Eat Peanuts Weekly Unto Death

Although the great majority of children with egg and milk allergies outgrow their ailments by three years of age, an even larger majority of kids with peanut allergies will never escape them. For the 5 - 15% or so who are fortunate enough to have their immune systems calm down long enough to appreciate the vitamin E rich satisfaction of chunky peanut butter many will later have their allergies reemerge. The solution? Continuous dosing with peanuts. Allergists, or at least the allergists I know, recommend weekly peanut ingestion for those lucky enough to have their peanut allergies resolve so as to ensure that the body never again pauses to think whether peanut peptides are foreign and hostile or not. Not having any peanut allergies myself, I gotta say: sounds nutty.

Speaking of nuts, this week I took part in two vasectomies. Turns out they are remarkably simple procedures and, in the Air Force at least, take place while the patient is entirely awake. First they cut you open, then they find the right structures, clean 'em off, and clip, snip, cauterize and you're done. The incision itself is only maybe two or three centimeters long at most and doesn't even need to be sutured or glued close. Moving on...

Senioritis is becoming particularly strong. I can remember fondly the days of third year when I would be embarrassed, guilty, and disappointed with myself if I did not adequately prepare for a part of my medical duties. When asked if I had read for something that I had not read for I would have admitted my error and followed it with a string of sincere apologies and construed excuses. This week when I was asked if I had read about the vasectomy procedure, however, I just replied, "no," and we continued walking down the hall. This is my last rotation before residency starts up in June. Three months of relative idleness sounds edifying.

Most of the residents and staff physicians have been nice I must say. With few exceptions it has been an extremely pleasant experience to work family practice at Andrews. One of those exceptions is an awkward sort of woman who looks at me funny way more often than anyone should ever be looked funny at. Half the time I haven't even the slightest clue what brought on that particular contortion of facial features. I am admittedly not the most openly friendly person when working with senior physicians, so perhaps I just bring the weirdness out of her, but good lord woman at least look goofy when the person you're looking goofy at isn't looking directly at you. Fortunately or unfortunately that is about all I have to say with regards to my clinical experience here.

Completely unrelated to anything I have written about previously. It seems whenever I hear Senator Clinton speak she is emphasizing her resolution and toughness against the endless onslaught of Republican hate and slander. She alone can take on the GOP beast. It appears to be her primary defense against the mesmerizing powers of Senator Obama's inspirationally vague oratory. I fear she isn't being blunt enough, however. Americans need simple phrases like, "yes we can" and "I like Ike"to be brought around. That's why I think her campaign needs to create a poster in the course American style. Have her in one of her many professional yet feminine dress suits standing behind a lectern with both hands in the air waving two middle fingers; a headlining caption reads "F--- Republicans!" and maybe a "2008" at the bottom for good measure. At the very least it'd save us having to hear the same sound bites over and over again.

Blackouts and Broken Hips

I believe shining boots lies somewhere between ironing clothes and paying bills when it comes to terrible ways to spend a Saturday night. And yet that's what I find myself doing. Washington DC is nice, but when you're an introvert and are there completely by yourself there turns out to be a lot of dead time to fill. Thankfully my boots can always use a good shine.

This isn't to say things haven't been interesting since I have been here. Last Sunday afternoon we had a half day blackout marathon for what seemed to be the entire Clinton, MD area. No lights, no heat, no hot water, no tv, and, after an hour or so, no functioning laptops or cellular phones. After sitting around for a good couples hours ran its course I retired to bed at a youthful 7:30 pm. The power was restored sometime around 2 or 3 in the morning as heralded by the sudden start up of my hotel room heater. On the plus side getting up at 7 never felt so great.

And then a few days later we had a mild icing over which led to an inglorious fall. It was a shame no one was watching as though it wasn't a good exaggerated cartoon fall there was a good second or two of desperate struggle to remain aright before I twisted and fell on my side. Thankfully I still have pretty good T-scores so my hip walked away with some mild bruising instead of a complete shattering. I'd say I'm too young for prosthetics, but, well I already have some. Needless to say in addition to being uneventful it has been cold. Cold's nice though every once in a while.

So that's mostly life right now. Throw in some diabetics and seniors with back pain, and that's fourth year. I guess I'll end this post with a shrug. *shrug*