The happy side of medicine

Not often in medicine do people come see you because they are happy or healthy. And rarely are folks excited to see you. All that changes, though, when you enter the world of obstetrics.

This month, I am manning the labor and delivery floor here at UNMC, i.e. managing laboring patients and catching babies. Nothing like seeing mostly healthy people pop a living thing out of their bodies! Ladies come here generally uncomfortable but pretty excited, and almost everyone leaves happy. Not bad at all. Of course, the sad side of medicine occasionally rears its ugly head, but thankfully those times are fewer and farther between here. The residents are great and most of the staff have been as well, which makes for a good month.

I would get all philosophical about the wonder of gestation and birth, but since I'm on call tonight and the pager is going off, I'll spare you. Bring on the babies!

All in how you look at it?

So, why do I spend all day taking care of deathly sick kids. . . kids born without portions of their brain, kids with muscles that just don't work, kids with hearts that can't pump right, kids with bones full of cancer? Why, then do I get to leave this place and go home to my two (usually)happy, healthy boys, play with them, make them laugh, and then kiss them goodnight?

Life is definitely not fair.

I'm at Children's Hospital this month taking care of the sickest kids in the region. Of course, most of the kids here are not so deathly ill or permanently handicapped. A lot are, though. The hours are long here, and Stephanie has been really great in spite of not seeing me for days at a time. I miss my wife and my boys. I have to admit, though, that there is a twinge of guilt when I see Caleb watching from the window. My perfectly formed, fully functional, and really intelligent boy. There was recently a mom and baby in PNG who were in the same predicament as Stephanie and Caleb when he was born. The PNG boy didn't make it. Then I see babies, BABIES just about Thane's age, with leukemia fighting for their life and getting poison pushed into their bodies to try and kill their cancer. Why am I and my family so blessed and others so seemingly cursed?

Is it just the way the world works? Chalk it up to luck or chance? God's perfect plan?? I have thought an awful lot about it, and I honestly don't know. I'm glad I'm not God. It would probably break my heart even more than it does now.

One thing I do know: I am grateful for a God who meets people where they have need, and not necessarily "needs" as we see them. I know that in the grand scheme of things these bodies are of no consequence, and while that makes my job a lot more trivial, it does provide a measure of comfort.

Igloo

The title pretty much sums it up. Here are some pictures from President's day weekend (a while ago, I know) after we built a heap of snow and dug out a pretty cool "igloo." And, yes, the picture of Caleb and I is from inside our creation. Caleb loved it, but as Stephanie would tell you, I was probably more excited about it than he was. I mean, who doesn't love building huge snow forts? The last picture is after it had been up for about a week. It had shrunk quite a bit, but still showed the quality engineering job. Shout out to Brent, John, and Andrew for helping out their crazy brother!

Science and reason finally win one

Very good story that restores some of my faith in the litigation system:
Court says vaccine not to blame for Autism-MSNBC.com

Some of you don't immunize your children. Thankfully, most of you do. But whether you do or don't, almost all of you are aware of the theory floating around that vaccines cause autism.

At first glance, this does not seem all that unreasonable. After all, kids start showing definite signs of autism around 10-20 months, after getting several shots of who knows what that protect them from who knows what. And what was that? There's MERCURY in some of them?!? Well, heaven knows that's bad for your brain. So, yeah, I can see where the connection can be made. And for anyone who has seen/taken care of/knows someone with a severe case of autism, it is understandable to do everything you can to try to protect your baby from having the same limitations.

The problem is that some people never get past that first glance. Upon closer examination, the whole thing is debunked. So, either trust your doc and get the shots, look at pictures* of kids dying of these diseases and then get the shots, read about how the whole theory got started and then get the shots, or look at the CDC or the Institute of Medicine info and then, you guessed it, get the shots.


*I found more graphic pictures, but I thought this was a nice, informative website with enough pictures to give you the idea

A month in (relative) paradise

Who knew that working a 40 hour week would ever be considered paradise? The fact is, though, that I am absolutely loving weekends off and no overnight calls! It's all relative baby! So, here I sit at midnight, not able to fall asleep simply because I've been "sleeping in" until 7am this week. FREAKING AWESOME

I've been able to spend a lot more time with Stephanie and the kids, which has been great. I feel like I'm finally getting to know Thane, who smiles at me when he sees me now (though the really big smiles are still reserved his mom. who can blame him?) I've also caught up on some serious train and Candy Land time with Caleb. Stephanie and I have even found some time for a little Mario Kart Wii! Life is good in the Kumor house.

By the way...
Was I the only one who didn't know Obama is a smoker? How's that for someone looking to transform our health care system into a more "preventative model." This came up in clinic today and everyone looked at me like I was a moron when I said I had no idea. Kudos to the guy for trying to quit though.

2 months later

Well, it has been around two months since I have taken the time to sit down and write another blog. There are a few reasons for this:
1)It really did freak me out a bit when I learned that at least one of my patient's had read my blog. I mean, can I really talk about the hospital, tell stories, or vent frustrations when people I provide care for are reading what I write? In the end, as long as I am being honest, I think the answer should be yes, but it does make me think twice, or maybe three times, before posting something.

2)I just haven't had the time. It is no joke that since at least the beginning of December, but really since Thane was born, I have been busy every waking moment of every day. If I'm not at work, I'm either playing with Caleb, holding/changing Thane, falling asleep, or finding quality time to spend with Stephanie.

3)It seems like I just don't have much to write about. Now, this is not really true, but who wants to hear about what goes on in the hospital? And if you want to read about my (awesome) kids, there's always Stephanie's blog. She sees them more than I do anyway.

Tonight, though, I have decided to finally get past #1. I am on call here at the hospital and am waiting for a couple of lab results to make some decisions on a sick patient, so no sleep for me, which takes care of #2. As for #3, well, I'm sure I can find something to talk about.

One thing I have been doing quite a bit of thinking on recently has been how much difference a year makes in our lives. December 2007, for example, seems like eons ago. That was before I knew where I would be doing residency (actually that was when I found out I didn't match into a military program--VERY stressful), before Thane was even conceived, and before our life-changing trip to Papua New Guinea. Amazing. I am really greatful that I don't have the ability to plan out my life. Things have not gone exactly how I expected, but I couldn't be more satisfied at this point. I love this residency program, I feel like I'm learning a lot and doing a pretty good job, and it is great to be close to family. I am working side by side with the military guys here, and am realizing the benefits of being on the civilian side for a couple more years. As far as Thane goes, is there anything better than a fresh baby? The biggest x-factor was how Caleb would react, and he has far exceeded my hopes. Caleb is such a loving, protective, and gentle big brother! Now, we'll see how long that lasts, but it sure does work well while Thane is a baby. And PNG.... I miss that place. I really look forward to going back next year (which would not have been possible-at least not for two months-in the military program). I think I will be much more useful then as well, which will be nice.

One year ago I was neurotically working out my anxiety making paper snowflakes, now I'm neurotically working out my anxiety (about a particular patient) by typing a blog.

Maybe there really isn't anything new under the sun. :)

Oh, and it looks like they're going to do just fine. Phew!

NU 45 KU 35

Today I went to my first Husker game in about 4 years. It was a great time with sweet seats! The game was really exciting, and I got to go with my old buddy from high school James Shada, his wife, and his dad who was my boss all those years at the rec dept in Bellevue. I was glad they took me again (see #2 and 3 below), since my previous record of games is really not too impressive.

1. NU wins 56-27. But it was Frank Solich's first as head coach, Bobby Newcombe tore his ACL, and a quarterback/receiver combo Tim Rattay and Troy Edwards from LaTech looked unstoppable. Rattay had almost 600 yards passing, over 400 of those to Edwards.

2. Loss to Texas 16-20 which ended a 47 game home winning streak, though I did get to see Ricky Williams play.

3. NU 21-7 over TCU. Pretty run of the mill game, but this was the 2001 opener, the year of the infamous get blown out by Colorado then somehow inexplicably make the title game and get blown out by Miami.

4. Loss to Colorado 26-20, the last game in Bill Callahan's inaugural season which ended 5-6. This was the game that ended the NCAA record bowl streak and non-losing season streak. I did get to sit in the student section for this game with my brother John, which was a good time and quite the experience.

For those of you who follow college football... check that. For those of you who are Nebraska fans (because we are no longer relevant in the broader college football world), you know what a big game this was for NU. We were sitting at 5-4, coming off a blow out loss to Oklahoma, and desperately needing a win against a quality opponent. It was definitely a big win, and I had a great time with the Shada family. Hopefully my jinx is over!

Quick story about how I got to go. Mr Shada (my boss all those years in the recreation dept) called me during work yesterday to let me know he had extra tickets to today's game. I was quite torn. Weekends (this month) are when I get to spend a lot of time with Stephanie and the boys, and she really looks forward to them as a break for her as well. I came home and had basically decided I would probably just stay home and have some quality time with the newborn, the 3 year old, and the wife. I still wanted Stephanie to know what a big sacrifice I was making (of course), so I told Stephanie that Mr Shada had offered me tickets. She immediately responds "Oh, that's great! You should go!" To which I reply, "You know, I would feel bad leaving you alone with the two boys." She then reminds me that her mom and sister were coming for the weekend. Score one for the in-laws!!! I can honestly say I've never been so excited to see them :)