Below you'll find a list of all posts from July, 2017
Since this blog is in many ways a time capsule from the current version of me to the person I was 15 years ago, there are concepts that occasionally resonate with the unencumbered new attending far more than they do with the married father of two with a mortgage and a bum shoulder. One such idea is the concept underlying …
As part of a fellowship in International Emergency Medicine, I spent six months (multiple trips over a two year period) in northern Ethiopia. One of the most otherworldly experiences I had during that time was exploring Lalibela, a town which occupies a revered place in Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity. A walk through town revealed temples hewn from single enormous slabs of …
I was introduced to the concept of “insensible losses” in medical school. Briefly, excess fluids lost from the human body are difficult to measure via the lungs, skin and GI tract, but can take a significant toll on the state of hydration. Conditions that stress the body and increase metabolic rate (burns, fever, a pint of Ben and Jerry’s in …
This morning I took a hike with a friend through the hills along the California coast. My friend is a thoughtful, deeply intellectual academic, and our conversation turned to the topic of what legacies we hope to pass onto our children. Reflecting my current preoccupation, I said that I hoped to pass onto my kids the keys to achieving financial …
What’s a saver to do? We’ve invested early and often in our tax-deferred retirement accounts, and our goals for these accounts should be reached in the next couple of years. This leaves us to cover the more worrisome bridge period: that time after we quit our day jobs but before we can withdraw from our retirement accounts. What options are …
Status Interruptus combines the symptoms of status epilepticus (interminable shaking) and status asthmaticus (inability to breathe) into one largely debilitating condition preferentially affecting physicians – it’s two great tastes that taste great together! The incidence of this nefarious condition is on the rise, and I have a front row seat in the emergency department. It targets the ostensibly “nice” …