So yesterday morning, I rolled out of bed and went to do rounds. There was no one to round on that morning (a rare occurance indeed) so I informed Dr. Todd that I would be helping my best friend, Jade, move. I spent the morning moving assorted heavy items into a big UHaul. When additional help arrived (AFTER we had moved all of the heavy stuff already…of course) I showered, put my scrubs back on and headed back to the clinic to see patients.

We had a young female patient who presented with Diplopia (double vision), secondary ammenorrhea (absent periods), headache, and extremity motor weakness (unable to push against resistance like normal). Of course, the wheels started turning and my differential diagnoses came pouring out of the head. “What could cause Cranial Nerve III problems, ammenorrhea, motor weakness and headache?” I thought…well maybe a pituitary adenoma (tumor in the pituitary gland), Myathesnia Gravis or a brain stem lesion of some sort. Well the MRI showed nothing but unilateral mastoiditis…hmmmmm. Medicine is such a humbling experience because as soon as you think you have your diagnosis nailed down with Board-like precision, something out of the ordinary comes around. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting case indeed.

After seeing patients, the surgeons and the internal medicine guys (and then me, the lowly medical student) went to play golf at Pipestem resort! We played captains choice and ended up in a tie in the end. I hit a couple decent shots including a 40 yard sand wedge, 2 feet from the pin to win the hole. Sank a 25 ft. putt on another hole. Unfortunately, my long irons were shanktastic Oh well! Dr. Remines played real well though, as he was 2 under par on the front 9! Wednesday afternoons rock, at least for this rotation…

My weight has plateaued again Even with good exercise, as such I have cut back on carbs greatly. Eating brown rice, wheat pasta and drinking diet soda almost exclusively now.

Ok…off to see another patient. Mind and body strong grasshoppers!

Live from the clinic -Richie

So here I am on a sunny Tuesday morning in between seeing patients here at Blue Ridge Internal Medicine.  My parents came into town this weekend for two reasons, the first being to see me and the second, to meet the future in-laws! 

 Everything went off without a hitch though my wallet was a casualty when my mom accidently washed it (I have a bad habit of leaving my wallet in my pants when I take them off hehe.)  Dad and I played golf at fountain springs on Monday.  We were able to get the round in, in less than 4 hours.  It was awesome and very well maintained this time around.  Dad shot an 85 and I shot an 87.  I putted better than I have in the past couple years but I had a nasty tail on all of my iron shots that made them space out about 15 yard to the right of my target. 

My dad also started his golf website this weekend.  Check out http://www.thegolfdad.com for his insights on his life and golfing.

I’m working on getting my two other projects:  www.brokemedicalstudents.com and www.brokedoctor.com off the ground this week.   I have a new tool which I will review soon that is helping immensly.  I’ll let you all know how it goes when I get a few sites up with the tool. 

Anyway, I need to jet, more patients to see!

-Much love, Richie

Yes, tomorrow is the last day of OBGYN. Surprisingly, I did well on all of my pap smears! Participated in some C-Sections and vaginal deliveries. Got to scrub in for some hysterectomies and did an appendectomy during one of them too! Cool eh? My best friend Jade is going to be an OBGYN doctor and is trying to give me a subtle nudge in that direction. Well I am not so sure about what I want to do yet but I have to do something with procedures because…well…I like surgery! Who would have thought! I think it’s all the video games I played as a kid. Laparoscopic surgery is alot like playing Xbox….well, more like the upcoming nintendo Wii but the point is you need good hand-eye coordination to pull off the micromovements necessary to use the small instruments and navigate the laparoscope around.

I have officially started taking orders for the new pharmaceutical grade vitamins. I went and met the CEO of the company last saturday in Charleston, WV and also heard Dr. Julian Bailes present his research on Omega-3 fatty acids during the meeting. Some exciting stuff. I’ll be getting an order page up soon but if you cannot wait for that and you are interested, I have officially started taking orders for the new pharmaceutical grade vitamins. I went and met the CEO of the company last saturday in Charleston, WV and also heard Dr. Julian Bailes present his research on Omega-3 fatty acids during the meeting. Some exciting stuff. I’ll be getting an order page up soon but if you cannot wait for that and you are interested, I have officially started taking orders for the new pharmaceutical grade vitamins. I went and met the CEO of the company last saturday in Charleston, WV and also heard Dr. Julian Bailes present his research on Omega-3 fatty acids during the meeting. Some exciting stuff. I’ll be getting an order page up soon but if you cannot wait for that and you are interested, you can always email me for more information.

Now for a bit of funny stuff! Someone sent me this link to an episode of scrubs and I think it sums up what being on call is like hehe

Caution, PG13: Scrubs Video about getting dumb questions on call oh and here is another clip I like “German Patient”

More to come more to come! Including fan mail grab bag! I’ve got some great ones this time