Shout Outs

Updated 3/2017-- photos and all links removed as many are no longer active and it was easier than checking each one.

Better Health is the host for this week’s “Emotional Issue”of Grand Rounds! You can read this week’s edition here.

Welcome to this week’s edition of Grand Rounds, the Cliff’s Notes of the medical blogosphere. Each week a different medblogger reads through peer submissions and summarizes/organizes them all into one blog post (using their own unique structure or theme). Instructions for participation (and hosting) are here.

When I host Grand Rounds I like to organize the posts into emotion categories – kind of the way that movies are categorized into “drama, action, comedy, etc.” …... Judging from the volume of posts in each category, it seems that the majority of you are either surprised or outraged!

I organized the submissions by emotion category, and then listed them in order of submission (the first one was submitted earliest within each category). I hope you enjoy meandering through the blog posts with this structure!   .. ……

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A beautiful post by Dr. Wes:  The Wren

It was beautiful sunny early Spring day, a Saturday as I recall. Trips were made to various stores to purchase items for school, then a last minute dash to the electronics store so I could pick up another charger for my cell phone. I ran ahead, my daughter and wife lagged behind, weary from the day's outing - at least so I thought …….

As I reflect of that experience ….., there was much to be learned from the experience of caring and offering compassion, one that mothers seem uniquely gifted at imparting to their children. Mothers are special that way. My mother showed me the importance of caring first-hand, never flinching even when the odds are stacked against you and your tiny aviary friend.   …………….

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I hope you will read these two related posts.  The first is from Bongi, other things amanzi:  The Graveyard

this is a difficult story to tell but if i am to be true to the complete experience of a surgeon, i do need to tell it.

one of my seniors used to say that every surgeon has a graveyard hidden away somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind. he went on to say it was unfortunately normal, so long as you remember all the names engraved on the tombstones. at the time i thought he was being a bit melodramatic, ….. unfortunately i learned what he meant.  ……

The second one was written by Movin Meat after he read Bongi’s post:  The Graveyard

Bongi is an amazing writer, and if you haven't, I strongly urge you to read his latest post, titled "The Graveyard."

I imagine that a huge number of doctors know exactly what he means. I remember being told by a surgeon, while I was in medical school, that "you're not a real doctor until you've killed someone." I thought at the time (and still think) that there was a puerile bravado behind that admonition, but there is also a grain of truth. I have my own graveyard. Curiously, not all of its inhabitants are dead. They are the cases where I screwed up, or, charitably, cases that went bad where I feel that maybe I could've/should've done things differently.  .…………..

And, yes, I have mine.  I just haven’t managed to write about it.

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Joshua Swimmer, MD puts the radiation issue in perspective in his post:  Radiation Chart  (be sure to click on the chart to view the enlarged version)

There’s a lot of discussion of radiation from the Fukushima plants, along with comparisons to Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Radiation levels are often described as “<X> times the normal level” or “<Y>% over the legal limit,” which can be pretty confusing.

Ellen, a friend ……suggested a chart might help put different amounts of radiation into perspective, and so with her help, I put one together. She also made one of her own; it has fewer colors, but contains more information about what radiation exposure consists of and how it affects the body.

……I don’t include too much about the Fukushima reactor because the situation seems to be changing by the hour, but I hope the chart provides some helpful context.

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Two related stories from NPR: Old-Time Methods Yield Spring Greens All Winter and Cooking Up Healthy Winter Greens At Nora's  

Wilted Hardy Greens with Garlic

Note: If baby greens (with a 2- to 3-inch leaf) are not available, you may use larger greens (10- to 12-inch), but be sure to remove the tough center rib. Slice the leaves into 1/2-inch to 1-inch strips before cooking.
1 pound mixed baby greens (kale, swiss chard, mustard greens)
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons olive or sunflower oil
1 to 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
2 tablespoons water, vegetable broth or white vermouth (optional)
Wash the greens and drain in a colander, leaving some moisture on the leaves. Heat a saute pan large enough to accommodate all of the greens over medium heat. Add oil, then the chopped garlic. Saute until softened, about 1 minute, stirring often to prevent the garlic from burning. Add the greens. Toss and saute them until they are wilted. Season with salt and pepper. If too dry, add more liquid. …………

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From Core77 Design Magazine & Resource:  Andrew Myers Screws People to Make Portraits (photo credit) by hipstomp

……….Of course, it never occurred to me that the screw heads could be painted, that the evenly-spaced pegboard holes could be the basis for pixels, and that screws driven to different depths could be used to create depth perception. And that's why Andrew Myers is an artist and I am just a blogger who writes about artists. ……….