Posts by Kevin Garcia12

I’m siding with everyone else here—there really isn't any reason to start sweating this...

Mechanical friction during sex can actually trigger cystitis even without any bacterial contamination, bringing on all those same annoying symptoms you’d usually expect...

I don't know about you, but whenever I find myself stuck in a hard, unforgiving chair in front of my computer for five or six hours straight a few days in a row, I swear I’m about to lose my mind from the discomfort... but if I actually take the time to properly cushion my seat or if I'm lucky enough to have a high-end ergonomic office chair, then I can power through all five hours without feeling a single thing...

Are you spending way too much time sitting on hard surfaces?

Maybe you did, or maybe you just pinched a nerve somewhere, because I know how it goes when I'm driving and I suddenly stretch the wrong way and everything just flares up...

You can pretty much strip it out from anywhere you want...

You don't even have to wait until the middle of the night; if there isn't a doctor available in town—and I'm talking about someone who actually lives there—they can just roll straight into the ER and get whatever they need sorted out, because that’s just how we handle things here in the States... personally, I never turn anyone away for an exam if there isn't a primary doctor in "my" city, though if there *is* one available and they just decide they "don't feel like waiting," then yeah, they might end up getting turned away (unless it's the weekend, of course)... the only thing is, since I'm the one running the ER, it could go either way where they get seen immediately or they might be sitting there for two or three hours if I've got more critical patients coming in ahead of them... honestly, I actually prefer it when these kinds of situations pop up during weekday mornings or on a Saturday, because that's when I actually have access to X-ray and the lab; if someone rolls in at 10:00 PM, all I can really do is write out prescriptions from memory...

Look, you can tear down a plot hole just like any other bad script, but if you actually think you’ve picked up some kind of infection, don't just sit there... go talk to the general practitioner and have them refer you to an infectious disease specialist if you have a legitimate reason to be worried about catching something...

Where I work, we don't even have a formal student rotation program in place, so whenever our medical students need hands-on experience in the ER, I just step in and take care of them myself... but honestly, the department head responsible for student affairs should be taking them under their wing regardless of whether they've officially transferred over to his unit or not.

From what I understand, basically every student should have access to their own dedicated doctor at their university—or at least most of them should—someone you can actually turn to whenever health issues pop up while you're living away from home for school...

There’s an old saying that goes—the fool forgets, while the wise man takes notes...

Personally, I’m pretty forgetful myself, especially when I’m wiped out or just can't focus, particularly when it comes to those little things that slip right out of my short-term memory, so I really don't think you have any reason to start panicking here, but if it's seriously eating at you, there are all these psychological tests available that can pinpoint actual memory issues, and if you're still in school (which I'm assuming you are), maybe just go talk to a guidance counselor since they're trained to handle this kind of stuff (at least they're supposed to be), and if it turns out something actually is wrong, then you can take it up with your doctor...

Nene, you totally missed my point—I’m not saying I don't get why your post was such a disaster, that part is crystal clear to me...

I honestly don't get what the issue is 🤷 in this specific situation—every general hospital should basically have a dedicated "pain clinic" staffed with an anesthesiologist who manages chronic pain therapies. If a patient is immobile, their primary care physician just needs to write a referral to that specific clinic and request an ambulance for that day (this really needs to be sorted out at least 3 or 4 days in advance so the drivers can actually organize their schedules properly and we avoid all those headaches with executing the orders)... you can even provide a rough arrival time to the local EMS or medical transport service, and then the ambulance shows up right on time to take the patient to see the anesthesiologist, who then determines the appropriate analgesia and makes sure they get back home safely...

Every single primary care office should know how to handle this without breaking a sweat; I mean, even I know the protocol, and I don't even work in general practice...

As far as the emergency services are concerned, they aren't wrong, except for the fact that aside from providing immediate relief during a crisis, they shouldn't really be handling this long-term. According to current laws, palliative medicine is part of primary care, which means it should be supervised and carried out either by specialized teams (if we even have those available here in the States) or by the patient's own primary care doctor who is responsible for them...

Look, there’s really no point in making a scene about it, she’s your doctor and you’re the one who's sick, so just go there and let her do whatever she thinks is necessary, because if she tells you everything is fine then it probably is, unless I left my crystal ball sitting on a different nightstand somewhere, so yeah, I’m definitely not out here playing remote doctor today... 😁

jadesailor14 said:Unless we're talking about plastic surgery, it’s going to be a tough climb! 😁

That's wonderful! 👍
I honestly doubt they’d actually know what to do with that information if they ever found out! 🤣

I am seriously dying of curiosity here—I just have to know, how much is that actually going to run me?
My daughter would definitely have to pay back more than that if she used it for her PhD, but that's still a long way off! Honestly, the scholarship is such a fantastic opportunity, even though the cost of living over there is absolutely sky-high.
But what about here in the States?

🤣 It’s definitely possible, and even though my current patients in the ER—who I’m basically just patching up as I go—are absolutely thrilled with the results, I actually know how to stitch a wound now so the scarring stays minimal... honestly, I spent way too much time hanging out with plastic surgeons back in the day, so they ended up teaching me their ways... 🤣

jadesailor14 said:Honestly, I'm not sure how you're obligated
I know some people currently doing their residency or specialized training, but I haven't heard of anyone being tied down like that!

Look, I don't know the exact fine print in everyone's contracts, but for the most part, almost all residents are tied down by an agreement stating they have to serve a specific amount of time as specialists at the very institution that's paying their salary during their training. The only exceptions are the "nepo babies"—those kids with "bright futures ahead of them" who don't have any obligations at all, they don't even have to finish certain parts of their residency if it doesn't interest them, because someone else will just swoop in and do the work for them...

Back when I was an intern, I was basically acting as an assistant for laparoscopic procedures—if you've ever actually performed one or even watched one, you know exactly what kind of chaos that implies—mostly because the clinic where I was working was drowning in staffing issues. They had plenty of people on paper who were supposed to be there, but in reality, they were just ghosts protected by bureaucracy... luckily enough, I was "thrown into the fire" in surgery, so I kept myself busy and, hey, everyone survived... 😉

jadesailor14 said:Come on, tell us where you work! That kind of info is pure gold.🤣

I honestly have no idea, this is the first I'm hearing of it.
A million dollars? My goodness, for what?!
I get that there are certain conditions attached, but seriously, what could possibly be worth a million bucks?

It's the salary, the benefits, and all the other overhead costs the hospital incurs to support a resident during their training, plus a little extra penalty fee, and that's pretty much it...

When you factor in the cost of living and everything else, plus actual tuition and professor fees—just looking at a medical school like Johns Hopkins, it costs roughly $350k-$400k $0.00 per student at today's rates, and on top of that, the student isn't even getting a paycheck; naturally, a portion is covered by the student or their family, while the government picks up the rest, but still...

@Brandon Newman95
Wait, you're saying it's a virus from a parrot? Are we sure it wasn't actually psittacosis we were dealing with all along?...

There’s a massive chance this private guy actually cut his teeth—or maybe he’s still doing it even now—working his way up through some big state-run institution, because let’s be real, there's no way he would’ve gained enough actual grit or expertise to make it as a private player without that kind of foundation first...

Hmm, if we’re talking about what’s actually happening here, this sounds more like achalasia to me—it’s basically a functional narrowing of the esophagus. There are a few different variations of it, but the general pattern usually goes like this: it causes intermittent discomfort, makes it hard to swallow solid foods, and eventually, it gets to the point where even liquids and saliva become an issue. Once you hit that stage, honestly, it feels like there's no way out but surgery... depending on how severe it is and what the underlying cause turns out to be, it might be manageable with medication, which is really handled by an internist or, more specifically, a gastroenterologist. But before anyone jumps to conclusions, it would be a damn good idea to get an endoscopy done just to rule out all the other potential reasons for these symptoms...

Now, if there’s some kind of "pocket" or protrusion in the esophageal wall because the lining has essentially tucked itself in—that’s called a diverticulum—and frankly, I have no clue what kind of pills are supposed to fix that, though maybe they could help ease the symptoms a bit...

Could you actually walk me through what you mean by that? I need a bit more detail...