Grand Rounds

This week's edition is up, and I'm delighted to be included.

Happy reading!

Warming the Socks

If you look werry, werry carefully, you can see a cat in the back of this drawer. Putting laundry away is quite the furry adventure around here (so's making the bed).

And in other news, this week's Grand Rounds is up. Happy reading!

Step Right Up For Grand Rounds!

This week's edition is up, with a lively medicine-show theme. Thanks for including me, MJ!

Medical Goodies

First, this week's Grand Rounds is up. Happy reading!

Second, last night we had our first meeting of the Literature & Medicine discussion group, which I'm facilitating at one of our local hospitals. Those of us on the planning side were nervous about attendance, and indeed only a handful of people showed up (although more have said they want to come next time), but we had a lively and thoughtful discussion, and I think everyone enjoyed it. I certainly did. I can't wait until the October meeting!

And third, yesterday I had acupuncture for the first time.

I liked the acupuncture, which I think helped unclog my sinuses. The preceding diagnostic procedures, however, put my Western skeptic brain into screaming "Warning, Will Robinson!" mode. See, you hold a brass rod that attaches by a wire to a machine with a platform on top; another wire from the other side of the machine is attached to a probe which the clinicians jams into meridian points on your hands and feet to see how well your organ systems are functioning. The machine beeps and whines as a colored bar shoots up on a computer screen to show function level. What made me skeptical is that a) the level seems to vary according to probe pressure and how long it's held there, and b) my very nice nurse practitioner began this procedure by explaining that the actual doctor -- who's an MD as well as having acupuncture certification -- might have to redo some of the readings, because "he's more sensitive than I am and communicates with this machine better."

Um, okay. Some people are better at reading, oh, x-rays than others. Maybe it's like that.

But then, after the initial readings -- which showed that I have an alarmingly "stagnant liver" (which doesn't mean what it would in Western medicine) -- the diagnosis continues with treatment testing. This is done by putting vials of herbs on the machine platform and retaking the readings to see if the high ones are now low. If so, that means this herb will help you.

The APN was having trouble finding herbs that would balance me, so the doctor came in. "How does this work?" I asked him. "How can the machine tell what herbs are in the vials if they're in glass?"

"Electromagnetic fields," he said cheerfully, and proceeded to do a little demo. He'd found a herb that would balance me very nicely, according to the machine. He had me put the tip of my left thumb to the tip of my left forefinger, like an "OK" sign, and tried to pull them apart while I resisted. "Your kidney readings are fine," he said. "If I try to do this while I'm pointing at your kidneys, I can't do it, but if I try to do it while I'm pointing at your liver, which is weak, I can pull your fingers apart easily." This was indeed true, but I suspected either a different grip on his part or the power of suggestion on mine. Then he put the vial of the herbs that will help my stagnant liver in my right hand, and said, "See? Now if I point at your liver, I can't pry your fingers apart anymore."

I was trying to keep my face from twitching. (When I described this to Gary, later, he said, "This guy needs to get an act in Vegas.") But a good friend of mine swears by this doctor, so I was trying very hard to give him the benefit of the doubt. "What causes a stagnant liver?" I asked him.

"Internalized anger," he said promptly. This is, of course, a classic cause of depression, and I can't count how many psychiatrists have told me the same thing. And when I talked to the doctor about antidepressants, he was very clear and thoughtful and smart about what they do and what they can't do. In Chinese medicine, a stagnant liver would also cause allergies, so that ties together neatly.

On the other hand, depression and allergies were my two chief complaints on my new-patient paperwork and during my initial interview with the APN, so is he telling me what he already knows I want to hear?

As I say, I did like the acupuncture, and I'm going back in two weeks for more. And this guy's covered by my insurance, which confers a certain legitimacy. In the meantime, I'm taking Chinese herbs, which a) smell yucky, b) aren't covered by my insurance, and are more expensive than my OTC meds, and c) have to be taken in vast quantities (twelve pills a day, in my case). It's too soon to tell if they're doing anything, but I wonder if I can continue with acupuncture but discontinue the herbs. Oh, and he's trying to formulate a homeopathic remedy for my stagnant liver. When he talked about what the liver herbs should do for me, he mentioned relief of symptoms I hadn't told him I had, which was interesting. On the other hand, they're common depression symptoms, so again, maybe that was just a good guess on his part.

The jury will be out for a while on this one. But it's an adventure, that's for sure!

Back to School With Grand Rounds

This week's edition is up, with an education theme.

Happy reading!

Grand Rounds Meets the Bard!

This week's edition is up, with a Shakespearean theme. Now that's what I call Literature & Medicine!

Elsewhere in medical news, I've made an appointment with a local acupuncturist (who's also an MD, and very highly regarded by a colleague who's one of his patients). I keep hearing that acupuncture helps at least some people with allergies, arthritis and depression, all of which I have, so why not give it a try?

My initial appointment was with an APN, and my friend at work said only the MD places the needles, which would mean I'd need an appointment with him, too. I called to check on this, and the scheduler explained that the APN will spend an hour with me, taking a complete history and doing various tests. Then I'll be led into the acupuncture room and the doctor will come in and place the needles.

Dang! When did I last have that much face time with a provider? Just knowing that someone's going to listen to me that carefully makes me feel good about this place already. (Now that's what I call narrative medicine!) O brave new world, that has such creatures in it!

And, amazingly, this doctor is on my insurance list.

I'll post about it afterwards -- the appointment's in two weeks -- and let you know what I think.

All Kinds of Stuff, In No Particular Order

1. My father and Fran got the apartment! Now we begin the nerve-wracking process of two people moving from two different states into the same small space. They probably won't be here for about two months, but there are lots of logistics to be worked out in the meantime.

2. This week's edition of Grand Rounds is up. Happy reading!

3. Speaking of medicine, yesterday I flew down to Vegas to teach my narrative-medicine class to some third-year students. It was great fun, and two of them are now interested in my fourth-year NM elective (and one person came away from the class with an interesting idea for a research project). So I'm pleased with how it went.

4. Also speaking of medicine -- veterinary, this time -- Harley had bloodwork this morning to see if he's developing kidney disease (his bloodwork has seemed to indicate that he might be, but it's borderline and might just be normal for him, so they've been rechecking his blood every six months). Please keep your fingers crossed for good results!

5. Yesterday in Vegas, my friend Marin showed me her iPhone, which is a thing of beauty and splendor, and for which I developed instant and total technolust. Gary and I talked about my getting myself one for my birthday, but reality set in when I started checking the numbers: on top of the hefty purchase price for the unit, the monthly charge ranges from $70 to $130, and that's way too much to pay on top of our other bills. (Plus, battery life seems to be a problem with these gizmos.) So I'll stick with my modest little cellphone for now. I'm sure that the units will become more reliable and that prices will come down, but I can wait until that happens.

6. Tomorrow we leave for the wedding in San Francisco. It should be a fun trip!

7. Classes start Monday. Eeeep! I think I'm ready, but I suspect I'll have my share of teaching-anxiety dreams this weekend.

I think that's all the news. I may blog over the weekend -- I'm certainly taking the laptop -- but if I don't, I hope everyone has a great few days!

Grand Rounds

Yes, I know, I've been terrible about blogging this month. I'm going to try to catch up with a flurry of posts. In meantime, here's a link to this week's edition of Grand Rounds.

Enjoy!

Grand Rounds

This week's edition is up, with a South Park theme. South Park is evidently the antidote to training ADD rats. Who knew?

Belated Links

The Sacramento reading was great fun, although the photo makes me look like a rabid, snarling animal. That's not the photographer's fault, though. I very rarely photograph well.

Said photographer is Tim Kahl, who invited me and Ellen and wrote me a long, thoughtful e-mail afterwards. Thanks, Tim!

Also, here's this week's Grand Rounds, which has a great theme and in which I'm delighted to be included. Thanks, Edwin!

I came back from Sac with a really nasty cold, which is why I've been behind on blogging and many other things. I wasn't feeling well enough to go to the hospital today, which really disappointed me because I was looking forward to seeing our newly refurbished ER. But I didn't want to give anyone my germs, or get anyone else's, and I didn't think anyone would appreciate my coughing and sneezing all over them.

I have my new CPAP now. It's not, alas, smaller than the old one, at least not once the humidifier's added on. But it's very quiet, and I like it.

Grand Rounds (x 2) Turns 200!

This week, six-time host GruntDoc brings us the 200th edition of Grand Rounds. Woo-hoo!

And I forgot to post a week to last week's edition, which came to us all the way from London.

Hurrah for Grand Rounds, and happy reading!

Grand Rounds, Meet Seinfeld

This week's edition is up, with a Seinfeld theme. I'm delighted to be included.

Happy reading!

Grand Rounds, With Fireworks

This week's edition is up, with a timely Fourth of July theme. Enjoy!

Grand Rounds

Here's a very belated link to this week's edition. Happy reading!

Grand Rounds in the Tropics!

This week's edition is up, all the way from Saipan, and I'm pleased to be included. Thanks for hosting, David!

Happy reading!

Grand Rounds

This week's edition is up (and alas, I'm not in it, since I spaced the deadline).

Happy reading!

Grand Rounds

This week's edition is up. I didn't submit a post, because I was working on other stuff (like the book!), but as always, I'm looking forward to reading everybody else's posts.

Happy reading!

Grand Rounds

This week's edition is up, and features a post by yours truly. In fact, I suspect this is the post that alarmed the NetNanny on the Concourse computers.

Happy reading!

And now I'm taking myself and my cranky guts back to bed.

Grand Rounds Goes Biblical!

This week's edition is up, with a very clever Genesis theme. I'm delighted, not only to be included, but to be the first post.

Great job, #1 Dinosaur!

Back to Grand Rounds!

This week's edition is up, and I'm delighted to be included after too many weeks of not even submitting.

Thanks for hosting, David, and for the kind words about my post!