For my last day at the Fuquay Varina Pediatrics office, I was again with Dr. Dupuy. Unlike this past week, today was unusually slow. In fact, in the morning we only had a handful of patients, but this was on purpose. Dr. Dupuy’s most intensive special needs patient was coming in to get a yearly blood analysis test, and this appointment would take longer than others. It took the nurses about 20 minutes to fill a few tubes of blood, and then after Dr. Dupuy did his normal wellness check procedure. The family was incredibly appreciative and complementing of Dr. Dupuy, describing how he was so popular they had to schedule their appointment four months in advance. This truth was again repeated when the nurse asked about a patient who needed a necessary wellness check by the next two weeks, but Dr. Dupuy was booked until august. With his passion and true care about each patient, he decided to give up one of his lunch hours to meet with this stressed patient.
The afternoon was also slow, with more wellness checks and a few checkups for patients with ADHD. This was a simple check of social, emotional, and physical components of the patients. Dr. Dupuy would first question the parents, asking if they have noticed any difference in the kids attitude. Next, he would ask the patient if they had noticed a difference in their social interactions or behavior. This was important to understand if the drug was too intense for the child, and affecting them in more ways than it should.
I also saw a cholesterol test today on two patients. Dr. Dupuy likes to test a patients cholesterol levels when they are between 9-11, to make sure everything is ok. The nurse just finger pricks the patients, and squeezes the incision to fill a very small tube full of blood. This is than brought to a machine in the office which does a blood analysis, including cholesterol.
Other than these checkups, today was pretty relaxed and similar to the past few days (a lot of wellness checks). I have had a lot of fun, and am so excited for the NIH next week!
(I had to use this picture from the internet because HIPPA laws do not allow me to take pictures of the patients or their results)