I know it's tomorrow, but I wanted to get a head start on things. Yes, that's me behind the mask above. HA! I've never been to New Orleans for Mardi Gras or South America for the carnivale celebrations. But, those are on my To-Do list for sometime during my lifetime. If you're looking for a party today, head on over to morgEpalooza! It's his birthday today, and he's only had about 50 posts over there today (he's been quite busy). Wish Morgen a Happy 40th Birthday!
Blog
Opportunity
Sorry I haven't posted in a few days. Over the weekend, I offered to help with a project related to work. Unfortunately, this project will take up some of my blogging time (ek!). Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I just wanted to let everyone know that I may not be posting as much as I usually do. I'd share what it is, but it's dull and boring to describe. I look forward to a new challenge and a new opportunity for my time and talent. I'm still a blogaholic. But, in the next few weeks, I may be reading blogs more than writing posts....
Court of public opinion
I was struck by a story recently featured on Kevin, MD (interesting comments on this post as well). A patient in California goes to a plastic surgeon, has a procedure, and is not satisfied with the results. So, what does she do? She tells everybody about it. But, here's the twist, she's using the internet, with an interesting website name, to express her opinion.
This story has been going through my head, especially with my recent experience with "the haters." And, I apologize to those of you out there who are sick and tired of me talking about this. But, there is going to be a time, sooner than I think, that a patient around here is going to find out that the wildly popular (LOL) Dr. A is their physician.
According to this news story, patients are well within their 1st Amendment rights to express whatever they want about poor medical care. But, physicians are not able to respond because of the federal privacy rules. That's kind of scary if you ask me.
Now, trying a case in the court of public opinion is not a new thing. I realize people have been doing this forever. But, now, this takes on an interesting twist when the internet is involved. Potentially having my name and reputation smeared internationally is not something that I thought of when I applied to medical school.
Finally, on a lighter note, and from the "Dr. A is a hypocrite file" (*cough*), here is a video blog (not by me), talking about her adventures with her favorite cellular phone company (at least she's not talking about me). Enjoy!
Bestest blog carnival
Yes, that's right. The theme for the Bestest Blog carnival is Valentine's Day. Who better to host this week than Cathy who is still trying to dig out of her house even in the midst of the snowstorm still going on! Thanks for including my submit.
Dr. A. gives a unique take on SEXY. Do you think "sweat" is sexy? Does it turn ya on? Well, apparently some people think so. Read Dr. A.s post, "Sweat as an Aphrodisiac" and don't forget the colorful comment section.In case you don't know, a blog carnival is a bunch of posts, written by different authors, brought together by a host/hostess. Sometimes there is a theme to the carnival and sometimes there is not. But, there is always great writing in blog carnivals like this one.
Mine was kind of a light hearted post. But, there are many touching stories in the carnival this week. I would encourage you to check it out. The Bestest Blog of All Time sponsors this carnival.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
The problem is that it's the day before Valentine's Day. Yeesh! The picture above is from the National Weather Service. All the pink (some people would call it lavender) has been designated "Winter Storm Warning." Here's what this means from NWS (Sorry about the capital letters. It's from their bulletin):A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM EST WEDNESDAY.
AN ADVANCING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL SPREAD SNOW ACROSS THE AREA THIS MORNING AND CONTINUING THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. THIS SNOW COULD MIX WITH SLEET BY LATE AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE INTO EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING. SOME ISOLATED FREEZING RAIN IS ALSO POSSIBLE.
SNOW MAY BE HEAVY AT TIMES TODAY AND TONIGHT. 4 TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW COULD ACCUMULATE ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PORTIONS OF THE AREA BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...WITH 6 TO 10 INCHES POSSIBLE TO THE NORTH. A PERIOD OF SLEET IS POSSIBLE ON TUESDAY EVENING... FROM PITTSBURGH ON SOUTH.
WEDNESDAY WILL BE QUITE WINDY WITH FALLING TEMPERATURES AND BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW.
A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW... SLEET... AND ICE ARE EXPECTED. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS. POWER OUTAGES ARE POSSIBLE IF A LARGE AMOUNT OF ICE ACCUMULATES ON POWER LINES.
TRAVEL THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING IS DISCOURAGED.I know my friend Cathy is feeling the pain. She's got a Blizzard Warning (that's the red above). So, be careful out there in the Buckeye state today. The only people that like this type of weather live in Alaska and are in the Iditarod sled dog race. I guess it could be worse. I could be living in upstate New York. Yeesh!
Seasonal Affective Disorder
As I was writing this last week, I looked outside my office window and the bank said it was -2F and the wind chill was somewhere between 10-15 degrees below zero. Bottom line, it's cold, baby! (Picture credit: FridayEve)
In the past, I wasn't a believer in Seasonal Affective Disorder, or SAD. I thought it was as believable as global warming. (Oops! I'm going to get comments on that one.)
People describe this time of year as the "doldrums of winter," where it's just cold, cold, cold as opposed to the "dog days of summer," where it's usually hot, hot, hot.
Around here, people's patience is short and tempers are flaring. A lot of people describe this as having "cabin fever." Maybe it's just this seasonal affective disorder after all. Here's a brief essay from Katie Couric.
In this article from CNN.com, it describes SAD in kind of a comical way:
If anyone accuses you of being a surly misanthrope between the months of November to February, you can justify yourself with words to the effect of: "Sorry, but I'm suffering from a biochemical imbalance of my hypothalamus triggered by a melatonin deficiency in my pineal gland. So get off my back!"Is this really a medical condition that requires treatment, specifically medication treatment? There's this report from last summer advocating med treatment for SAD.
What most people ask me about is the mysterious "light therapy" for SAD. "What's so magical about light therapy, doc?" I admit I don't know all about the research on this and the biokinetic process, but in my anecdotal experience, this light therapy thing may actually work.
My question is this: Does blogging count as light therapy? How about excessive television viewing? Hmmmmm.... I'll have to work on that. I'm not a card carrying SAD believer, yet. But, if this cold snap continues around here, I'll have more data to make an evaluation.
Sunday Naked Sunday
No, this is not the porn spinoff of the U2 song called, "Sunday Bloody Sunday." (Gotta love that U2.) Kind of picking up where yesterday's story left off...
This Associated Press story is from Amsterdam, Netherlands (naturally). For those of you who like to exercise in the buff, have I got a Dutch gym for you. Beginning March 4th, Fitworld gym in the town of Heteren will be offering the first Naked Sunday for its patrons.
"I heard that some other gyms are offering courses on 'pole-dancing' as a sport, so I thought: Why not bring something new to the market?" [gym owner Patrick] de Man said.Is this guy's name really "de Man?" I don't believe that, but oh well. If you're worried about things being sanitary, the gym policy will be for nude exercisers to put towels down on weight machines and to use disposable seat covers while riding bikes.
Boy, does that make me feel better! And, if you sign up now, your second month is free. Yeesh! I'm all for tolerance, but a nudist gym? Where are the nudist saunas and hot tubs? Oh yeah, I forgot. They're next door - It's Amsterdam. Have a great weekend!
Sweat: An Aphrodisiac?
You may have heard the phrase, "Never let them see you sweat." Well, there is new evidence that smelling sweat, yes smelling sweat, may be your ticket to gettin' the ladies. What am I talking about?
In this week's issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, are studying how humans use chemosignals to attract one another. Rats, moths, and butterflies are all known to send chemosignals to secure mates. (Scientific American online). The researchers used androstadienone, a constituent of sweat, and studied the effects of how smelling this would affect the women subjects.
The researchers exposed 21 subjects to 30 milligrams of androstadienone and to yeast, which is not in sweat but has a similar olfactory sensation. The participants took 20 sniffs of each in two separate trials.I wondered why all those guys I see at the gym all the time have an active social life. It couldn't be because they're fit and trim and muscular and I'm fat and inactive and flabby. Nah! It's all in the sweat, dude!The researchers measured physiological vital signs like body temperature, skin conductance, ear pulse, blood pressure, respiratory function and cardiac rate throughout the experiment.
The results: smelling the androstadienone increased positive mood, total physiological arousal and sexual arousal, which grew with longer exposure.
So, guys, as an early Valentine's Day tip from Dr. A, it's not about jewelry. It's not about roses. It's not about chocolate. And, it's not about a romantic candle light dinner.
Wanna date? Then, go to the gym and workout so much that the ladies will be all over you. Probably, they'll be calling an ambulance or your mommy because you'll over do it on the treadmill (see picture above). But, at least, you'll be sweating, and that's all that matters. Happy Valentine's Day! HA!
Nat'l love your patients day
Did you know it was National Love Your Patients Day? Yeah, I didn't either. I heard it on the radio this morning and, just now, a patient mentioned it to me. What does that mean for the rest of the days of the year, that we don't love our patients? Saying stuff like this potentially has implications - just ask Joe Biden.
Anyway, in doing some research on this, this day was conceived by an ER doc in Maryland. You can read more in this press release. But, here's a quote:
"This day was born out of the need for a more compassionate system of health care in this country. We need to restore the heart and humanity of medicine," [the physician] says. "We're reminding doctors and other health professionals, whose jobs are increasingly influenced by technology and insurance companies, about what is most important in health care: patients, and their values and dignity."I really shouldn't be hard on the guy. It's a good idea to remind us to "love our patients." Trying to make the doctor/patient relationship less advisarial is always a good thing. So, as I journey onward today, I will wish everyone a happy National Love Your Patients Day! It's the least I can do....
I'm done
That's right. I'm done! I'm done with the whole "boo-hoo-hoo"-feeling-sorry-for- myself, self-pity, crawl-underneath-a-rock, attitude. I just got back from the fortress of solitude (LOL), and I've decided that it's time to get back to blogging! By the way, do you like the new template?
On day number two of my blog life back in June '06 (feels like a million years ago), I talk about the Safety of Anonymity. It took seven months for me to accept the reality that anonymity really doesn't exist on the internet.
Yes, I did something really stupid to challenge this. Making and posting a video blog was not the brightest idea - especially if privacy was something I wanted to maintain. I know that I brought some of this on myself. I definitely accept full responsibility for this mistake. But, I don't regret it, and (for now), my video blogs will remain up.
When it comes to hate mail, many of you have told me to just forget about it and journey onward. Here are some similar thoughts from SaboCatGirl and Addumb. Maybe in a sick and twisted kind of way, it's a compliment. I also was referred to a video on youtube talking about a case of internet harrassment.
Finally, I want to thank everyone who sent so many supportive e-mails and comments. I apologize for not responding to each and every message. But, you have to know that it meant more to me than you'll ever know....
Oh, if there's one thing I hang onto,
It gets me through the night.
I aint gonna do what I don't want to,
Im gonna live my life.
Shining like a diamond, rolling with the dice,
Standing on the ledge, show the wind how to fly.
When the world gets in my face,
I say, Have A Nice Day!