Cardiac medicine = tons of education opportunities.
Which, is nice. Some patients are more receptive than others. I met with a really nice old man who took my education to heart and I could tell he had every intention to be proactive with his diet. But then again, I met with a woman in her 30's, with heart failure, who seemed to not care less.
This rotation has exposed me more to the ICU than any other rotation. Which is very rewarding if a patient improves and is able to move to more moderate care and then eventually go home, but it breaks my heart when during rounds the doctor basically told a family that their brother/son/father was brain dead. It really makes me appreciate everyone in my life and especially my health. It really makes me want to spread the word even more about the importance of a healthy diet and lifestyle.
As well, while all of dietetics is science based, cardiology seems to be more of a mystery in which you have to take clues and find rhymes and reasons for them. Take for example one of our patients, who had no previous medical history, but came in after a heart attack. She virtually eats nothing all day, but consumes 2 liters of regular pop and ice chips all day. She complains of hunger but doesn't like to eat much. She has a history of goiter and hypertension.
What types of things does this make me think of?
Pica - the urge to eat abnormal things such as dirt, clay, ice chips, etc. Usually due to an iron deficiency.
Diabetes - extreme thirst causes diabetes to help excrete excess glucose in the blood.
Goiter - iodine deficiency, lack of sodium in the diet (99% of table salt has iodine in it to prevent goiter).
Hypertension - basically too much fluid retention, which can be caused by high sodium intake, so we can't just supplement sodium to decrease changes of goiter.
SO...lots to look at. But these days, my days are super long and it seems like my brain is working 3,502,895x overtime. During the middle of one week, I have to start preparing for next week. Especially when this week's cardiology rotation came with a whopping SIX case studies and 4 pages worth of vocabulary/medical terms to look up/study/research.
I'm ready for the weekend.
142 days...
Which, is nice. Some patients are more receptive than others. I met with a really nice old man who took my education to heart and I could tell he had every intention to be proactive with his diet. But then again, I met with a woman in her 30's, with heart failure, who seemed to not care less.
This rotation has exposed me more to the ICU than any other rotation. Which is very rewarding if a patient improves and is able to move to more moderate care and then eventually go home, but it breaks my heart when during rounds the doctor basically told a family that their brother/son/father was brain dead. It really makes me appreciate everyone in my life and especially my health. It really makes me want to spread the word even more about the importance of a healthy diet and lifestyle.
As well, while all of dietetics is science based, cardiology seems to be more of a mystery in which you have to take clues and find rhymes and reasons for them. Take for example one of our patients, who had no previous medical history, but came in after a heart attack. She virtually eats nothing all day, but consumes 2 liters of regular pop and ice chips all day. She complains of hunger but doesn't like to eat much. She has a history of goiter and hypertension.
What types of things does this make me think of?
Pica - the urge to eat abnormal things such as dirt, clay, ice chips, etc. Usually due to an iron deficiency.
Diabetes - extreme thirst causes diabetes to help excrete excess glucose in the blood.
Goiter - iodine deficiency, lack of sodium in the diet (99% of table salt has iodine in it to prevent goiter).
Hypertension - basically too much fluid retention, which can be caused by high sodium intake, so we can't just supplement sodium to decrease changes of goiter.
SO...lots to look at. But these days, my days are super long and it seems like my brain is working 3,502,895x overtime. During the middle of one week, I have to start preparing for next week. Especially when this week's cardiology rotation came with a whopping SIX case studies and 4 pages worth of vocabulary/medical terms to look up/study/research.
I'm ready for the weekend.
142 days...
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