Dancing in the Dark

agape720 @ 2009-11-09T21:19:00

2009-11-10T02:22:58Z

Today one of my patients (an elderly man in his 70s) started railing against the health care bill passed by the House over the weekend, and about how our country is drifting steadily toward socialism. And I thought, "Here you are, getting your free/cheap health care from the government, in a government-run facility, talking to a government employee, about how the government shouldn't get involved in health care." How can people not make that connection??

agape720 @ 2009-10-28T21:41:00

2009-10-29T01:45:20Z

I was looking over medications for a patient in his 80s and saw that he had his eye surgery cancelled twice last year because he was positive for cocaine in a urine test. Way to live it up in your old age dude.

agape720 @ 2009-10-13T19:47:00

2009-10-13T23:51:08Z

My latest phone conversation with my favorite crazy patient (see 2 entries below this one):

Me: Hi, I'm calling to reschedule your appointment.
Patient: Yeah, I'm in Jersey for a family funeral. I hate city life! There are n*****s lined up and down the street!
Me: Are you worried they're going to jump you or something?
Patient: No no, if they do I'll beat 'em with my walking stick! Oh, there's someone urinating on the sidewalk. I can't wait to get out of here!

agape720 @ 2009-08-26T19:10:00

2009-08-26T23:17:57Z

I had a phone conversation with a patient today that went a little something like this...

Patient, over the sound of kids screaming in the background: Doc, I just had to tell you, since I started taking my medicines twice a day like you told me to my sugars have gotten so much better! They're the lowest they have been in a long time! And I feel the best I've ever felt!
Me: I'm so happy to hear that!
Patient: Kids, cut it out!! They're about to rip my picture off the wall! I woke up with them in my bed this morning- I don't know where their mama went...
Me: Maybe you should get back to watching them.
Patient: Thanks for giving me new meds to replace the stolen ones. I just know it was my nephew, that little n*****, who broke in and stole all my guns and my meds.

o_0

Life in Richmond

2009-07-28T01:43:48Z

I decided it was about time that I start trying to write about my life again.

Life in Richmond has been good- I'm really happy with my residency. It's at the VA Medical Center in Richmond, which I really like because everything the patients need is there: transportation to the center, social workers, a huge store ("the Canteen"), primary care, specialists, clinics, hospital rooms, a bowling alley (not kidding), exercise programs, etc etc etc. There are spinal cord and polytrauma units there since we sometimes get overflow patients from Walter Reed who are just back from Iraq. They have access to great physical therapy and transitional care- there's even a building outside the hospital where they can live semi-independently to get used to living outside the medical center. The spinal cord guys have cool motorized beds that they zip around the cafeteria with, on their stomachs so they're flying like Superman...although I'm sure it's not as fun as it looks. I challenge any pro-war citizen to walk up to one of those guys who are immobilized in wheelchairs, look them in the eye, and tell them that this war was worth them never being able to walk again.

Since it's a big medical center, there are a lot of pharmacists to support and teach me and the other pharmacy residents. I think I'm going to learn a ton. The other residents (Jon, Amanda, and Cristina) are really nice and fun. Cristina and I both love to dance and are kind of feisty- I think we're going to get along great. Amanda's really sweet and friendly, and Jon is very silly and sarcastic, which makes for some good banter. Jon and Amanda are from around Richmond and Cristina's from NC. They have been kind so far and haven't made fun of my Yankee accent :-p. I'm trying to fit in my saying "y'all" and putting "sir" or "ma'am" after my yes's and no's. Everyone does that here, and I don't want them to think I'm a rude northerner.

I've already gotten to see patients in our two main clinics. One is metabolic syndrome clinic (which covers high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes). The primary care docs refer patients to see us once a month for six months if they need help with those problems, and they delegate us authority to change those meds. I've already met some real characters...one guy randomly told me "I used to be a manwhore...I slept with 40 different women and had kids by eight of them!" What that had to do with his diabetes, I have no idea. Anyway, I'm really enjoying interacting with the patients- they definitely keep things interesting. I taught two people how to use insulin, including a schizophrenic guy, so I was really proud of that. The other clinic we do a lot is warfarin clinic. Warfarin is a blood thinner drug that people take when they have heart arrhythmias, a history of blood clots, or prosthetic heart valves. The drug has a lot of interactions with food and other drugs, so the patients have to come in monthly and get their drug level tested. We have to stick their finger and get some blood into a cartridge that goes into a machine and tells us their reading. I don't really like that part, but I'm getting used to it.

On weekends I've been exploring Richmond. It has a lot of really different neighborhoods all very close to each other: a college towny area, a skyscraper-filled downtown, a historic district, and an old run-down slummy area, though it's not even close to as bad as Detroit. The city is rapidly gentrifying, so on one block I might see vacant storefronts and "Checks Cashed Here" signs, and on the next block see fancy restaurants filled with wealthy-looking people. It's very different from Detroit where economic disparities are between cities rather than between blocks.

I have found a non-denominational church that meets in an old theater in the city. They seem to care a lot about serving the city, and they have small groups so I can get to know people better. I'm going to try it for a while and see what I think.

Ben is moving to DC in a couple of weeks, which will be nice...all the other residents are married or soon-to-be so they don't have a lot of time to hang out. Once he comes down, I'll be spending most weekends in DC, and I'm sure we'll find plenty to do there. I miss my Michigan friends but I'm doing okay. Ingrid and Tim came down to the area to visit last weekend, and I went to Michigan for Ben and Maggie's wedding, which was wonderful.

That's all for now...here's something to make you smile:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-94JhLEiN0

agape720 @ 2009-07-17T19:51:00

2009-07-17T23:52:44Z

I can't decide...which is bitchier, to not invite someone to your wedding because they didn't invite you to theirs, or to invite them and then have them feel bad about not inviting you to theirs? Hmmm...

Entry soon to come where I actually tell you how my life is going...

agape720 @ 2009-06-26T23:36:00

2009-06-27T03:39:50Z

Tonight I went with my coresident Amanda and her fiance Scott to a free outdoor concert on an island in the James River in Richmond. Then we went to a Cuban bar/restaurant in the city. It was so fun, and there are so many places to go! A canal walk, a Farmer's Market, a Civil War Museum, the Virginia capitol building, and a ton of multicultural bars and restaurants and clubs. AHHH I'm so excited to be living in a real city!!

NEW REGINA ALBUM!

2009-06-26T02:49:05Z

My God she is amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rov3pV9PsRI

Meet Virginia (I am so proud of this title)

2009-06-23T01:31:09Z

So here I am in my new apartment in Richmond, VA. My parents and Ben helped me move into it on Friday and Saturday. It's more spacious than my other one since it's a one bedroom rather than a studio. My complex is in a stretch of land with a bunch of complexes all right next to each other, but there are a lot of trees so it doesn't feel too cramped. One of the complexes has a duck pond and a walking trail through trees around it, so I can go on walks there. A ton of nice Indian families live here- they were all out walking around last night. Even though the complex is technically in Richmond, it's right at the edge of the city so it's kind of suburbanish. A block from my apartment there's a Lowes, a Kroger, and a Sam's Club, and a huge outdoor mall is about 10 minutes away. But the city center is about a 15-minute drive so I can go down there whenever I want some excitement. I'll be glad not to have frat boys throwing glass bottles into my parking lot anymore.

My first day of work was today. The other pharmacy residents seem really nice- I think we're going to get along well. We had to sit around a lot waiting to get our badges, get our parking passes, etc so we had a lot of time to talk. Hopefully we can all go out this weekend or something. I also met 2 ladies who used to live in Wisconsin and Michigan so we had a good laugh about our midwestern accents.

I talked to Ben on Skype tonight. I think it's going to help that I can actually see him when I am talking to him. That way I get almost the full Ben effect :-). Jon Hop and Justin came over to his place while we were talking so I got to talk to them too.

I think I'm going to like it here. :-)

agape720 @ 2009-06-16T22:45:00

2009-06-17T02:46:22Z

In the end
The love you take
Is equal to
The love you make
-The Beatles

Goodbye Ann Arbor.

agape720 @ 2009-05-27T18:40:00

2009-05-27T22:52:51Z

I'm thinking about Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich's comments about Sotomayor, and about Prop 8 getting upheld in California...

And both things make me so angry, but at the same time I don't care. Because those opinions are dying out, and in another 10-20 years they'll be such a small minority that their opinion won't make any difference. Although many older Americans still oppose it, my generation is pro-gay marriage (see http://www.gallup.com/poll/118378/Majority-Americans-Continue-Oppose-Gay-Marriage.aspx) and my generation accepts people of many cultures. Once we're the ones in power, rights will be expanded.

So the "anti's" can make all the noise they want. The dominoes are falling, and now there will be no stopping them...

I found my bridal gown!

2009-05-18T20:25:57Z

http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=-49995498&currentIdx=59&subCategory=-49999486|-49995498&catentryId=1000312

More info to come soon!

In case anyone is interested in what I will be doing next year...

2009-05-06T02:00:20Z

http://www.pharmacist.com/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home2&TEMPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=19517

Diego's Story

2009-05-01T02:38:27Z

I just realized that I never actually wrote about this event in here. I recently submitted it to The Big Read, which is a collection of stories supporting expansion of access to education around the globe. Here is Diego's story:

In the summer of 2006, I had the opportunity to travel to Ecuador as part of a service trip sponsored by the University of Michigan. We went to the capital city of Quito for a month and worked with an organization that paid poor children's school fees so that they could get an education; to help them succeed, we provided them with free after-school tutoring. We worked especially hard with the family who let us tutor the neighborhood children in their yard. Though the main tutoring session was in the afternoon, one of us would go to the house each morning to work with the kids in the family who were still too young to go to school. One child who required a lot of attention was a little four-year-old named Diego. Try as we might to teach him colors and numbers, no matter how many times we drilled him, he almost always mixed up “rojo” and “azul”, and he skipped the number “siete” when counting to ten. We were beginning to wonder if he was beyond our ability to help him.

Then one day when I was working with Diego, I decided to write his name in dashed lines so that he could trace over them to practice writing his name. I had him do it several times until he formed the letters correctly. Finally I praised him for his hard work, gave him a paper and crayon and told him to draw whatever he wanted. To my surprise and delight, he immediately sat down and wrote his name, all by himself. I showed the paper to the other tutors, and we cheered with joy! Responding to our praise, Diego wrote his name several more times, yelling “Yay!” along with us every time he did.

Diego had proved us wrong- he was perfectly capable of learning. All it took was a little encouragement and effort, and he acquired the ability to write his name, to say to the world, “I AM DIEGO!” The more I thought about it, the more I realized how profound this breakthrough was…if even Diego, who lived in a house with no heat, who sometimes had nothing to eat all day but Coke, bread, and porridge, could make a breakthrough like this, who knows what could happen if all children were given access to an education. Think of all the children living in slums who, if given the chance, could stem the tide of global warming by finding sources of new green energy, or find a cure to a deadly disease, or end the poverty that threatened to disable them. Who knows what wondrous impossibilities could become possible, if we equipped all people with an education.

After I came back from Ecuador, I had the chance to lobby on the Hill in Washington D.C. with RESULTS, a partner group of the ONE Campaign. I shared Diego’s story with many Congressional aides and legislators, and they were energized as they caught a glimpse of what could happen in a world where all children have access to an education.

And now, leaders of the world: I am asking all of you to share in this vision, and to act to make it possible. The children of the world have the power to create a new kind of global community…will you give them the chance?

I never thought I'd see the day

2009-04-21T22:58:52Z

I just saw this in a RESULTS email:

Families USA and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) will begin coordinated lobbying efforts and direct advertisements urging Congress on three important principles they believe need to be included in health reform:

Increase Medicaid eligibility to 133% of the federal poverty level and allowing beneficiaries to use Medicaid funds to purchase private coverage if it saves the program money.
Include income-adjusted subsidies for families buying coverage on the private market and restructuring the insurance market to prevent insurers from denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.
Cap out-of-pocket expenses to provide families with financial protection.

PhRMA lobbying for health care reform?? Maybe it really will happen this time...

Two great links

2009-04-21T00:25:12Z

New Detroit local currency:
http://video.aol.co.uk/video-detail/detroit-cheer-currency/3020130228

A president who actually reads people's letters:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/us/politics/20letters.html

agape720 @ 2009-04-04T20:11:00

2009-04-05T00:12:36Z

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090403/METRO/904030378

Ben and I are about to join the exiles...

agape720 @ 2009-04-02T22:49:00

2009-04-03T02:49:43Z

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090402/SPECIAL01/90401002

Click on "Economic Factors"...some pretty striking graphic displays.

Brain drain out of Michigan

2009-04-03T01:04:55Z

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090402/METRO/904020403/1409/METRO/Leaving+Michigan+Behind++Eight-year+population+exodus+staggers+state

In a way it seems like migration out of Michigan should be good for the state...doesn't it leave the relatively small number of available jobs for people who want to stay here, or who can't leave?

Check it out: MSA is hosting Bill Ayers as a speaker

2009-03-23T20:39:06Z

http://www.umsjc.blogspot.com/

Maybe UM is re-earning its far-left reputation ;-)

I heard it

2009-03-20T22:18:15Z

http://trainhorns.net/sound/

This seems like it could qualify as discrimination...

Which majors most likely to get laid?

2009-03-20T00:10:24Z

http://www.asylum.com/2009/03/19/math-majors-most-likely-to-be-virgins/

Wouldn't have expected poli sci majors...

YAYYY!

2009-03-18T20:49:31Z

I matched with my top choice: the Richmond, Virginia VA!

agape720 @ 2009-03-10T21:56:00

2009-03-11T02:08:30Z

Hi all-
The interviews are finally over and I ranked my choices of pharmacy residencies:
1) VA Medical Center in Richmond, VA
2) Kaiser Permanente in Rockville, MD
3) Moses Cone Health System in Greensboro, NC

In two weeks I will find out where I matched. For a good explanation of this process, see this article about the MD residency match:

http://www.freep.com/article/20090310/FEATURES01/903100359

Ben is in at all the law schools he applied to in MI (except for UM, no word from them yet) as well as American University in DC. Part of the reason I ranked the VA residency number one is that it is in the middle of all the schools he applied to out there (I also really like the VA system after doing my rotation at the Detroit VA last month and I think it has the best focus on primary care of all of them).
Anywho, in another month or so we'll know where we're going and can start making more plans. I've started looking at churches for our wedding next summer, and damn are some of them picky about allowing nonmembers to marry in them! I thought that this was supposed to be open-minded Ann Arbor!

I'm finally starting to realize that I am going to be moving to a new state on my own soon and leaving all my friends and family behind. I have never done anything like this, and it is somewhat terrifying. For now I'm just trying to enjoy my last few months here and not get too upset or prematurely nostalgic...

God bless this beautiful morning 'til it's gone
God bless this beautiful morning 'til it's gone
How I'm gonna feel when it goes, I don't know
But that's another song
So God bless this beautiful morning 'til it's gone
-Po' Girl

Oh gee golly darn, Dr. Dobson is leaving Focus on the Family

2009-03-01T03:16:11Z

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D96K37M80&show_article=1

We had to watch a bunch of videos by that guy in high school, such as "It's Not Gay: the Truth about Homosexuality". Gee, I'm sooo sad to see him go...