thanks for the birthday wishes!!
yesterday i had the pleasure of seeing patients again, as studying for finals has me stuck in my apartment most days. the first woman i saw really had the most tragic story - the kind that smacks you on the ass for feeling sorry for yourself - ever.
when i walked into the room she smiled and immediately said, "oh, i know you!" (i didn't know her...) as her history unfolded, it came out that she had been treated for ringworm as a child in bulgaria...with radiation to the head. for any of you without common sense, this is no longer accepted medical practice. she also mentioned nazis, and how they threw a rock at her, and some other stories, which were hard to understand through her accent...but went on to how she developed squamous cell cancer on her scalp, and had lost all of her hair (which she attributed to going to the beauty salon...
). as the reason for her visit was to check up on some of the carcinomas, she had to take off her wig, and she was SO self-conscious...and only wisps of hair remained, and scars from treatments, and there were moles all over her abdomen...one of the attendings i was with joked that she had more hair than him (he had a huge shiny bald spot, but everyone knows that's not exactly the same on an old man, as being nearly totally bald is to a 30 y/o woman).
i wish i could have hugged her.
it reminded me of how my grandmother and great aunt had talked of having some kind of acne "treatment" as teenagers. as adults, my grandmother developed all kinds of moles on her face and her complexion was destroyed. fucking premodern medicine. (not like we're that much ahead, but...)
yesterday i had the pleasure of seeing patients again, as studying for finals has me stuck in my apartment most days. the first woman i saw really had the most tragic story - the kind that smacks you on the ass for feeling sorry for yourself - ever.
when i walked into the room she smiled and immediately said, "oh, i know you!" (i didn't know her...) as her history unfolded, it came out that she had been treated for ringworm as a child in bulgaria...with radiation to the head. for any of you without common sense, this is no longer accepted medical practice. she also mentioned nazis, and how they threw a rock at her, and some other stories, which were hard to understand through her accent...but went on to how she developed squamous cell cancer on her scalp, and had lost all of her hair (which she attributed to going to the beauty salon...
). as the reason for her visit was to check up on some of the carcinomas, she had to take off her wig, and she was SO self-conscious...and only wisps of hair remained, and scars from treatments, and there were moles all over her abdomen...one of the attendings i was with joked that she had more hair than him (he had a huge shiny bald spot, but everyone knows that's not exactly the same on an old man, as being nearly totally bald is to a 30 y/o woman).
i wish i could have hugged her.
it reminded me of how my grandmother and great aunt had talked of having some kind of acne "treatment" as teenagers. as adults, my grandmother developed all kinds of moles on her face and her complexion was destroyed. fucking premodern medicine. (not like we're that much ahead, but...)
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
Anyway, it's just odds and ends with my roommate trying to dick me out of rent now that she's moving out. Like I said: Drama.
Sorry to hear about all that shit you're going through. Watch out for those razorblades, cuz I've been there and they always cut way past the skin... Know what I mean?
And don't ever worry about a long story. If there's one thing I love to do, it's read.
ja, those stories...they tear you up. that's why i could never do medicine. everyone in my family is in the medical field but i could never handle it. it's interesting how radiation and nuclear power were once considered the answers to all our problems...now we know it's one of the worst of our problems...ahhh, to live and learn.