Report of 2 July '06
Happy Independence Day to all Americans!
Trust all of you are well. I am fine, and have spent the weekend immersed in Kris and Gabe's immense movie collection.
This is a great profession to be in. I saw a 22 yo patient with diabetes, the kind that comes on at a young age (Type I). This disease comes about because the body has no insulin, and patients must inject themselves w/ insulin daily (sometimes twice a day). This patient was a college student, had been cut off his health insurance by his father as they did not get along, and was in our inexpensive clinic. Our good fortune - we could definitely manage his disease, and the patient and I talked at length. I was very sorry to hear about his poor relationship w/ his father, and allowed myself a couple extra minutes to touch the patient, pat his back, answer all his questions. I really feel for those w/ poor or inadequate parental support. The patient said he'd return for a follow-up soon and that's fine w/ me.
Just today, a patient came in feeling ill. She has cervical cancer which has spread. This was tragic, to me: cervical cancer can be very easily caught at an early stage by the Pap smear. For various reasons, this patient had not gone to her doctor for a Pap, and by the time she went w/ stomach bloating and "pushing down," her cancer had spread and treatment options were and are much more limited. So hear ye, all ye women, get to that Pap asap. It is also very saddening that Black women have all kinds of illnesses beset them worse - including advanced cervical cancer.
I also had to tell a female patient that she had Hepatitis C, a disease acquired by unprotected intercourse or IV drug use; she did not seem surprised, though she has long since given up that lifestyle (I did not even know it had ever existed in her past). After working w/ the poor, I have developed a very almost-brusque manner, and had to tell a patient here who was busy complaining about her lot in life that there were many, many women far worse off than her.
The 3 Weiss men are well. Scott has returned to Bangalore, the boys are in the able hands of my nephew, Aditya (my sister Anu's 21 yo son), who is living w/ them in Chennai while doing an internship for law school. I tend to worry more when Scott is not around, but I think the boys are having a rollicking time w/ this male-bonding, young-people-independent-living thing. A fair amount of whining also goes on in Chennai and Bangalore, all of which serve partly to remind me that my being here is not such a bad thing after all. :)
Unw -
Renu
Trust all of you are well. I am fine, and have spent the weekend immersed in Kris and Gabe's immense movie collection.
This is a great profession to be in. I saw a 22 yo patient with diabetes, the kind that comes on at a young age (Type I). This disease comes about because the body has no insulin, and patients must inject themselves w/ insulin daily (sometimes twice a day). This patient was a college student, had been cut off his health insurance by his father as they did not get along, and was in our inexpensive clinic. Our good fortune - we could definitely manage his disease, and the patient and I talked at length. I was very sorry to hear about his poor relationship w/ his father, and allowed myself a couple extra minutes to touch the patient, pat his back, answer all his questions. I really feel for those w/ poor or inadequate parental support. The patient said he'd return for a follow-up soon and that's fine w/ me.
Just today, a patient came in feeling ill. She has cervical cancer which has spread. This was tragic, to me: cervical cancer can be very easily caught at an early stage by the Pap smear. For various reasons, this patient had not gone to her doctor for a Pap, and by the time she went w/ stomach bloating and "pushing down," her cancer had spread and treatment options were and are much more limited. So hear ye, all ye women, get to that Pap asap. It is also very saddening that Black women have all kinds of illnesses beset them worse - including advanced cervical cancer.
I also had to tell a female patient that she had Hepatitis C, a disease acquired by unprotected intercourse or IV drug use; she did not seem surprised, though she has long since given up that lifestyle (I did not even know it had ever existed in her past). After working w/ the poor, I have developed a very almost-brusque manner, and had to tell a patient here who was busy complaining about her lot in life that there were many, many women far worse off than her.
The 3 Weiss men are well. Scott has returned to Bangalore, the boys are in the able hands of my nephew, Aditya (my sister Anu's 21 yo son), who is living w/ them in Chennai while doing an internship for law school. I tend to worry more when Scott is not around, but I think the boys are having a rollicking time w/ this male-bonding, young-people-independent-living thing. A fair amount of whining also goes on in Chennai and Bangalore, all of which serve partly to remind me that my being here is not such a bad thing after all. :)
Unw -
Renu
posted by Renu Weiss at
2:34 PM
1 Comments:
"So hear ye, all ye women, get to that Pap asap."
I trust the good doctor practices what she preaches! :-)
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Anonymous, at 5/7/06 1:06 AM
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