You know those days when you just feel positively happy to be a family doc (this meant to be read with sincerity and not sarcasm)? Well, I'm living the dream today. I saw a teenage girl for a sports physical and in proper adolescent exam form, kicked the parent out of the room for part of the interview. Normally when I do this I rarely get anything too juicy back. But this lovely young woman had a number of good questions for me ("Is is normal to have different size breasts? Can you give me a medicine to even them out?"). I shifted gears into the ol' sexual activity line of questioning and she very frankly told me she started having sex with her boyfriend recently. She assured me they have been using condoms every time (doubtful but hopeful at the same time), but I still put a plug in for a second birth control method. She sat thoughtfully for a moment and then agreed that she wanted a method she had more control over. I got her set up with a program to get her free birth control (thankfully this statewide program still has some funding...) that she can obtain without using her parents' insurance. I have to admit it was an extremely satisfying encounter.
Did I just single handedly prevent a teen pregnancy? Will the ever-so-popular 16 and Pregnant show have one less potential candidate? Am I a bad doctor if I secretly love that show and its spin-off Teen Mom 2?
Still giddy with the family medicine high, I moved on to my last patient of the day, an add on for "fever". This was a 65 year old male with a complicated history of urinary retention, in-dwelling foley catheter placement recently, gross hematuria (blood in pee), and now fever. He looked pretty darned sick with a heart rate of 150 bpm and the driest mucous membranes I've seen in a good long while. He bought himself a direct admit to the hospital, always fun to coordinate at 6:15 pm.
Family medicine in a nut shell, I guess.
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You are such a good doc!!!
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