North Of The Border---Decemer 19, 2006

We will be heading home Saturday!

No news to report. Everyone is doing fine.

The vascular surgery rotation was excellent. I saw a lot of aneurysms and occlusions. Got lots of experience with doppler waveform analysis, duplex ultrasonography, and segmental blood pressures. These tell me where the occlusion is. By knowing this (and other factors), a decision can be made as to whether the patient will be treated medically, with an endovascular procedure (angioplasty and/or stents), or bypass. Neat stuff. I would like to say more, but hesitate in order to preserve the privacy of the patients. Ask me some time.

After vascular surgery, it was back to podiatric surgery. It was kind of like coming home. Not much going on. Most podiatric surgeries are somewhat elective. Not much scheduled during the holidays. I did finally get to close that week, though. I was shaking like a leaf with so many people watching me suture!

Take time to read Luke Chapter 2 this week.

P.

Grappler

Here is some pictures from the Des Moines Lincoln High School Railsplitter Classic wrestling tournament. He took 4th place. I have more pictures, but I can't get them to upload. I will keep trying.







NO FEAR!!!

Squared off and ready to roll!

At the start of the second period, Caleb was four points down. He chooses the down position for an opportunity for an escape or reversal to narrow the margin. Almost worked!

North Of The Border---December 3, 2006

I understand Ozark Mountain Country was hit with quite a snow storm. It is very cold and dry up here, but no snow.

Sorry I have not updated in so long. I have been so busy with school and I have been a little under the weather lately.

We had a great trip home over Thanksgiving. Sorry we didn't get to see all of you. One the highlights of the trip was my ride-along with Shane Vaughan Wednesday night/Thursday morning. St. John's has an EMS system to really be proud of. It has advanced leaps and bounds since I left. Kinda makes me wonder if I was some sort of hinderance! Ha Ha!! I was just starting to miss all the "action" but we got to the ER and one of the docs was having trouble with a drunk. I was glad I got to see that as well because it reminded me of all the negative things involved in emergency medicine. I wouldn't trade my EMS experience/law enforcement experience for anything in the world, but the time came to put it all behind me and pursue other interests. I am thankful for the life long friendships that have been spawned as well. You know who you are even though I did not get to see each of you.

We went back to Cheryl's family on the Friday following Thanksgiving which I quess is now called "black Friday". They have a new Boston Terrier pup named McGoo. He is so ugly that he is cute and is teeny tiny. Hard to believe he is even a dog.

Then it was back to school on Monday. All course work is complete. We are strictly doing clinicals and "problem based learning" sessions (PBL). In PBL, the class is divided into small groups of 6 or 7 students each. There is a faculty facilitator that presents clinical problems. Our job as students is to use are research skills to solve the clinical problems. For example, suppose a patient comes into your office with signs and symptoms of a bone infection (osteomyelitis). A question might be "Which diagnostic study gives you the best information: Technecium-99 bone scan or MRI?" Then we find published research studies that apply to the question and report our findings back to the class. We usually have to give a brief lecture to the class including a Power Point presentation. The trend in medicine today is diagnosis and treatment based on solid research. I expect you would be very suprised to learn the amount of medicine that is NOT based on good science. It is staggering, but this seems to be changing.

I am staring a rotation with a vascular surgeon tomorrow. This is one of my favorite surgical sub-specialities so I am looking forward to it. Wish me luck and I will let you know how everything goes.