Cool Clinic Tidbits

This week in clinic held a bunch of "firsts" for me. I heard my first heart murmur, first wheeze (lung auscultation), first visual of ambiguous genitalia, first spina bifida patient... If you aren't medically minded you might not realize how cool this is for me.

Someday I will need to identify the abnormal noises and if all you hear is normal, it might be hard to know what the abnormal noise is, when you hear it. Also, I want to work with kids and ambiguous genitalia occurs more frequently than you might think. Spina bifida also occurs frequently enough that I will treat patients with the medical complications from spina bifida.

Spina bifida is a congenital abnormality where the formation of the spine is not complete. It starts flat and then folds closed from the middle out. For these patients, it might connect in the middle but then not close on each end. Repair is not simple, even though it sounds like it might be. Paralysis is common due to damage to the nerves running the length of the spine.

I also learned in clinic this week that hives can signal a VARIETY of problems - including thyroid disease. So, if you ever have unexplained hives and your doctor wants to do a full blood panel on you, it's because it may not be an allergy or anything obvious. Hives CAN be simple but aren't always. The patient we had this week was referred from an Asthma and Allergy clinic.

This is just another example of why medicine is truly a PRACTICE - rarely are symptoms straightforward - but it also makes it fun, as long as you aren't the patient. For the medical provider, it is a puzzle that needs a new angle or some tweaking to figure out. It is also another reason why medical doctors are always learning and they may tell you they haven't heard of that "new study" you just read about. I heard today that medical science is new every 3-5 years. Scary, huh? By the time I graduate, almost everything will be obsolete, but you know what won't change? Patient care. No matter how the sciences change, human interaction and fact gathering is still the same. Treatment options may change but respect and compassion will always be the foundation.

Enough about that.
Sad to say only 2 more weeks in clinic for this semester - it also means the semester is almost half over. Wow!