.

Then Andy explained the Colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough, reassuring and patient manner. I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn't really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, quote, 'HE'S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BEHIND!!!!'

I left Andy's office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called 'MoviPrep,' which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America's enemies.

I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous. Then, on the day before my Colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In accordance with my instructions, I didn't eat any solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor.

Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep. You mix two packets of powder together in a one-liter plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water. (For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons..)

then you have to drink the whole jug, This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes - and here I am being kind - like a mixture of goat spit and urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon.

The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great sense of humor,
state that after you drink it, 'a loose watery bowel movement may result.' This is kind of like saying that after you ump off the roof, you may experience contact with the ground.

MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don't want to be a too graphic, here, but: Have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are time when you wish the commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the bathroom spurting violently.

You eliminate everything. And then, when you figure you must be totally empty you have to drink another liter of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and start eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet.

After an action-packed evening, I finally got to sleep. The next morning my wife drove me to the clinic. I was very nervous. Not only was I worried about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of MoviPrep purge.

I was thinking, 'What if I spurt on Andy?'

How do you apologize to a friend for something like that? Flower would not be enough.

At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood and totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said. Then they led me to a room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one o those hospital garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on, makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked. Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand. Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was a very good, and i was already lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep. At first iw as ticked off that I hadn't thought of this, but then I pondered what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom, so you were staggering around in full "Fire Hose Mode." You would have no choice but to burn your house.

When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist.

I did not see the 17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I was seriously nervous at this point. Andy had me roll over on my left side, and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my hand.

There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was 'Dancing Queen' by Abba. I remarked to Andy that, of all the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, 'Dancing Queen' has to be the least appropriate. 'You want me to turn it up?' said Andy, from somewhere behind me. 'Ha ha,' I said. And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like.

I have no idea. Really I slept through it. One moment, Abba was shrieking 'Dancing Queen! Feel the beat from the tambourine....' and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood. Andy was looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even more excellent when Andy told me that it was all over, and that my colon had passed with flying colors.

I have never been prouder of an internal organ.

Note of the Author; Dave Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist for the Miami Herald.

Interesting News

2008-12-10T15:05:00.002-05:00

Ran across an interesting news article today on www.reuters.com under the health section. A doctor out of Penn School of Medicine set up a study that provided financial compensation to volunteers that entered a weight loss program and successfully lost weight, those that did not meet their goals did not receive compensation. I thought it was an interesting article that was worth looking at, and potentially try to do something with here at the Biddeford Free Clinic. Maybe when get into my fellowship year i'll look into doing a similar study.

A couple new goals I wanted to accomplish in the next 3 months.

1. Do 80 pushups in 2 minutes

2. Do 80 sit ups in 2 minutes

3. Complete 12 pull ups without stopping from dead hang.

Today was a long day of exercising, 45 minutes on the treadmill (first running i've done in a month luckily no girls to embarrass me while i was doing it). Then got home had some lunch and did an hour on the bike trainer. Doing good this week, trick is to keep the motivation going through the off season without over doing it. I do need to get into shape for the 44 mile event we organize up here in the spring, looking forward to that. Last year we raised almost $12,000 for Adopt a Doctor (www.adoptadoctor.org). I don't know if we'll be sponsoring them this year however I do have hopes of reaching similar funds even with the recession looming. If you're interested in that event or the 5K we run the same weekend I'll have more information on that coming in a few months once logistics get worked out for the new year.

A Time of Waiting

2008-12-09T15:15:00.002-05:00

Well without the scores in last week I'm in a waiting game for the board scores. In the mean time I started training again. Today was the first pool day in over a month. I did a mix of strokes working to not feel completely out of shape but woefully failed. I mean when three girls get in the pool and start kicking my ass on every lap machoism goes right out the window and all I'm left with is the goal of not drowning in their wake.

Started trying to play the guitar again, another not so easy thing since natural rhythm doesn't come easy to me, but hey in my mind everyone should be able to play some kind of instrument. Figured I'll take twice the normal time and learn an instrument and be happy about it (besides aren't guitar's chick magnets?).

The first snow fall has come and gone with bitter cold to go with it. I can't wait to go somewhere warm or for summer to come back. But the good news is the shortest day of the year is about to occur on the 21st and after that nothing but longer days aimed toward summer.

Carpe Diem

Things To Know

2008-12-06T11:14:00.002-05:00

I forgot to mention yesterday about some of the interesting things I've come across in the last few weeks. The first site is called www.plus3network.com. This is an endurance community that aims at tracking ones training while at the same time donating money to certain non profits for the amount of distance you do.

I chose to do my exercise for World Bicycle Relief, their mission statement is 'simple sustainable transportation is essential element in disaster assistance and poverty relief. Bicycles fulfill basic needs by providing access to health care, education and economic development. Bicycles empower individuals, their families and their communities. Our mission is to provide access to independence and livelihood through the power of bicycling.' Most of the bikes are proved to community based health care volunteers, disease prevention educators and vulnerable household. At the same time they are training 100's of mechanics to keep the program sustainable.

If any of you are exercising regularly and want to easily put some of those miles to good use, I highly recommend you sign up on their website. It's very fast and easy.

On a side note I was hoping for the board scores to come back yesterday, but it never did, so I'm still left in limbo. Keeping the fingers crossed.

My First

2008-12-06T00:49:00.001-05:00

This is my first blog entry. My main goal is to be an ambassador for Evotri and maybe provide myself with a little update sections that I can continually add to to keep myself motivated towards achieving my goals for the coming years.

Goals for the year....

1. Pass the medical boards

2. Run a Marathon

3. Compete in at least 3 triathlon events this season sprint distance and olympic distance

4. Apply to the international research fellowship through NIH

Life has a funny way of throwing things at you, and the interesting part of it all is that you keep rolling with it and enjoy all the obstacles that have to be crossed in the process. One of my favorite quotes helped me a lot in the last 5 months. It is "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving in a pretty, pristine body but rather to come sliding in sideways, all used up and exclaiming, "wow what a ride!"

It's going to be a good year and i look forward to sharing it a little. You'll have to excuse any spelling mistakes you find during the blogs as my spelling isn't exactly the best. Bear with it as best you can!