Still Alive

Well, apparently I have a lot less free time than I used to during my surgical rotation because my number of blog posts has decreased significantly.

Today was all urgent care, and after a disaster of a day yesterday (nothing like going to do a pelvic exam and realizing that there is no lubricant on your mayo stand...I think the nurse set me up for failure), today was a bit of redemption.

I saw 6 patients in total:
1) 21 yr old women with severe abdominal pain that warranted a CT to rule out appendicitis...turned out to be constipation.
2) 10 year old boy who fell on his back off some playground equipment. Correctly diagnosed that it was probably just a thoracic spine contusion, but my preceptor wanted an x-ray to r/o a fracture, which I had been too hesitant to order (I thought he was being a bit dramatic, as kids will do). X-ray was normal though, so that was good.
3) 70 year old male with upper respiratory infection. Easy as pie.
4) 29 year old female with anxiety disorder complaining of bumps on her tongue. Turns out she is on Lamictal (for her bipolar disorder) and has been warned over and over about Stevens Johnson type reactions, and she had read too much stuff on the internet. She had a super duper mild glossitis (tongue irritation) that was due to a viral URI she was having. I reassured her like a pro. A+.
5) 16 year old male with recurrent strep throat...always a confidence builder when a little 10 dollar test gives you the diagnosis.
6) 33 year old female complaining of a lump on her lady parts. I had no idea what it was. Plus, I couldn't work the damn table. I failed that appointment, but didn't beat myself up over it, so that in itself is progress.

That is all for now. Things are generally going well, but I've lost a little bit of confidence because the HIV stuff is quite complicated and difficult, and I haven't made much progress in conducting patient appointments on my own. Family practice is awesome though, and I'm getting better at urgent care.

I'm getting excited about Coeur d'Alene as I have my housing all set up, and I'm going to be shopping for snow tires and winter wear soon! I'm looking forward to spending some time in a new setting and even though I'll miss CJ, I'm feeling pretty positive about it.

Then again...ask me the day before I have to leave.

Jen