There’s Something Happening Here
“There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
There’s battle lines being drawn
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
I think it’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound”
- Buffalo Springfield, “For What It’s Worth”
Please excuse me for babbling at the moment. It’s been a very long day.
I first went to the medicine out-patient clinic this morning. I treated a patient who was recently discharged from the hospital and diagnosed with new-onset (in reality, he’d probably been diabetic and hypertensive for a long time) diabetes and hypertension. I checked the computer for his list of medications. He was on 2 anti-hypertensives and 2 different types of insulin. His fingerstick (sugar level) in the office was elevated, as was his blood pressure. So, I asked him the most important question a doctor can ask. “Mr. X, have you been taking your medications since you left the hospital?” “Doctor, I’ve had some problems,” he replied. He then lifted a huge bag and put it in my desk. “These are my pills, he said.” I went through all of the medications, which matched up with what I saw in the computer. “Has this insulin been in the refrigerator” I asked. “It’s supposed to be in the refrigerator?” he replied. “Have you been taking your blood pressure medications?” I asked. “Which ones are those?” he asked. I showed him the bottles. “I haven’t taken those pills because I have arthritis and couldn’t get the lids off,” he said. “What about the insulin?” I asked. “My vision is bad, doctor (most likely because of his uncontrolled diabetes and hypertension) and I couldn’t see the lines to measure the insulin, so I just didn’t take it.”
I sent him home on one BP med (I took off the top for him), one oral diabetic med, a referral to the endocrinology clinic, a referral to diabetic/nutrition education, an opthalmology appointment, a podiatry appointment and an appointment to come back next week.
So, I digress.
Next up was psychiatry didactics.
Then I was on call for psychiatry consults.
It was a very long day.
A good day.
My brain fails me now….
I swear there was a point buried somewhere in there…
Photo: My two doggies and my third adopted “dog-sitting” doggy on my bed this morning as I left for work.