Avoid the Legs

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

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

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

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.