I have no idea where October came from. My days pass too quickly, and before I know it the weekend is upon me. Suddenly, it went from intolerably hot weather to very beautiful "autumn" weather (and by autumn I mean that people from Georgia wear their boots and scarves while Yankees like me are still wearing shorts and flip-flops).
This past week was insane, but I'm starting to realize that every week kind of is at the clinic. That's one reason health care has always interested me I guess; there's no such thing as "normal."
A few updates:
-In regards to the woman with the ectopic pregnancy:
"R" called my supervisor on Monday morning and said that she hadn't had any type of surgery and that she still was in excruciating pain. My supervisor called a gynecologist who works within our hospital system and asked that she be seen immediately. It was 10am while all this was happening, and by 10:30 my supervisor and I were knocking on the door of R's double-wide trailer on the boarder of Garden City and Savannah. We then drove her to the gynecologist and interpreted for her. It turns out that she was, at one point in the last month, pregnant (according to 2 blood tests and 2 urine tests). However, despite claiming that she didn't bleed much since then, blood tests now confirm that she is not pregnant. (I asked the obvious question, "Where did it go?" but was ignored, so I still don't know.) They proceeded to do an ultrasound on R and discovered a 10cm cyst on her left ovary (that's the size of a newborn baby's head) and a hemorrhaging 4cm cyst on her right ovary. By the way, when she went to the gynecologist the week before without a translator, the nurse claimed she "couldn't see her right ovary". Maybe I'm a cynic, but I feel like they tried a lot harder with my supervisor and I sitting there watching the ultrasound as it was taking place. Anyway, the gynecologist said he would do an operation to remove the cysts. At first his nurse said that R should fast for the rest of the day in case they were able to get her into surgery that afternoon. R is diabetic and hypertensive, but she obliged. We brought her back to Good Sam and had her rest on one of our tables while we waited to hear back from the doctor. By 3pm, she was super dizzy, so I called the doctor's office and found out that she wouldn't be scheduled for that day or the following day. R and I then went to get some lunch at the sub shop next door. We had an awesome conversation about how the world would be a better place if everyone just helped each other out to the extent that they were able to. She told me about how she speaks a little English and has a car, so she drives other Hispanic immigrants to their appointments and helps them find the social services they need. It made me smile :)
R's husband came and picked her up around 3:30pm. The next day, I found out that the clinic that she officially is a patient at needs to send medical approval for her to receive the surgery. When I called her doctor, the woman's response was, "Why are you even involved?" I guess it's a fair question; R has never been seen by any practitioner at Good Sam. But the clinic she goes to in Savannah is huge and told her there wasn't much they could do for her. My supervisor and I had the Spanish skills, time, and hospital connections to help R out, so we did. She should be having the surgery sometime this coming week.
-In regards to my patient with breast cancer:
"N" thankfully had breast surgery yesterday. We were worried for a while because she had an abnormal EKG and her potassium levels were dangerously low. I spent a lot of time on Wednesday trying to schedule her a nuclear stress test and working with the nurse at the cancer center to up her dose of potassium. I'm really worried about N, and am looking forward to calling her on Monday to check in.
Funny anecdote of the week:
One of my patients called and asked how old I am. I told him to guess, and his response was "I don't know, but you have a sexy young voice." He's 38. Ew.
Crazy stories of the week:
1. On Wednesday I got a call from a guy who needed Lortab and Xanax. He's from somewhere in the middle of nowhere Georgia and said that his regular doctor is out of town for a few days. I explained that he needed to get his prescribing doctor to authorize the refills. He proceeded to explain that his ex-fiance picked up his pills from Walmart the week before and instead of giving them to him, she sold them. Evidently he had asked that no one except him be allowed to pick up his meds from the store, but she obviously knew his date of birth, address, phone number, etc. and the pharmacy tech at Walmart thought it would be fine. So now he's living with relatives in Savannah while he's waiting for the police in his town to deal with his fiance. Cool.
2. Yesterday a woman called to make an appointment for her boyfriend's "relative." She explained that he was in an accident in Louisiana but had no other relatives in the U.S. so her boyfriend took him in. He had 2 surgeries on his back in Louisiana about a week ago and is now in Savannah. It took me like 10 minutes to understand what she was saying (I'm not used to hearing the word "Louisiana", especially not in Spanish), but he's coming in Wednesday to get his stitches/staples out. It sometimes amazes me the things that people will do to help each other. I can't wait to hear how he got from Louisiana to Savannah.
Personal update of the week:
I applied to grad school! I applied to Emory and Tulane for a Master's in Public Health with concentrations in international community health development. Both programs also have a Peace Corps component. Hopefully I'll hear back soon!
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