December 25th, 2009 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion
No Comments »
Often as not, the miseries of our friends, patients, co-workers or family began with other miseries. The Bible is full of ‘begats.’ Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, Jacob begat his 12 sons.
Pain is similar; abuse begat depression. Loss begat alcoholism. Loneliness begat PID. Ridicule begat drug abuse. Ignorance begat incapacity. Infidelity begat sorrow. Fatigue begat anger. Neglect begat rage. Abuse begat indifference.
On the other hand, love begat happiness. Children begat purpose. Knowledge begat excellence. Concern for humanity begat medical science. Love for others begat long call nights and long surgeries.
Love for country begat sacrifice. Love for wives, husbands and children begat fidelity.
Love for mankind begat Jesus in the manger, Jesus on the cross.
Life is a series of ‘begats.’
Edwin
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
December 9th, 2009 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Opinion, True Stories
1 Comment »
Three of my children love to play the game ‘Life,’ where players choose college or career and are paid, take out loans, pay taxes, have families and all the rest as they navigate towards retirement. I especially love playing with them when they each become frantic, not for the highest income, but to finish the game with the most children. Along the way, my daughter is even naming her kids as the tiny blue and pink pegs fill up her little plastic car. (Talk about your parental validation!)
But after playing, then thinking back on my week at work, I fear that we could easily make a new game that was more familiar to many modern kids. I suppose we’d have to call it ‘The Game of Death,’ or maybe just ‘The Game of Pain.’ Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
December 4th, 2009 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, True Stories
No Comments »
The past few days have shown me some small pleasures of my practice. I spent about 20 minutes sewing together the hand and forehead of a sweet elderly lady who fell down while being evacuated from a nursing home fire. Her skin, like tissue, came together in fragile folds; my hands moved easily with the needle and thread thanks to so many years of practice, so many hundreds of feet of sutures placed. Although I must admit that my cataract-stricken right eye left my depth perception imperfect in a way that bonded me to her. (Sitting here, with no reading glasses, I can close my left eye and all I see is a hint of lines on the page, but no letters.)
My sweet little lady smiled at me, nervously, tentatively, but was comforted at the prospect of going back to her bed. Her son eased her fear with jokes, then took her home. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
November 23rd, 2009 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, Humor, True Stories
No Comments »
The patient has fluferculosis, buperculosis, conbumption, arg!
I’ve dictated charts since I started private practice 16 years ago. Although I like to think that I’m pretty good with the English language, it turns out that when I speak it, I mumble, slur and frequently dictate things that make no sense to the transcriptionist.
A standard chart for me might look like this:
‘This 44-year-old_____ complains of several days of ______ severe in the_______right______explosive and sudden in quanset. (Unable to understand physician)….and stated that she(he) {please clarify} would not be short of ______ usually has no pain in _____ when she (he) falls onto the crown?’
Now, this is difficult enough, as you might expect. And often worse when I’m finishing a night shift, and the chart says ‘the patient is awake, alert and sleeping quietly at discharge,zzzzz.’
But voice transcription takes it to a new level. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
November 15th, 2009 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, Opinion, True Stories
No Comments »
To inject or not to inject, that is the question
Last week I took my wife and children for our yearly family flu vaccination. The one Elysa used to call her ‘flea shot.’ Lord knows we’ve had enough fleas; if that would work, I’d consider it. But I digress.
The same day, I went to work and found that the employee health/infection control folks were offering H1N1 vaccines. I was told that as long as I took it in the opposite arm, I could go ahead and have mine. So, possessor of two punctured arms, I went back to work and felt fine. In fact, that was four days ago and I still feel fine. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
