Oh, those red herrings . . .

Good Morning All:



I can remember times during my professional career where it all seemed so clear. I'd drive to work thinking over the 3 to 5 items I was working on and how I'd approach them. A calming sense of clarity on the bigger picture made the rest of the drive, getting into the office, turning on the PC a veritable walk in the clouds. And then . . .



A coworker leans in the doorway and informs you of a brewing fire. Your boss asks you to take on a new project--meeting's at 10:00. And there ends your chance of being "The Machine" that you envisioned while walking in the clouds.



Sorry for the delay since my last post. The administration off the actual drug occurs on Mondays. The second dose hasn't been as kind and again, omitting the gory details, has really taken a toll. So the team and I have chosen to skip the third dose. This will allow my strength to recover.

It is funny how at times doctors can fall prey to a red herring. A couple weeks ago during a routine platelet transfusions hives started breaking out on my arm, legs, and torso. They spent 3 days trying to figure out (pending the results of one outstanding biopsy) that it was related to the transfusion

The classic, and I laugh now as I type from home, was when I went into the hospital with a high fever. They kept me for 3 weeks trying to figure out what the source of the fevers were but also with the full knowledge that this disease caused fevers too. Curiously no full body scans were ever run to try an find a malingering infection. Hundreds of tests, cultures, a few CT scans all came back with zero. They threw up their hands, said, must be the disease, and released me.

I had a nice recompense of this earlier time just recently when I was admitted for dehydration. The resident on rounds asked me a question then opened the floor. I asked what I was here for and he replied "to find the source of your fevers." I told him that was not the likely answer. Sure enough the rounds team comes along, and the attending's plans were for the restoration of fluid and nutrients that might have been lost.

This has been my frustration from the beginning. There is little more I can say on this topic that hasn't appeared elsewhere on my blog--So I won't belabor it. I recall pictures of herds of buffalo being driven over cliffs by American Indians? My bet is that some of those buffalo decided to make a left turn and run for it. I bet they were fat content buffaloes.

As always thanks for reading.

--Russ