Me with my ass in the air

Hey all! I’m baaaack. See the picture here on the left? That’s me (the jackass) trapped in midair due to carrying too much of a load. Sometimes a heavy burden just wears you down, tiring you out, and sometimes, like here, things just go -snap- and suddenly you’re helpless. That’s where I’ve been for a bit. I think I’ve gotten my feet (hooves?) firmly planted on the ground again, and I hope to keep it that way.

Taking advantage of my newfound sanity, I decided not to postpone writing anymore and finally get out those things which have taken too much energy recently. Over the next few posts, I will catch you up on the goings-on of the last month or so. It really does suck that I kind of went underground just after Grand Rounds–I didn’t even have time to ride a good wave of traffic or anything before life started whipping me like a red-headed stepchild. I hope I didn’t lose too many readers, and of the ones I did lose, I hope they eventually find their way back. The blogosphere is a very ephemeral place in which the only constant is change. Read on and find out what’s changed with me.

Ann Richards: RIP

I know I’m late with this (and with everything here this week), but I had to say my peace regardles: Texas and the nation lost a true heroine with the passing of Ann Richards this last week. Unless you are a Texan or a die-hard Democrat, it’s likely you may not really know who Ann Richards was. She was the second female governor of Texas from 1991-1995, losing her re-election bid to current president G.W. Bush. I won’t go into all of Ann Richards’ accomplishments, accolades, etc., but I will say two things that stick with me personally besides all the other things.

First, she never apologized for having had a drinking problem. I respect people immensely who have a problem, own up to it, get help, and beat it. For a woman to do it and have the attitude in a good-ol’-boy state, “You got a problem with that, wise ass?” is remarkable. So many “famous” people either refuse to get the help they need or treat rehab like a revolving door. Not Ann.

Second, I can’t imagine a better role model for women. I will tell my daughter one day about Ann Richards. Her rapier wit was matched only by her huge heart. She championed so many women’s and minority’s rights while in all offices she held. The list of landmark reforms in her tenure are more than impressive. You may disagree with her politics, but you can not disagree with her humanity.

OK, so I said I wasn’t going to go on and on, so I won’t. Instead read a great article here.

A great story from Molly Ivins sums it up pretty well:

[State comptroller Bob] Bullock, 20 years in Texas politics, knew every sorry, no good sumbitch in the entire state. Some old racist judge from East Texas came up to him: “Bob, my boy, how are you?”

Bullock said, “Judge, I’d like you to meet my friends: This is Molly Ivins with the Texas Observer.”

The judge peered up at me and said, “How yew, little lady?”

Bullock, “And this is Charles Miles, the head of my personnel department.” Miles, who is black, stuck out his hand, and the judge got an expression on his face as though he had just stepped into a fresh cowpie. He reached out and touched Charlie’s palm with one finger, while turning eagerly to the pretty, blond, blue-eyed Ann Richards. “And who is this lovely lady?”

Ann beamed and replied, “I am Mrs. Miles.”

Paralysis

I don’t know if it’s something in the water or what, but I can’t seem to get up and do anything. I should be in class right now, but I’m home instead studying for neuropharmacology exam tomorrow. Well, that’s optimistic, because I can’t actually study, I just stare at the book/screen, thinking of other things. Wife and daughter left back to Texas for a couple of weeks, and while it’s an adjustment in general, my feeling like I’m constantly surrounded by molasses predated their leaving. I’m actually enjoying the quiet, but without an interruption or a noise to remind me I’m NOT doing what I’m supposed to be doing, I’ll be woolgathering for far too long.

I’m just so sick of school. The constant, endless lectures (which could at least be tolerable if 80% wasn’t being read to from powerpoint slides) that we have to attend, the periods of nothing due and suddenly 3 things due at once, the lack of anything educationally clinical at the moment, the constant trials and tribulation of living in Mexico in general — it all wears on you. I know this is a common sentiment among 2nd year students, gearing up for Step I of the USMLE, classes getting harder, etc. but I really thought I’d enjoy it more now that most of the material is at least directly clinically relevant. Should be, except it’s presented in the most boring way possible, like taking a rich soup and pouring a glass of water in it.

Before if you ask if I’m depressed, I’ll say unequivocally “no.” Dysthymic? Perhaps. MDE, not at all. This shit would wear on anyone, trust me. I envy the people who everything rolls off their backs and they’re always ready to make lemonade when life hands them lemons. I wonder if it’s a special type of flat affect that is centered on the positive end of the spectrum, like emotional botox that doesn’t allow their feelings to veer hardly at all from their cheery “center” no matter what happens. I dunno…in spite of my occaisional (and unfortunately recently, often) melancholy, I prefer my emotional volatility. It’s one of the few things that remind me I’m alive when all else is trying to beat it out of me.

P.S. More on Tequila soon!

Tequila!

In my seemingly never-ending lineup of things I have to do, my community medicine rotation starts this weekend. I elected to do it in Tequila, about 1.5 hours away, at a Red Cross because that’s where you get action. I was tired of going places here in town seeing runny noses, Pap smears, and hypertension management 90% of the time. That was OK 1st year. Now that I’m a 2nd year student, I need to translate the voluminous basic science knowledge I’ve amassed in the last 15 months (…pause for laughter…) and leverage that to treat an incoming stab wound with a pneumothorax or a compound fracture from a work accident, or…

OK, obviously I’m being silly and melodramatic. But I do want to get the hell out of Dodge to see more stuff. In a big city like Guadalajara, people can go to any number of “real” care facilities and not have to go to a Red Cross or the like. That’s the advantage (from a learning POV) of going to an underserved small town. I might even do some ambulance time with the Cruz Verde (Mexican volunteer/charity group like Red Cross) one of these upcoming weekends if I get bored.

So it goes w/o saying that since I’ll be in rural Mexico, I won’t be online. Given where I’m going, I may not be in any condition to post anything even if I had a connection, if you get my drift. Until early next week! In the meantime, enjoy the following:

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Osteopathic vs. allopathic medicine

In a post this week on Medscape’s “official” med student blog, Pin-Chieh Chiang, a 2nd year osteopathic student, asked the question if med students use drugs to boost their performance. After a lot of yatta yatta about student behaviors and who does or doesn’t show signs of “use,” she then says the following:

At my school, the emphasis on osteopathic philosophies shines a different light on this issue. If my head is feeling clouded, I can easily ask any classmate to perform a suboccipital release on me (one of my favorite treatments).

Well, I can’t speak for the osteopathic options, but at allopathic schools, we prefer a pudendal nerve release. There are many tried and true manipulations regarding structures innervated by this nerve that you will not find in Barbara Bates’ book but have great therapeutic value, nonetheless. Consider it our “folk medicine” for those “cloudy head” days. Getting a willing classmate…ah, now there’s the rub.

I sense a great disturbance in the Force…

How can Pluto get demoted as a planet?! I know I’m late writing about this, but I am convinced that this news has cosmic implications for all. I was brought up by an astronomy-loving father who owns a telescope that you can’t even lift as a single unit. So the characteristics of all the planets, the number of moons (known at the time–Saturn and Jupiter seemed to gain a moon every 4-5 years) were all known around 3rd grade. Now this?! You are NOT going to tell me Pluto is not a planet…no f***ing way. It has two moons for crying out loud!! It’s main infraction that demotes it from planet category: it doesn’t maintain an autonomous orbit around the sun (ie, it creeps into Neptune’s orbit for a bit). Also, its orbit is concentrically off and out of plane with the previous 8 planets. Well DUH!! It’s further away and significantly smaller than Neptune! So what if it creeps into Neptune’s orbit for 1% of the orbital tract…have Pluto take defensive driving or something. To make matters worse, several “asteroids” are now up for planet consideration, meaning we may have 12 or so planets soon once they finalize the data. I’m expecting California to slide into the Pacific any day now.

Then yesterday, the world found out Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter died. The bloke got stabbed by a bull ray’s (stingray) barb through the chest while doing footage for a children’s show–the stingray had nothing to do with the filming, it was just on the sea floor when it was startled and defended itself. I haven’t read any medical reports, but given the speed of his death (w/in a few minutes), I’m thinking it had to have pierced the heart. What kind of a way is that for the Crocodile Hunter to go out? An accidental freak accident while filming a kids show?!? (dedicated to his daughter, no less) Nothing short of a flesh-ripping bloodbath at the maws of any number of fearsome animals would show this great man proper respect on his way out. Goodbye Steve–you’re gone too soon.

Locally, Crazy classmate had a legendary moment of schizoid glory on Friday in front of the whole class, because there was a petition to change our neurosciences exam from Monday to Thursday. It got changed but not without some serious fireworks. My personal opinion was to keep it as is because of other things coming up, but in the end it’s not that big a deal–it’s a small partial exam, it’s not a final or board examination. People need to calm the hell down. Anyway, so this weekend was spent studying less, tending to backlogged tasks more, but I have community medicine in Tequila (yes, that’s the real city where it all comes from) at a Red Cross facility for the next two 3-day weekends and a surgery final exam (the slaughter of rabbits continue) on Friday just before I take the road trip to Tequila. Can I have any more to do? Calgon, take me away!!

It’s the damn planetary alignments…without Pluto, everything is off. I’m convinced.