On a day that I’m not on call, 15 hours in the hospital is too many hours. On the other hand, I spent the last two hours teaching the med students on my team various stuff about admitting patients and managing kids coming up from surgery, so it really was worth it.
In addition, today I wore my favorite tie, a black one with huge Winnie the Pooh pictures on it (Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger), and I re-realized why it’s my favorite — every kid on the floor under the age of six came up to me and wanted to see it. If anyone was in doubt before, take it from me — props definitely help you with kids.
Happy (late) birthday to Dan, happy (late) birthday to Dan! (I’m glad I share a birthday with him, but am slightly shocked to find out I’m the older of the two of us.)
Here’s a somewhat scary article: low birthweight babies (those born at less that 5 1/2 pounds) lag behind their normal birthweight peers in education much more than previously thought.
For once in my life, I agree with Bryant Gumbel, because I too think that Robert Knight, “Director of Cultural Studies” for the Family Research Council, is a fucking idiot. (And I didn’t have to redact out the expletive!) The FRC is one of those incredibly scary neo-right-wing organizations that spouts hatred and divisiveness under the cover of “maintaining traditional values” and “preserving the strength of our country”; spending five minutes on their website is more nausea-inducing than most of the chemo drugs I push into some of my patients. (I’m not linking to them because I don’t want to drive even one damn visitor to their site.)
Interesting — if a man who has been living a lie of a marriage for almost the entire duration of being mayor of New York tells a reporter that his father taught him the lesson of honesty, does it mean anything at all?
There’s a good Salon article about Casey Martin, the man who’s won injunctions against PGA Golf forcing them to allow him to use a golf cart during competition due to a chronic medical condition that makes walking unbearably painful and dangerous. The suit between him and PGA Golf has been accepted for oral arguments before the Supreme Court; the result will be incredibly interesting, for pro sports and for disabled people in all kinds of workplaces.
Al has a pretty good story about (what I’m realizing is) a relatively typical patient-nurse interaction. If you need a stimulus to click on that link, here’s one: the story involves a scalpel, a well-endowed man, and the possibility of an unintentional bris.
Today was supposed to be the day that Phil and I were going to get to have dinner with Dave, and finally get to meet the guy who wrote the software we’ve been using for a decade. Would’ve been cool; I hope that he gets to NYC soon.
I just watched the first 20 minutes of the premiere Big Brother episode, and I can’t take any more of it. It’s more contrived than Survivor, if that’s possible.
If anyone was in doubt before, take it from me — props definitely help you with kids.
Boy, couldn’t agree more. After having taught for a few years in middle school. It’s amazing what a funny tie will do, or mis-matching your socks, or whatever.
• Posted by: Sam DeVore on Jul 5, 2000, 10:57 PMSam D
And don’t forget juggling. There’s nothing like a quick three-ball shuffle with the IV bags or tissues to make the kids eyes pop out. I’ve got more good exams done that way…
Or if you’ve got the dexterity, sleight of hand works well. Can’t tell you the number of ear speculums I’ve pulled out of kids ears…and of course, they had to go back in-that’s where they came from! ;-)
• Posted by: Alwin Hawkins on Jul 6, 2000, 12:53 AMJason, sometimes it’s hard to figure out how to process the things you write. On the one hand, it’s a personal site and you’re certainly entitled to your opinion. On the other hand, you seem to be expressing some virtue in your opinion which is lost in your manner of expression.
Today’s example is a good illustration. You go to some length to call someone a “fucking idiot,” characterize the organization he is affiliated with as “incredibly scary,” and then assert that their web site “spouts hatred and divisiveness.”
Now please bear in mind, my intent here is not to defend the organization you are referring to, it is merely to point out some incongruities in your manner of expression. I am on the opposite side of many of the issues they care about, and prior to mention in your weblog, I’d never heard of them.
I visited the web site you refer to and failed to find any speech which was as intemperate as yours. I failed to find speech which was, at face value, as divisive as yours. And what is more troubling (I don’t wish to say “scary”) to me is the facility with which someone as educated and purportedly tolerant as you seem to portray yourself, can use offensive, hateful and divisive speech to decry the aims of an organization you believe is offensive, hateful and divisive.
Certainly you can say whatever you want. But bear in mind you may be conveying more in your message than you intend.
Dave Rogers
• Posted by: dave rogers on Jul 6, 2000, 11:47 AMDave:
I freely admit to my intemperance for people like Robert Knight, Chuck Donovan, and the rest of the right wingers at the Family Research Council. I have no tolerance for them, their views, or their attempts to convince people that their beliefs are based in something other than bigotry, hatred, and fear. With all seriousness, I equate the FRC with Nazis and Klan members, and I cannot imagine that anyone would have issues with me calling them fucking idiots, berating their ideas, or expressing intolerance towards them.
If you really read through the FRC website and didn’t see intemperate speech, then I can’t explain your experience. The site is filled with statements that homosexuals aren’t fit to raise children, that “non-traditional” relationships are tantamount to the destruction of modern society, that scientists who carry out research on embryonic cells are murderers, and on and on.
If you sensed intemperance in my tone, then you got my message. After spending three years of my life receiving the most disgusting, pseudo-scientific, and fervently intolerant mail at home merely because my girlfriend worked for a non-profit women’s rights law firm, I have not a single cell in my body that is willing to let bombasts like Robert Knight influence people.
/jason
• Posted by: Jason Levine on Jul 8, 2000, 3:56 PMJason, I’m not criticizing your feelings about what the FRC promotes, merely your manner of expression.
One could get the impression that you are simply the other side of the same coin of fear, intolerance and hatred, albeit the “right” side.
I believe we will make greater social progress in the marketplace of ideas when those of us who believe in tolerance, courage and love for one another exhibit those qualities even as we criticize those whose ideas we oppose.
You’re certainly free to do as you wish.
I enjoy your site. Good luck in your residency.
• Posted by: dave rogers on Jul 8, 2000, 10:24 PM