You can't just "mail it in‪"‬ Musings on Life and Medicine Podcast

Today, we’ll be getting into the first sections of the book I’m in the midst of writing. Last week I announced that I’d publish the chapters for free on Substack as I write them.Please keep in mind that everything that is being written and recorded is a very rough draft; it’s semi-polished. But I want to get these thoughts out to the public quickly. This way, I can get feedback quickly so that I can continue to refine my thoughts. The entire premise of the book is my perspective on how to live a happy and fulfilled life as a clinician. I hope that my experiences help shed a new perspective and challenge your current beliefs to improve your life as a whole. Before we get into that, I’d like to share a quick update regarding my daughter Chloe…Thanks for reading Musings on Life and Medicine! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and podcasts as they’re published.Immune Thrombocytopenia & Lupus Antibodies.I’ve written extensively about the journey my wife, and I have been going through to figure out what is driving the abnormalities in our daughter’s lab work. The idea behind sharing is to:* Help educate you on a clinical presentation that isn’t all too common* Share the perspective of the father as his daughter goes through an extensive medical workup* Improve your communication with patients Ultimately, my goal is to give you information so that you can take what serves you and then discard the rest. For those who have been following along, I’d like to share a quick update as to where we are. We weighed the pros and cons of whole-exome vs. whole-genome sequencing but ultimately decided to move forward with whole-genome sequencing. Whole-genome sequencing is not covered at 100% by insurance, and it’s a significant difference when compared with whole-exome sequencing. The whole-exome is a couple of hundred dollars out of pocket, while the whole-genome is $4,000 out of pocket. But, it will give us the most information, even if the gap between the two tests in terms of usefulness is very small.It will take about three months to get the results from that test. From a rheumatology standpoint, we’ll repeat labs next month to see if her results, related to lupus, continue to resolve. Hopefully, this was drug-induced lupus superimposed with immune thrombocytopenia.All other labs that would categorize this as an active disease are currently normal; this buys us time to gather more information before having to proceed with a new medication. Lastly, we’re still waiting for all the labs to return from immunology.Aside from that, Chloe is stable and doing well. She has just recovered from a cold, where the virus led to an increase in nosebleeds due to bone marrow suppression (further driving down her platelet count). These nose bleeds would wake Chloe up a couple of times per night as the blood would clog her nose, making it difficult to breathe. Because of this, we used tranexamic acid for the first time. We crushed the tablet, mixed it with her milk, and Chloe drank it easily without any adverse reactions. I’m definitely grateful this was prescribed.We have an appointment with rheumatology next week and a follow-up with immunology in one month. So, I’ll keep everyone updated as we gather more information. Now, I’d like to shift focus and get into the very first section of the book…You can't just "mail it in"I started Medgeeks in 2013 to help students and clinicians advance their core medical knowledge. When I started PA school at UC Davis in 2010, there weren't any quality resources I could turn to. Everything was either oversimplified or overly complicated. As soon as I graduated in 2012, I made it my mission to create the best high-yield review on the market to help students master medicine. I created the resources I wish I had in school. Simultaneously, I worked full-time in primary care and OBGYN as a solo provider (talk about learning at an accelerated pace). The more I practiced, the more I