I've Been Punk'd

Our pal Dr. Rob has been at it again. It begins by leaving a comment on my blog which ends like this - "I just posted a poem about you, by the way." As I write this post, it is about 12 hours ago since I first saw that comment. Finally, I'm able to get over to his blog, and I see the following limerick about me:

There once was a Doctor Anonymous
With talk shows his name was synonymous
He’d chat with his guest
And charm all the rest
Until the whole evening was gone on us

Our buddy Dr. Rob is trying to get his readers to write a limerick to obtain the prestigious Golden Llama Award. As you can see above, I have bestowed this distinction on myself - just for being subjected to this "embarrassment" (hehe - I was expecting at least a mention of Nantucket or something like that - HA!).

Anyway, definitely check out his comment section on this post. There are a few pretty creative rhymes over there. But, I'm like Dr. Val when she said, "Just can't do it." Word up, Dr. Val!

Medblog Award Nominations

In the midst of all the holiday stuff going on, I forgot to mention this last week. I've been a fan of the Medgadget Medblog Awards ever since I first started blogging over 2 years ago. In those early days, two things which really made me feel like a "real" medblogger were being listed on blogrolls (which I already talked about here - great discussion over there BTW) and being nominated for Best New Medical Weblog in 2006. I didn't win, but I did my best to try to campaign for the win.

Now, I didn't win (don't know why - hehe), but that was a fun process to be a part of. Last year, I asked not to be nominated. I really didn't feel I did that good of a job with my writing. Instead, I interviewed Nick Genes on the show about the awards. And, even had the creators of the Medgadget blog themselves on the show to talk about the awards. That was fun.

This year, nomination close this Wednesday, January 31st, 2008. My blogging this year has been very minimal, so I definitely should not be nominated (and don't want to be nominated) this year. But, if you haven't already, I encourage you to check out the list and make your nominations.

The categories include the following: Best Medical Weblog, Best New Medical Weblog (est 2008), Best Literary Medical Weblog, Best Clinical Sciences Weblog, Best Health Policies/Ethics Weblog, Best Medical Technologies/Informatics Weblog, and Best Patient's Blog.

Finalists will be announced on Monday, January 5th. Voting will be from January 6th until 12 midnight ET on Sunday, January 18th. The winners of this year's awards will be announced on Friday, January 23rd, 2009. The nominations lists are getting pretty crowded. So, get those additional nominations in today. Good luck to all those nominated!

Are blogrolls still important?

This weekend has been ok while on call (I know I'm probably jinxing myself now). I've been meaning to edit my blogroll for a long time now. I've been putting it off for a while, because to go through this list just takes a long time. When I was going through my list today, I deleted about 20 links because they are no longer blogging. Everyone in New Media Medicine (ie- medical blogosphere) knows that GruntDoc has his occasional "DeadBlog" post where he deletes links every so often.

I remember back when I first started blogging. I was trying to figure out who were the most popular med bloggers. One of the ways was seeing the blog linked on everywhere. And, my goal as a new blogger would be to get on these famous blogger's link list. I was so happy when I started seeing my link on other's blogs.

Now, with it being two years later, I wonder whether people use the blogroll or the link list to determine popularity. In my opinion, the blogroll has become a little old fashioned. What I see out there are things like being followed on Twitter and other social networking sites rather than the blogroll. What do you think? Is the blogroll as prestigious as it used to be?

Merry Christmas

In the video above, just wanted to share what I'm doing today for Christmas Eve and wanted to wish everyone out there a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Now, I know that some of you will not be able to put down any kind of technology for a second. So, I encourage you to twitter what's going on at your holiday celebrations and/or even share on your blog. I know I'll be continuing to constantly check twitter as usual to see what's going on out there. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Nominated for Shorty Award

I admit that I didn't know too much about these Shorty Awards until I received this tweet from the shorty awards site. According to the site, these awards "honor the best content producers on Twitter. Nominations close on December 31st. Apparently I received two nominations in the health category. Thanks to those who nominated me. I really appreciate it.

Hi! I'm Dr. Santa!

On this Monday before Christmas, I would like to spread some Christmas cheer to everyone out there this morning - especially, since it feels like -20F with the winds this morning. Usually, this is a good day to stay home. But, since Dr. Santa has to save lives (HA), I took the reindeer and sleigh to the hospital (tough to find a parking spot) and to the office.

What would you say if I walked into your hospital room or office exam room looking like this on this cold morning? Leave your comments (all comments welcome) below. Oh, by the way, there's only three days left until Christmas. Happy Monday!

Show 63 Wrap-up

What a fun Christmas show that we had tonight! Right at the beginning of my show I did a "dramatic" reading of The Night Before Christmas - that was fun to do! (You can listen to the show above, or, download the show by clicking here.)

I wanted to thank my "secret" guests who were Kat and Kim. At the end of my show, my computer froze up and Kat had to close up the show for me - and she did a fabulous job! Also, our buddy Kim cut her foot right before coming on the show. Kim came on and recited a poem to me and did a great job on the show. Then, as you could see from her twitters, she did go to the emergency room and receive six stitches.

Thanks also to those who called into the show. Marq called in and gave a sang a little parody song for me - that was nice of him to do. Also, Sunny, RevRockDog, Annie & Burl also called into say hello and make the show even more entertaining. I am still flattered that people would write a poem or write a song for me - very much appreciated.

So, this is the last Doctor Anonymous Show of 2008. I can't believe this year went so fast. Just wanted to thank everyone out there who support my show, support my blog, and support me. It is all of you out there who keep bringing me back to try to do more to entertain and inform you. I'm really looking forward to 2009. I have some grand plans on how to make the show bette and how to make the blog better - all while having fun in the process!

Update: It's been a very frustrating last six hours. I've been trying to upload a video post to the viddler site, but for some reason, it's not going through. That's why the video post is initially not here. I'm going to try to continue to try to post it through the day today. Yeesh!

Update 2: Was able to upload to YouTube. Let me know what you think of the video quality. I'm still trying to upload to Viddler. But, always wanted to try YouTube. Not sure if I like it as much.

Update 3: I know all these updates are really geeky, but, it's been interesting experimenting with other video sharing sites. Viddler is still not working for me. Thanks to T-rave, tried out Blip.Tv. And, I'll let you be the judge verses YouTube (both videos above).

Update 4: Ok, last update on this issue. It is now 18 hours since the initial post, and the Viddler post finally came up. I compared Viddler, Blip, and Youtube videos and I'm deleting the latter above.

Dr. A Show 63: The Christmas Show

Thursday, December 18th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time (0200 GMT)

As you can see in the video above, I have totally lost my mind. I can't believe that it's only one week until Christmas. Are you into the whole Christmas thing, yet? I know not a lot of people are. Well, have I got the prescription for you. Why not join me for The Doctor Anonymous Christmas Show.

Do you have favorite Christmas music, movies, and TV shows? Why not call into the show and let's talk about it! We also might share some childhood Christmas memories. Did you see my gift to all of you earlier this week? What were your favorite Christmas gifts when you were a kid? We'll talk about that - and I'll also have some mystery guests. So, you don't want to miss that!

If you do listen live, you can even take part in the chat room. It is truly "The show within the show." You can even call in and say hello. A great opportunity to interact with medbloggers you've only read about. And, you will be able to see me on the live webcam during the show! See you for the show!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Click to Listen" button. Then, of course, press the "Click to Listen" button.

*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the "Chat Available" button in the upper right hand corner of the page. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room. You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. Hope these tips are helpful!

Spend New Year's Eve with Dr. A!

Are you looking for a date on New Year's Eve? Well, why not hang out with me live on the internet! What am I talking about?

Cliff Ravenscraft is someone I met at Podcamp Ohio this past summer. I even did an interview with him. If you haven't already, check it out on my viddler site to learn more about Cliff and his podcast network called the Generally Speaking Podcast Network, or GSPN.tv.

Anyway, Cliff is going to do something that I could not even think of doing. He's going to podcast for 24 hours in a row on New Year's Eve. How crazy is that? Actually, I have always wanted to try that. I mean I know all about sleep deprivation, and I think that I would have fun at least trying it out.

Join me on the GSPN Marathon Podcast from 9:00-10:00pm Eastern time on December 31, 2008. If you have skype, you'll be able to "call" in to the show and talk to me and Cliff. I'm hoping that some from the Dr. A community will call in to introduce the GSPN community to what we're all about. This should be a fun show! It's going to be even more fun, because I'm on call that night. Hopefully, my pager won't go off to many times during our conversation.

Finally, I did want to talk a little bit about GSPN itself. Cliff produces a bunch of podcasts in the areas of technology, entertainment, family and faith. There are just too many for me to list here. In addition, Cliff has been podcasting for three years, and even left his former job so that he could pursue is dream of working in podcasting/newmedia full time. I very much respect that. See you New Year's Eve!

Free TV Show from Ustream

Dr. A Show on ProMed Network

I had an interesting opportunity presented to me about a week ago. I was approached to have The Doctor Anonymous Show to be on a new medical/health podcast network. Jamie Davis, RN, who produces podcasts like The Medic Podcast and The Nursing Show, is the managing editor of The ProMed Network.

I think that is great that there are attempts being made out there to try to aggregate some of the great medical/health content that is out there in New Media Medicine. In addition to this medical/health podcast network, I'm hoping that someone out there (who has a lot more time than me) will step up and make the bold effort to try to make a single location of all the great medical blogs that are out there. I have some ideas on this, but don't have the time (or the energy) to try to put all that together.

One of the things I'd like to do in 2009 is to make efforts to get out of the comfort zone of the medical blogosphere. I really want to learn more about the medical/health podcast community and even see if there are non-medically related audiences out there in the vast internet who may have an interest in the Doctor Anonymous blog and show. For now, I encourage you to check out the podcasts on The ProMed Network. There are some interesting ones over there. Thanks to Jamie for the opportunity to be a part of the network!

Christmas Show Preview

Ok, you're probably wondering what I was talking about on Twitter when I said something like, "My Christmas Gift." Well, it's the video above. And before everyone out there gets the wrong idea. The last part of the video above comes from the video vault of Dr. A. A few weekends ago, I was going through some old video tapes from high school. Back then, we had these bulky video cameras and either wanted to be a Hollywood filmmaker or a comedian.

In the video above, you'll find old, old footage of me and my high school friends at an amusement park ride. We were on a "science" field trip in which we were given some physics problems to figure out during the course of the day. Above, we're in line for a lame ride, and we're just passing the time, just talking about nothing.

I can't believe I wore those geeky glasses back then. You'll also see the Kent State University sweatshirt I was wearing as well. It was my dream at the time to go to Kent State, but that didn't happen. I lived at home and went to good of Youngstown State University for college. Also in the video above, you'll see the poofed out hair styles which defined the 80s - good stuff.

Finally, you'll see some of the early glimpses of my comedic genius in action, even as a teenager - hehe. This video was so much fun to put together. I'm a little bit embarrassed to put this out, but I figured, what the heck. It's my Christmas gift to all of you.

BTW, speaking of Christmas, join us for The Doctor Anonymous Christmas Show which will be Thursday, December 18th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time. We'll be talking about Christmas memories from childhood, your favorite Christmas movies, TV shows, music, and whatever else comes to mind. I'll also be joined by a couple of mystery guests. See you for the show!

Show 62 Wrap-up

Thanks to Angelo from Podcamp Ohio for joining us on The Doctor Anonymous Show 62. (see video post above) We're just in the beginning stages of the planning process for the event which will take place on Saturday, June 20, 2008 in Columbus, Ohio at Ohio State University. (Can also download show here)

Angelo also gave us an update stating that his wife Heather is due with their first child in the middle on January. I encourage you to check out his blog to see a picture from a recent baby shower. Angelo also shared his experience at the recent Podcamp Pittsburgh meeting.

Following the interview, I was happy to welcome Trauma Junky who not only listened to the show for the first time, he also called into the show to talk about respiratory therapy and his blog called Surviving RT School. TJ even wrote a post about being on the show. Thanks so much! I encourage you to check it out. The post is entitled, "Does this makes me famous?"

Finally, want to give a shout out to one of my new peeps named "T-rave." He talks about tech on his site and also on Twitter. He also listened to the show for the first time. And, what does he do? He makes a video post about it. Thanks so much! You are the man!

Dr. A Show 62: Podcamp Ohio

Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time (0200 GMT)

The Doctor Anonymous Show welcomes Angelo from Podcamp Ohio to discuss plans for the June 20, 2009 event. Here is what Angelo wrote yesterday in the Podcamp Ohio google discussion group:

I'm quite excited to kick off the PodCamp Ohio 2009 planning on the Doctor Anonymous podcast. We have the technical issues ironed out from the first PodCamp, so this next year's PodCamp Ohio podcast will be much more entertaining rather than technical.

We can discuss some ideas what we want to do with the next PodCamp Ohio. We can also discuss next years location which will be Mendenhall Lab at Ohio State University. I'll [be] posting some pictures from the building on flickr and send the link to the Google group. All of the rooms available to us at Mendenhall Lab are at minimum the same size as the medium size rooms from last years PodCamp Ohio.

In addition to this topic, I wanted to mention Blog World Expo 2009 which will be October 15-17, 2009 in Las Vegas. There has been talk of a possible health/medblogger programming track. Well, it was learned this week on the BWE blog, that BWE will be merging with the New Media Expo, which will make a huge event next year. Why is this important, because this will be THE national conference for blogging & podcasting. I'm motivated more than ever to go to this conference! What else will we talk about? Who knows?

If you do listen live, you can even take part in the chat room. It is truly "The show within the show." You can even call in and say hello. A great opportunity to interact with medbloggers you've only read about. And, you will be able to see me on the live webcam during the show! See you tonight!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Click to Listen" button. Then, of course, press the "Click to Listen" button.

*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the "Chat Available" button in the upper right hand corner of the page. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room. You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. Hope these tips are helpful!

Show 62 Preview

This week, The Doctor Anonymous Show is going to be more new media as opposed to medical. (see video post above) What do I mean by that? Well, we're happy to welcome our friends from Podcamp Ohio to the show this week. In my own mind, I have designated the Dr. A Show as the "Official/Unofficial podcast of Podcamp Ohio" (hehe) I think every month until Podcamp Ohio 2, the show will be giving updates on the event.

For those of you who don't know, Podcamp Ohio 2 will be Saturday, June 20th, 2009 at Ohio State University. If you didn't happen to see how much fun we had last year, I encourage you to check out a bunch of videos that were shot at the 2008 event. Angelo, who is the lead organizer of the event, will be our guest this week. He'll be giving us an update on the most current information Podcamp Ohio 2. So, join us for the next exciting episode of The Doctor Anonymous Show which will be this Thursday, December 11th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time on BlogTalkRadio.

The Doctor Anonymous Show Featured on iTunes

When I was checking out the iTunes store last weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to find the image above. What is it? Well, it's The Doctor Anonymous Show in the "New and Notable" section of iTunes. Of course, the show is in the podcast section of iTunes. But, it's under the "Health" category and "Alternative Health" sub-category.

Now, I had no idea that the show was going to be on iTunes. I had nothing to do with that. I would imagine that BlogTalkRadio makes a feed available to iTunes and that's how it got there. And, there is no "medicine" category at BTR, so that's probably how the show ended up in the iTunes health category.


As I was exploring more the "Health" podcast category of iTunes, I saw the image above. It is the "Featured" section. And, do you see the lower right corner of the graphic above? Well, it's The Doctor Anonymous Show featured on ITunes! Now, granted, it's on the last page of the "Alternative Health" section, but I'm featured, baby - at least for now.

So, here's my plea. For those of you who enjoy The Doctor Anonymous Show, I encourage you to subscribe to my iTunes feed. Also, please leave me a review over there on iTunes. I hope to climb the ladder of popular podcasts over there on iTunes. And, I can do exactly that, with your help. Thanks so much for your continued support for the show!

Zippy in Spain

Recently, there have been some mentions of Zippy and where the heck is he at. Well, I did manage to find him in Spain - with of all people, our blog buddy - Crzegrl. As the people from Change of Shift know, she was in Barcelona last month, and guess who went with her? In the video above, Zippy is enjoying the L'aquarium Barclelona. Although, he did look a little intimidated. I'll let you judge for yourself.

This also gives me the opportunity to again mention the silent quilt auction by Ramona which I mentioned previously. The latest bid is $300 and the bid will be going to The Childhood Brain Tumor Foundation. And, if you can't bid, consider giving a donation to this worthy cause.

Show 61 Wrap-up

Thanks to Enrico for being a fabulous guest host for Show 61. (See the video above) I just listened to the archive, and it sounded like everyone had a good time. I also wanted to thank the people that called into the show including Dr. Val, Ramona, MJRN, Bongi, and Vijay. I also heard that we had a pretty good crowd in the chat room for the show. Grand Rounds always brings a great discussion.

Although I wished that I could have watched the show live, from listening to the archive, I could really tell that the panel and everyone in the chat room were helping Enrico out during the show. There was even a point where, I think, Enrico's skype cut out - and the panel just kept the discussion going. I think possibly this is a new BTR host in the making.

I was able to catch Enrico's after show when I got home last night. And, that was a good time, too. I so, so, so, so much appreciate everyone's support of The Enrico Show and my show in general. The community that we have connected around the world continues to amaze me. Have a great weekend everybody!

Update: Below is Enrico's video wrap-up. I'm jealous of the HD quality video. Maybe it's time for me to get that HD cam, ugh. Enjoy the smoove music as Enrico gives his commentary. Great job!

Dr. A Show 61: The Enrico Show

Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time (0200 GMT)

The Doctor Anonymous Show is happy to welcome our buddy Enrico to the guest host's chair this week. If you didn't already know, I was unavailable to host the show this week. And instead of canceling the show, Enrico graciously stepped up to the plate to help me out. Thanks so much Enrico.

Enrico was the host of Grand Rounds 5.11 this week and did a fine job at that. Scheduled to be on the show to participate in a roundtable discussion will be Val Jones, Ramona Bates, Mother Jones, and possibly Bongi. Join them as they talk about ME (hehe), Grand Rounds, the medical blogosphere, new media medicine, and whatever else comes up.

If you do listen live, you can even take part in the chat room. It is truly "The show within the show." You can even call in and say hello. A great opportunity to interact with medbloggers you've only read about. And, you will be able to see Enrico on the live webcam during the show! See you tonight!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Click to Listen" button. Then, of course, press the "Click to Listen" button.

*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the "Chat Available" button in the upper right hand corner of the page. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room.

*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. Hope these tips are helpful!

Kevin MD: USA Today Op-Ed

New Media Medicine is proud to have people like Kevin Pho out there trying to educate the press and our patients on a national scale through his op-ed pieces. On December 3rd, 2008, Kevin wrote a piece called Ease ER Overload. Here's an excerpt:

Emblematic of soaring health care costs, which are projected to reach $3 trillion by 2011,is the nationwide crisis of emergency department overcrowding. More than $18 billion is wasted annually on unnecessary visits to the ER,with volume rising by 32% and wait times almost doubling to one hour during the past decade.Relieving this strain will be critical to any health care reform.

Contrary to popular belief, it is not just the uninsured who are utilizing emergency services. A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that patients with health insurance were primarily responsible for the increase of emergency services over the past decade. Lack of access to an available doctor is the major reason.

He analyzes the issue of emergency department crowding from a primary care perspective. What's the answer? Well, you'll have to read the article yourself to find out. Great job as always Kevin and thanks for keeping the primary care point of view out there on the national stage.

Dr. A Show 61 Preview

In a very controversial move (hehe), I am allowing a guest host this week to take over my show. Who? Well, the only and only, the legend that we know as Enrico who is the host of Grand Rounds this week. It's my show, but I haven't been privy to any of the pre-show prep (just kidding).

From what I hear, "The Enrico Show" is going to have a star-studded panel of medbloggers (something I could never do - again just kidding). What the heck will they be talking about? Well, me of course! If you haven't heard, I was originally going to cancel this week's show because I was unavailable during show time. But, thanks to Enrico, there will be a show, and it will be fabulous and incredible, and ground-breaking, and history making (can I hype it up anymore?)

So, tune in Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 9pm eastern time (0200 UTC/GMT) for The Doctor Anonymous Show with guest host Enrico from the blog Mexico Med Student. This should be a good show. See you there!

Grand Rounds

If you haven't checked it out already, Grand Rounds Vol 5 Number 11 is now up and running over at Mexico Med Student by our buddy Enrico. His theme is "Death and Transfiguration." He also has music files between sections. In addition, he has a new wordpress theme. So, he pulled out all the stops for this week's GR. Why this week's theme? He explains why below:

Death and Transfiguration is a “tone poem,” literally, a musical literary depiction. In this case, it is of a dying artist on his deathbed in his last moments, and what is experienced up to, including and after death. A patient in a bed knowing it can be the end is certainly scared, and perhaps even confused.

Thanks to this week's Grand Rounds host for including my post this week:

Doctor Anonymous shares his thoughts as part of yesterday’s official observance of World AIDS Day. It is, as he pointed out, the 20th anniversary of the event, and we have made incredible strides in that time.

I admit that I haven't mentioned GR in a while. I have to admit that I've been a lazy medical blogger in that I haven't written anything for this fabulous blog carnival in a while. If you don't know what Grand Rounds is, it is a weekly compilation of the best posts from the medical blogosphere that moves to different sites each week. And, who doesn't like reading about medicine and science? Next week, Grand Rounds moves to the blog called "Sharp Brains."

Quilt Charity Auction

For those of you who don't already know, our blog friend Dr. Ramona Bates, in addition to being a world-class surgeon, is also the creator of elaborate quilts like the one seen above. The inspiration for this quilt comes from our favorite traveling crustacean who is, of course, Zippy the Lobster.

Today, on Ramona's blog, Suture for a Living, she announced that the quilt above is being put up for auction for the charity called the Childhood Brain Tumor Foundation. The quilt measures 41 inches by 41 inches. For the story of the quilt and the rules for the silent auction, click on over to today's post called "Silent Charity Auction." This is a great quilt, by a great doc, for a great charity. Bid on it today! It'll make a great holiday gift!

World AIDS Day 2008

If you didn't already know, December 1st is World AIDS Day. In doing a little background checking on this, it's hard to believe that 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. From a medical standpoint, I think that we've made some great strides in this area. From a social and cultural standpoint, I remember the attitude around in the mid-1980s to HIV/AIDS - mainly because medicine didn't know a lot back then. Tapping into the pulse of America back at that time inspired movies like Philadelphia and And The Band Played On.

Even though HIV/AIDS education has come a long way in 20+ years, HIV/AIDS advocates still are driving toward more research and more education. And, I don't fault them for that. For this post, I'd like to highlight a letter to the editor from the Cleveland Plain Dealer from November 30, 2008:

I am a 20-year survivor living with AIDS, and another World AIDS Day (Monday) is fast approaching. Food trays once left at hospital room doors of those dying from AIDS are now being served. The preventative measure of "gown ing-up" has come and gone. However, the stigma of AIDS has stayed unchanged. Sadly, there are conflicting AIDS transmission fears and infection rates spiraling out of control.

I am blessed in that I am still here, with thinning hair, bifocals and my AARP card in hand. I am living proof of the incredible medical strides made in managing HIV/AIDS. I am blessed in living to see nieces and nephews come into my world and bring forth great-nieces and great-nephews. I am blessed in that I continue to continue. I still grieve for the many friends I've lost to AIDS.

This year, another 56,000-plus Americans will become needlessly infected with HIV/AIDS. We know how to prevent HIV infection. We need to wage a War on AIDS in America. We know how to win it.
Robert W. Toth -- Cleveland, OH

As I said above, from a medical point of view and patient/social education point of view, I think that we've done a pretty good job with HIV/AIDS education in the United States. Can more be done worldwide? Of course, more can be done - especially because numbers of those affected by HIV/AIDS are continuing to increase. If anything else, World AIDS Day keeps people aware, and I think it has done a good job at doing that.

Update: Thanks to Dr. Val for mentioning this post on her Getting Better site today. I appreciate it!

Addicted to Medblogs Interview

If you haven't checked out the blog called Addicted to Medblogs, you definitely have to. The blog profile states, "I am a bored attorney who spends too much time reading medblogs at work." And, it's been around for about as long as my blog has been around.

One of the many entertaining features are the interviews with prominent bloggers in New Media Medicine. MBA (MedBlogAddict) calls the featured interviews "calendar docs." I was more than pleasantly surprised when I got the e-mail that I would be the November Calendar Doc. You can see from my picture up there twittering that MBA caught me at a good time to have an interview.

And, what an interview! Played 20 questions - literally - Well actually not, there were more than 20 questions. But, these were the most hard hitting, thought provoking, insightful questions that I have ever been asked. So, you definitely have to check out my Dr. November post over at Addicted to Medblogs. Thanks so much for asking me to do this. It was really fun! (Comments turned off here. Leave all comments over there - hehe)


Update: Thanks so much to Annie and Burl Live for talking about my interview on their show November 29, 2008. The discussion on this starts near the end of the show at about 1 hour 38 minutes into the show. You can also download the entire show here or listen using the player above.

Black Friday Unboxing

Streaming live video by Ustream
No, not me, silly. Our buddy Daniel Johnson Jr and his family woke up at 3am this morning and went out to eat with his family at 4am before getting in line at the store at 5am. Little did they know that the store they were at opened at 6am - Yeesh. In the video above, he unboxes the stuff that was purchased (mostly tech stuff - cool). And, even shares a gift that will be given to his daughter at Christmas (don't tell her - hehe). So, enjoy! What's your Black Friday story?

Mumbai thoughts from Indian Physician

Our good blog friend Vijay is a radiologist in the state/province of Tamil Nadu in India. Like the rest of us, he learned of the situation in Mumbai via twitter. And, those of us who know Vijay were sending supportive "tweets" when we were watching all the live coverage on television/internet.

Vijay recorded a Scan Man Speaks podcast yesterday to share his thoughts on the situation. Podcasts are so cool in that it really brings the blog off the page - and lets you hear the passion and emotion of the writer. The podcast is about 20 minutes long and you will need iTunes to listen to it. The last five minutes of the recording are very good. I also encourage you to subscribe to the Scanman twitter feed to get the thoughts of a citizen of India during this tragedy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know it's a little early, but I wanted to spread my Thanksgiving wishes to all my friends (at least before I forgot to record/post something this week). Enjoy the video post above. Think of it as my video greeting card to all of you :) (For those of you with webcams out there, I challenge you to record your own Thanksgiving video post - hehe)

But seriously, I am very much thankful for all of you out there who support my blog and the show. I feel that I have gotten to know some of you very well - even though I have never met you in person. The internet is kind of weird like that, isn't it? I'll be spending the day with the folks. We'll be having turkey, telling stories, watching football, and doing the other things that dysfunctional families do on holidays - HA! (Did I mention that Christmas is one month from now? Yeesh!)

New Media Medicine & 2009 Economy

GeekBrief.TV #468 from Cali Lewis on Vimeo.

One of the most frequently asked questions that I hear from new media medicine people is this - "How is anyone going to make any money at this gig?" We use buzz words like "monetization" and "search engine optimization." Actually, other people really knows what those terms mean. I use them to try to sound smart at the new media parties hehe

Anyway, with the economic downturn that we're in now, is this a bad time to be in the new media medicine industry? Actually not, says, tech and new media guru Leo Laporte on this edition of GeekBrief TV. Leo is probably the most well known in tech podcast circles. He does audio podcasts as well as live video streaming while recording his podcasts.

In this interview, he discusses the opportunity we have right now to get ready for when the economy turns upward. What can we do right now? First, of course, ride out this downturn. But, second, this is the time to try to build audience. Because, if you have or will seek advertising, when things turn upward, you want to have a good group of readers, listeners, subscribers to present to potential advertisers when ad dollars come back to new media. I encourage you to check out the video above to at least give you an inside glimpse of new media.

GeekBrief TV covers New Media Medicine

Geek Brief Live #469 from Cali Lewis on Vimeo.
I watch and listen to a lot of tech podcasts. I was pleasantly surprised to see one of the leading tech video podcasts, GeekBrief TV, cover a recent medical conference which highlighted new media. Cali Lewis, the host of the podcast, stated that this is the first GeekBrief devoted to all med techie stories. I cannot tell you how happy I was to see this. Hopefully, as the medical blogosphere, er, New Media Medicine, continues to grow and mature as a sector of new media - coverage for all the great stuff we do will continue.

I also encourage you to check out Cali's entire presentation at this conference via iTunes U. In this presentation she opens with how she and her husband began with only an idea and how it evolved to one of the most popular tech video podcasts out there. Then, they record this video podcast right in front of the live audience. Finally, they review some of the equipment that they use (very cool for me to see). Thanks to GeekBrief for covering a little medicine in their show. I hope to see more med topics!

Show 60 Wrap-up

Thanks so much to my guest Mr. Michael Carroll from the UHC Medicare Solutions website. (see video post above) The topic of Medicare is very complicated and I think he did a great job explaining the site and the information that could be found on it. I, on the other hand, feel that I possibly could have done a better job at interviewing. Don't know why, but did feel nervous beforehand. Maybe it was because it was a different type of interview than I've done in the past. Who knows. (Download show 60 here)

Following the interview, thanks to Enrico, MJRN, and Kim for calling in and making the show entertaining for me and for those in the live chat room. Did announce that not only is Enrico hosting Grand Rounds in two weeks, he will also be guest hosting my show in two weeks. Meanwhile, I will be a guest on The Guys Podcast in two weeks. Thanks to Enrico for stepping in for the hosting duties.

Also, I was happy to announce that Kim will also be guest hosting my show - probably in January sometime. So, I'm very happy that the show is going to be branching out and welcoming guest hosts. This will add a whole new dimension to the show - and hopefully more engaging, entertaining, and informative for you.

Finally, also wanted to announce that there will be a Podcamp Ohio show on December 11th. And, The Doctor Anonymous Christmas show will be December 18th. I have some ideas in my head on the show format. Plus, finding possible guests for the show will also be fun. But, for now, Happy Thanksgiving next week to all my USA readers/listeners. There will be no show next week. The next show will be December 4th with Enrico. Have a great weekend!

Dr. A Show 60: Medicare

Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time

The Doctor Anonymous Show (see video post above) is happy to welcome Mr. Michael Carroll from UnitedHealthGroup and we will be talking about the website UHC Medicare Solutions which is designed to provide seniors and caregivers with easy-to-understand Medicare information to help beneficiaries match their health-care needs with the right Medicare plan.

Following our interview, I will make a few announcements about the Dr. A December shows. I'll also mention some items with regard to Podcamp Ohio 2. There were also a few interesting news stories this week including the reports that "primary care docs will be quitting," the anticipated naming of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Motrin Ad Controversy, and whatever else comes up.

If you do listen live, you can even take part in the chat room. It is truly "The show within the show." You can even call in and say hello. A great opportunity to interact with medbloggers you've only read about. And, you will be able to see me on the live webcam during the show! See you tonight!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Click to Listen" button. Then, of course, press the "Click to Listen" button.

*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the "Chat Available" button in the upper right hand corner of the page. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room.

*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. I'll start taking calls about halfway into the show. Hope these tips are helpful!

Obama Health Czar

This is not a political blog. However, it's kind of interesting seeing the reports of the transition team come out of Chicago. One of the many things I'm proud of this country is this - In no other country in the world will you see a transition to a new government run so smooth. You see stories around the world that sometimes involve weapons when a new government comes to power.

Anyway, just wanted to comment on who's probably going to be the new Secretary of Health and Human Services. According to the CNN report above, it will be former Senator Tom Daschle, who is currently at a law firm in Washington, DC. (Undoubtedly this is a move consistent with the president-elect's passion to bring change to Washington hehe) The reporter in the story describes the HHS Secretary position as the nation's "Health Czar." Anything health policy related goes through HHS, including things like Medicare policy.

During this election cycle, it was pretty apparent where the Democratic party would like to take American health care. The seeds are carefully being planted. In the report above, they state that the former majority leader was frustrated that he could not get a universal health care bill passed. It also states that he sees a "historic" opportunity especially since the White House and the Congress is controlled by the Democrats. If their goals are met, I see more primary care physicians (like myself) being unhappy with the bureaucracy related to the US health care system.

Show 60 Preview

This week, The Doctor Anonymous Show is going to have a little different conversation. Instead of interviewing a blogger or podcaster, we'll be talking about the issue of Medicare - which is a pretty complicated subject. If you know completely nothing about the subject and need a quick thumbnail sketch of things, I recommend this link from WebMD.

Our guest this week will be Mr. Michael Carroll whose title is Vice President - Portfolio Marketing at Ovations which is part of UnitedHealth Group. We're going to be talking about a new website called UHCMedicareSolutions.com - and this shows UnitedHealth Group Medicare products and services including Medicare Advantage, Part D prescription drug and Medicare Supplement products.

This is a key time for companies with Medicare Advantage products. Why? Because between November 15th (last Saturday) and December 31st, this is the best time to change to a Medicare Advantage plan from a different company. So, until the end of the year, those in the Medicare demographic will see a lot of media out there trying to get people to switch their Medicare product.

Now, I want to make this clear. By having this guest on, I am in no way saying that I am endorsing or not endorsing this product over other Medicare products. I want to thank Luke Armour who contacted me about having Mr. Carroll on to talk about his product. Luke was formerly with BlogTalkRadio and has known my show since its beginnings. I think this is a unique opportunity for me to have a completely different conversation that is new to the show.

So, join us for Show Number 60 on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time. Following our conversation, I have some notes about Medicare I might talk about. And, I have a HUGE announcement that I'm going to share about a Dr. A Show coming up in December. So, you have to catch that. You can also participate in the live interactive chat room, you can call into the show to ask a question, and you can even see my shining face on the live web cam. Exciting, I know. See you for the show!

NE Ohio Snow

In the above CNN video, you can see how fun it is on the shores of Lake Erie yesterday and today. Now, granted, I don't live up on the shoreline where Ashtabula is. But, all those snow squalls are only an hour drive north of me. It's going to be fun tonight in Buffalo tonight when the Browns take on the Bills. Also, shout out to Luke Armour who gives us a mid day picture from the East Side of Cleveland. Gotta love NE Ohio weather!

World Diabetes Day

Happy World Diabetes Day! Just wanted to spotlight our blog buddy Kerri from the blog Six Until Me. (Check out her video blog above) We've never met in person, but I feel that I've gotten to know her my reading her blog, by her being on the show, and listening to this week's interview with Dr. Val.

For all the diabetes bloggers out there, I just wanted to say that I appreciate what you do and I have learned so much from hearing your stories. Your stories have really helped me take better care of my patients. I'm honored to help spread the word about World Diabetes Day. Have a great weekend everybody!

Show 59 Wrap-up

Thanks so much to Øystein Horgmo from the blog The Sterile Eye for being on Show 59. (Check out the video post above - sorry that the sound is a little overmodulated) (And, you can listen to the show on the player above - or download the podcast here) He called in live from his home in Norway where it was 3am. His blog is about medical photography and he also takes photos for this Norwegian cancer site (I think he said that they were thinking about making an english translation of the site at some point).

Patient privacy issues are something that was interesting to the chat room. And, he answered questions on how patient consent was obtained before taking photos - and he does video as well. His blog is one year old now, and he gave some advice for new bloggers out there on how to possibly continue as long as a year with your blog.

Thanks so much to those who called into the show including Marq, Dr. Rob, Ramona, and Vijay (hope that I didn't forget anyone). At one point Øystein (Norway), Vijay (India), and myself were all on the call at the same time. It sounded like we were in the same room, even though we are continents apart. (Even Crzegrl, host of this week's Change of Shift, listened live from Barcelona, Spain) Very cool.

Near the end of the show, we received an update from our friend Kevin Haynes who lives in New York State. You may remember Kevin called in to Show 54 where he told the story of the family of Sgt Toland (CNN report here). Kevin shared how the community came together to further help this man and his family. (I apologize for not having the details here. I have to re-listen to the show and hopefully will post the update here).

I just haven't been feeling good this week - a little bit under the weather - and the stress of getting back to work after a week of vacation. That's why I haven't been on Twitter that much and that's why I didn't to any video posting this week (other than this post). At least, I'm not on call this weekend, so I'll be able to try to get myself a little better. Physician, heal thy self, right? Well, have a good week and weekend everybody!

Dr. A Show 59: Sterile Eye

Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time (0200 UTC)

The Doctor Anonymous Show is happy to welcome the author of the blog called "The Sterile Eye." His name is Øystein Horgmo and he is a medical photographer who lives and works in Norway. He just celebrated his one year blogiversary. And, he'll be calling in live to the show where it will be in the middle of the night there. Following the interview, I'll do a little wrap-up of my week in Dallas last week.

If you do listen live, you can even take part in the chat room. It is truly "The show within the show." You can even call in and say hello. A great opportunity to interact with medbloggers you've only read about. And, you will be able to see me on the live webcam during the show! See you tonight!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Click to Listen" button. Then, of course, press the "Click to Listen" button.

*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the "Chat Available" button in the upper right hand corner of the page. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room.

*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. I'll start taking calls about halfway into the show. Hope these tips are helpful!

Dr. A Show 59 preview

This week, The Doctor Anonymous Show is back home at world headquarters to broadcast Show 59. We're happy to welcome the author of the blog called "The Sterile Eye" whose name is Øystein Horgmo.

He's a medical photographer and he'll be calling in LIVE from Norway (where it will be 4AM Friday morning - I'm still amazed by people who would wake up in the middle of the night to call into and/or listen to the show). I want to thank our blog friend Ramona for contacting me and letting me know of this blog. Here is his first post ever from one year ago:

I’ve been working as a medical videographer for some years now. In many ways it is a lonely line of work. Not many people earn their money by making videos of medical and surgical procedures. Most can’t even stand the thought. So why bother the web with a blog about it?

First of all I want to share my experiences. The learning curve has been pretty steep, and there has been few colleagues and even fewer books to learn from. So I’m guessing there must be someone out there who desperately need some advice on videotaping a colectomy or making a good ultrasound clip. Just like I did a few years back.

But I also believe my experiences could prove to be interesting to outsiders. Being present when people are at their most vulnerable, like at the CT for detecting cancer or when in deep narcosis during surgery, is a special and strange priviliege. I’d like to share some of my stories with you. Hope you’ll find something interesting here, something to think about and maybe something to laugh at.

He also celebrated his one year blogiversary (yesterday!). And, as you can see from this post, Øystein is very excited to be on the show this week. So, join us on Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time (0200 UTC) for Doctor Anonymous Show 59.

Cannot catch the show live? That's ok, because each and every Doctor Anonymous Show is available for download on my BlogTalkRadio page. And, if you have iTunes, you can click here to subscribe to my iTunes feed. So, that you, the Dr. A loyal listener can check out the show anytime! Plus, if you listen live, you can participate in the chat room, and even see my shining face on the webcam. How cool is that? I know. See you for the show!

Dr. A Show 58: Intermission

Saturday, November 8th, 2008 at 9:30pm Eastern Time

For my final show from Dallas this week, I'm helping to pitch in for a great cause. Our BTR buddies, Annie and Burl, are going to be emceeing a breast cancer fundraising event for the "1 in 8 Motorsports Foundation." The event itself takes place all day in Crystal Lake, Illinois. For more details on this (including the musical acts who will be performing), I encourage you to check out this link on their website.

My show is going on at 9:30pm Eastern Time. They will broadcast two hours before my show, and then two hours after my show. I'm just hoping to continue the momentum from their first two hour broadcast and continue that into their next two hour broadcast. What will I be talking about? Well, basically, I'll be talking about their first two hour broadcast, and hopefully taking some of your phone calls about how much fun you're having during their event. And, if I can pull them away from the bar, hopefully Annie and/or Burl will call in during their intermission.

I also wanted to recognize a few other BTR hosts who are helping with the event. MarQ, who called into my Friday night show, is launching a new BTR show called Katie 80. He will be broadcasting at 6pm eastern time. And, my buddy Buzzworthy Radio, whose family has been affected by breast cancer, will be broadcasting at 5pm eastern time. Finally, Dr. Blogstein from the Radio Happy Hour contributed items to the silent auction for Sat nite's event. This is BTR coming together for a great cause. See you tonight for the show!


Update: Thanks to those of you out there who were able to join me tonight for Show 58. (You can listen to the show above on the player. And/or you can download the show by clicking here.) We had a great time just hanging out. I talked a little bit about breast cancer during the show. And, about half way through this short 30 min show, Burl called in to give us an update. The show closed with a conversation with RockDog.

I also encourage you to listen to the show by BuzzWorthy Radio. He tells the story on his show of how breast cancer hit close to home to him. Great job Buzzy. Also doing a special show tonight was Marq who premiered a new show called Katie 80. Congrats to Annie and Burl for all your work on this project. I was glad to pitch in - even just a little bit.

Finally, I'm on my way home tomorrow from Dallas. Keep track of my travels on my Twitter account. It was a great time away from home and away from work. But, it's definitely time to head home and to get back to real life. Thanks to all of you out there for supporting my shows this week from Dallas. I really appreciate it!

Dr. A Show 57: Kim

Friday, November 7th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern Time

For the third show in three days, I am still here in Dallas, Texas broadcasting and I'm having a great week here at the conference. Tonight, I'm happy to welcome Kim from the blog As The Pump Turns to The Doctor Anonymous Show 57. She is in her first year of nursing school up there in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. She is also currently a dialysis tech. So, I'll be asking her about her transition to nursing school. And, who knows what other topics will come up.

If you do listen live, you can even take part in the chat room. It is truly "The show within the show." You can even call in and say hello. A great opportunity to interact with medbloggers you've only read about. And, you will be able to see me on the live webcam during the show! See you tonight!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Click to Listen" button. Then, of course, press the "Click to Listen" button.

*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the "Chat Available" button in the upper right hand corner of the page. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room.

*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. I'll start taking calls about halfway into the show. Hope these tips are helpful!


Update: Thanks so much to Kim for being on the show 57. (You can click on the player above to listen to the show, or download the show here) I had no idea that by the experience she had with her grandfather needing dialysis - this is part of the reason she chose to work as a dialysis tech. And, now, she is an advocate for those patients with kidney disease - especially those with dialysis. We also talked about her work specifically in the inner city of Seattle at a dialysis clinic. In addition, we talked about life as a first year nursing student.

Thanks so much to Marq and to Annie who called into the show tonight. Did you know that our guest named her pet fish after Annie? Why? Well, you'll have to listen to the show to find out. Thanks also to those of you who joined the show for the first time this evening. I really appreciate it, and I hope you're able to come back and enjoy future shows.

Thankfully, no technical glitches on the show tonight. I have to tell ya. I probably said this before, but I may have bit off more than I could chew doing four shows in four nights - plus this conference I'm at. My buddies have already "yelled" at me for not being able to at least hang out with our buddy Grunt Doc while I'm here. And, that's totally my fault. I'm an idiot for not balancing my time right on that. Ugh.

Tomorrow is my last full day here in Dallas. One more long day of lectures and one more show tomorrow night. I'll have details on tomorrow's show coming up soon. Oh yeah, I forgot to reference in the show that the opening music for tonight's show was from the TV show "Dallas." A bad inside joke thing. Yeesh.

Dona Nobis Pacem

A small group of thoughtful people could change the world.

Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

-Margaret Mead

I know this post is early, but it's already November 6th in some parts of the world. I wanted to thank Mimi for all of your hard work in putting this together. The Peace Globe Movement has been very inspiring to watch over the past couple of years.



After you check out the blogosphere and see all the peace globes, make sure to check out Mimi Lenox herself who will be on The Doctor Anonymous Show 56 which will be on Thursday, November 6th, 2008 at 9pm Eastern time. (And even if you cannot listen live, the show will be archived you can listen here later or even download it later so you can listen whenever you want!) We'll talk about how the Peace Globes have swept through the blogsosphere. And, of course taking your phone calls. Call in and say hello to Mimi. See you for the show.

If you do listen live, you can even take part in the chat room. It is truly "The show within the show." You can even call in and say hello. A great opportunity to interact with medbloggers you've only read about. And, you will be able to see me on the live webcam during the show! See you tonight!

For first time Blog Talk Radio listeners:
*Although it is not required to listen to the show, I encourage you to register on the BlogTalkRadio site prior to the show. I think it will make the process easier.

*To get to my show site, click here. As show time gets closer, keep hitting "refresh" on your browser until you see the "Click to Listen" button. Then, of course, press the "Click to Listen" button.

*You can also participate in the live chat room before, during, and after the show. Look for the "Chat Available" button in the upper right hand corner of the page. If you are registered with the BTR site, your registered name and picture will appear in the chat room.

*You can also call into the show. The number is on my show site. I'll start taking calls about halfway into the show. Hope these tips are helpful!


Update: Thanks so much to Mimi for being on show 56. (You can click on the above player to listen to the show, or you can download the show here.) It was really great talking with Mimi again. For me, it's been very special seeing the growth of the Peace Globe Movement and BlogBlast For Peace. I was blown away learning that there are over one thousand globes that have been put up in the blogosphere. And, the number of countries that are involved - incredible.

Thanks to Lee from the blog called Tar Heel Ramblings for calling into the show. Plus, in the chat room, there were a number of new listeners - undoubtedly there to support Mimi and to wish her well. What a community that she has accumulated and she has put into action.

Thanks also to those who stopped by here - especially to those who left a comment below. I feel bad for not being able to get out there and check out more peace globes. But, the ones that I have seen, they have blown me away. As I told Mimi, I'm fascinated by the creativity that is out there in the blogosphere. I can't wait to see what's next. Thanks again for your support of Mimi. It was great talking with her again.