Archive for April 2021

I was awakened this morning by a 6:30 a.m. phone call from one of my office nurses who asked if I had seen the morning paper. Obviously, I hadn’t. She said that Mr. Evans* had died in an auto accident on the way home from my office yesterday. I was shocked! It is never easy…

Not only is family practice about taking care of patients and their illnesses, it is also learning to know the patients as people. Elroy Yoder* is a semi-retired businessman who came to the office today for a follow-up visit for hypertension. You would never know this unassuming 70-year-old struck blind by glaucoma is a multimillionaire.…

Today was a vacation day – a day with the family. We ventured to Cedar Point along with a neighbor family. We all had a great time, even though only my 8-year-old daughter and I could test some of the roller coasters because of the 48-inch height restriction. While waiting in line my analytical mind…

Mrs. Wiley* stood in my nursing station beaming from ear to ear. Not being able to figure out what she was there for, I asked her what I could do to help her. She exclaimed, “I am so happy!”. Sorry, I still did not have a clue. “What about?” I questioned further. “About the Viagra”(link…

I think it is routine for a college student to put on l0-l5 lbs the first year in school. Christy* was no exception. She had put off coming in for an office visit all summer. She had been a tennis player in high school but stopped that physical activity and so today when I saw…

June* saw me today for a rash which I diagnosed and treated as a contact dermatitis. Her husband was with her today in support, just as he always has been for her office visits over the last 4 years that she has been my patient. She has been a real trooper and model patient, certainly…

At 3:00 a.m. today, I was at the hospital delivering a healthy baby girl for a young family. I did not mind that I was awake at that hour, or that it was my own birthday. In fact, I still get excited to have the opportunity of helping out with God’s “miracle of birth”, even…

When I see a patient we sometimes get into discussions about anything and everything, especially at the time of scheduled physical examination because I leave a lot of time for finding out about patient’s lives and how that is affecting their health, but also because I am truly interested in my patients. At today’s visit,…

I am always amazed that even after l8 years of family practice I have the opportunity to learn or discover new things that are not in the medical textbooks. That is one of the reasons that I like family practice so well. I saw Mr. Jones* today whom I have treated for a number of…

Ritalin can be a wonderful drug for helping some people with ADD (Attention deficit disorder). Infrequently, it is an abused drug, and therefore, doctors have to constantly be on the lookout for drug-seeking behavior. Some of the stories doctors get about lost Ritalin prescriptions are downright obvious and boring; for example, “someone stole my prescription”.…