29 May 2011

Living changes everything

My patient invited me to his funeral.

 Indirectly.

 He asked for my phone number so that his daughter can call me when he dies (he’s dying). He asked for my phone number so that his daughter can call me when her daughter, his granddaughter is born – she’s due in August. He might be around. He might not be around. My patient said that maybe I can see photos of his granddaughter, maybe I can see her grow.
He won’t see that.

My patient invited me to his funeral. It felt sacred but not strange. This many months, years into med school, I’ve learned what boundaries are right for me. I’ve learned that my patients – most of my patients, the ones I truly have relationships with – will not cross those boundaries. So I wrote down my phone number and my email. And maybe his daughter will contact me.


23 May 2011

Not everything in pathology is dead

That is, perhaps, what I’ve learned in two weeks. I haven’t been in what’s popularly thought of as pathology – no dead bodies, no tissue specimens. Vials and vials and vials of things, petri dishes grown from people, blood and bone marrow biopsies.

Parts of people, taken out, to see if they are still alive.

(or, parts of people, taken out, to analyze and see exactly what’s in them and what they’re doing) .
It still feels like an inexact science, in some ways. Microbiology is detective work – but this isn’t what they show on House or CSI; it takes days and days to grow. (Then, clinically, what’s the point? In the immediate. . . there isn’t one. Patient is sick, patient looks “toxic”, you treat as if she’s bacteremic.* (Has bacteremia) . Septic. (Has sepsis) .

Rat glioma, nuclei

10 May 2011

Sustainable - Ecstatic.

Everyone talks about 'sustainability.' 'Sustainable development.' (which, by definiton, should be sustainable - otherwise - it's patchwork construction and shantytowns, metaphorical or literal). The environment.
Etc, etc, etc. It's as much of a generalized buzzword as "global health" is becoming in medicine.

If there's one thing I learned in Cameroon, it's that I can't take on things much larger than a village. A small part of a health district, perhaps. A health district (rural). A larger health district (someday). Part of a small NGO (someday). One project, perhaps two. Other things are less sustainable.

In medical school, the largest thing possible was a small, student-run clinic in a homeless shelter, operating for a few hours two nights a week and a morning every other weekend. That, in itself, was enormous. And there were several of us. (Alone? Possible? One person is not sustainable).

The Mall, Washington, DC, February 2003
In college, I was actively anti-war (can't even be apolitical in writing). (and I've learned that the strict position of 'anti' isn't useful anyway.) Peace marches, protests, demonstrations, a dizzying 'march on Washington' (to be done once in a life, at least, if politically inclined) gave a sense of community and something greater when the state of the world was terrifying. In this state, there are rallies at the state house for single payer healthcare. I haven't gone. It’s the global and local thing. Someday, maybe, WHO-type work. Someday, definitively, public health education/behavior change communication and program design. Local to larger to local.

02 May 2011

Relevance, irreverence

Were I not taking a year off from med school, I could be a doctor soon.

This sounds obvious. Yes, in the practical sense, in 12 months I would be an MD.
Instead, I’m doing three months of fourth year before taking off for an MFA. The fourth year schedule (for later) is so flexible that I could actually spend an entire quarter not here, doing a third semester of my MFA in an entirely different city. And graduate with an MD.
Soon, I could be an MD.
I won’t be.

To take a leave of absence, you have to formally withdraw from school. The form asked what I’m doing - simple. Then it asked what the relevance is. Relevance. (the career advisor/head of ob/gyn department asked me the same question. Relevant. How is poetry relevant. I’m not going into ob/gyn, anymore*) .

*for many reasons, but the above was probably influential on some level