Reaching Out

"Hello Mrs. Jones," I say as I walk into the exam room. "How many times do I have to tell you that it's ok to call me Dot," this very pleasant 64-year old female says to me. As I look at her chart, I'm always trying to figure out how Dot was shortened from the name of something like Dorothy, Dolores, or Desiree.

"I haven't seen you in a while," I continue. "Well, doc, I got laid off a few months ago and that's why I haven't been in the office for a while." "I need my refills today, but I have no insurance right now. I hope in the next 7 months that nothing really bad happens, because that's when my Medicare kicks in, and in this economy, I don't anticipate getting another job any time soon."

"How have you been doing," I asked. "Well," she said, "it's been rough, since I have a little medical training, I've been helping take care of my sick relatives, and that's been a stress on me. In addition to always thinking about my financial situation."

She was talking like her usual self -- Then -- She paused -- Silence -- And it felt like an hour of no words between us. I saw a small tear forming, and this is when the flood gates opened. She broke down right there in my office. "I'm sorry doc," another couple minutes passed by. "I have felt like I've had to stay strong for my family for so long. But, I gotta be honest with you, I'm really scared right now..."

We had a great conversation following this about her family, her life, and finally, about her health. When I left the room, I looked up at the clock and saw that I was now very behind in my schedule. But, sometimes, there is a key moment in someone's life that needs to be recognized. This is why I went into medicine. I actually felt like I made a difference that day. This is why I love being a family physician!

American Heart Month

If you haven't already heard, February is American Heart Month. I've been reading a lot about this in the past few days (you'll see below why). But, one of the statistics that I found interesting was that every 25 seconds, an American will have a coronary event (likely a heart attack). This stat is right from the CDC website.

You probably already knew that heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and is a major cause of disability. About 2 weeks ago, the American Heart Association started a new educational program called "Life's Simple 7." These are seven factors associated with ideal heart health. The areas they emphasize include Get Active, Eat Better, Lose Weight, Stop Smoking, Control Cholesterol, Manage Blood Pressure, and Reduce Blood Sugar.

You can get more details on these areas over on their website. In an effort to help spread the word on these concepts, I had a television interview on local TV news on February 1st, 2010 talking about American Heart Month and these seven factors. You can see the video below. (If you find the video useful, I encourage you to check out other tv interviews I've had on other health topics at MikeSevilla.TV).

Dr. A Show Preview: Dean Brandon

After a short hiatus, The Doctor Anonymous Thursday night show returns this week with guest Dr. Dean Brandon (pictured on the right above) who is author of the blog Pediatric Dentistry. We met last fall at BlogWorld Expo in Las Vegas. We had a great conversation out there about how social media relates to health/medicine issues.

In addition to utilizing social media for fun, Dean also utilizes it for his business. You will see on his blog posts like "What is Pediatric Dentistry," "The Business of Pediatric Dentistry," "White Fillings Vs Silver Fillings," "Orthodontics (Braces)," and "Laughing Gas (Nitrous Oxide)." In the video below, you'll see the opening of the new office.



So, I hope you can join us on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 9pm Eastern Time for Doctor Anonymous Show 143. In case you didn't know, in addition to the live podcast, there is a chat room, a webcam of me, and your ability to call into the show to say hello. Hope you can join us this week for the show!

Crush It: Gary Vaynerchuk

Recently, I finished reading the book "Crush It" by Gary Vaynerchuk. You may know this guy from the popular video blog/show called Wine Library Tv. I've always been curious about how people who are considered internet celebrities - how the make it - how they become successful.

This book (which I do recommend) outlines steps that Gary did to grow his family's wine business to a multi-million dollar operation. He also emphasizes that all of us are an online brand onto ourselves. If you have a facebook, twitter, or any other social media account somewhere, you are a brand and you have to cultivate and manage that brand. I definitely agree with this. Every so often, I have considered giving up the "Doctor Anonymous" moniker and just branding myself with my "real" name.

But, as I found out going to BlogWorld Expo last fall, and meeting up with a lot of other people in the medical/health social sphere, they told me, "We would continue to call you Dr. A anyway." - That I'll just stick to this "brand" and continue to go with the flow.

So, as a business book, this is interesting. Now, definitely this is NOT a prescription or blueprint on how to become an internet celebrity. This is just one guy's story. There are some things I will try to use in this book for me, but many more things that I will not use - because, as Gary says, "it's not in my DNA."

One thing I do recommend is to listen to the audiobook, since there is information in there that is NOT in the original print edition. At many parts of the audio book, Gary says, "I know I'm going off script here, but this is important." Or, he would say, "Since the print edition has been published, the is new info out there..." I guess that's the challenge/fun of having an audiobook released after the print edition comes out....

Update: Greeting to those of you who clicked over from the wonderful Musings of a Dinosaur blog. If you like what you read on this post, I invite you to check out my other writings. Thanks for stopping by!

Video Blogging Med School

Here is another example of how/why social media is so cool. This morning someone on twitter, "re-tweeted" my link about today being American Heart Month (btw, thanks to everyone who retweets my stuff. i really appreciate it). When I clicked on his blog, I found out that Bryan Mccolgan is a third year medical student at Columbia and has been video blogging (vlogging) his entire third year of medical school. In the video below, he talks about the very first time he was in the OR. Ah, yes, I remember my first day going into the OR.


Anyway, there are more videos on his blog called Becoming A Doctor. I encourage you to check it out (don't forget to tell him Dr. A sent ya - HA!) - also follow him on twitter. I've only been able to check out a few videos this afternoon, but what I've seen is good stuff. I've also put out an invite for him to be on The Doctor Anonymous Show. Hopefully, he'll be interested and will find the time (in a busy third year med school schedule) to be on the show. Enjoy this innovative blog!

The Wax In The Ear

"Hey doc," the patients says, "I think I got wax in my ear." I reply, "Well, that makes it hard to hear me, then, huh?" "WHAT?" - the patient yells. Oh yeah, I say to myself. "I've been having this ever since I was a kid. Every few months, I need my ears cleaned out." So, I look in there, and it's the most amount of wax I've seen in a long time.

"Sir, do you use q-tips to clean our your ears?" I ask the patient. "Well, yeah, I think I've been doing a good job at keeping things clean, don't you think?" "Well, I wouldn't recommend that because it looks like you've been pushing the wax further in there." "WHAT?"

So, we're able to get some of the wax out of there only to find a lot of redness and irritation in the ear canal. "Doc, I still can't hear. Are you sure that you got all the wax out of there?" "Well, sir, there is no more wax in there now. It looks like there is an infection underneath, and that's what causing the problem now." "WHAT?"

Without trying to scream too loud, I said, "Try out this medicine. It's an antibiotic. I think that will clear things up for you. See me in a week." The patient noded. He returned in a week. When he came back, I walked in the room and said, "Hi Sir!" "Doc, why are you talking so loud?" I smiled. This is why I love taking care of patients....