Today, we returned back to the UNC Rex Hematology and Oncology Clinic. I actually got locked out of the office, because I took the back entrance, but thankfully, Clare, a nurse practitioner, helped let me in. Clare is Dr. Eisenbeis’s nurse practitioner and she just returned from her two days at the hospital working in the in-patient clinic. She told us a funny story about this one lady, who she was trying to prescribe medicine to, who was allergic to EVERY antibiotic medicine. No joke, when Clare pulled up this lady’s list of allergies, the screen was just a jumble of letters from the countless medicines that were listed. It was something else that’s for sure.
However, other than that story, the day was pretty normal. Nothing out of the ordinary and there were some times where Dr. Eisenbeis, Clare, and I were just sitting in the fishbowl waiting and talking. Those moments were honestly some of the best of the day. We talked about everything from college to the Appalachian machete killer to sports. We even talked about this 41-year-old nurse who ran a sub 2:30 marathon, fast enough to qualify for the US Olympic Trials. Crazy! Needless to say, I feel like I got a lot more comfortable with the doctors there and was still able to learn a lot. They were talking to me about how important iron is for one’s health and how hard it is to maintain normal iron levels. For example, iron deficiency is extremely common because our bodies cannot absorb iron very well, but we also saw some patients who had a genetic mutation that caused them to have too much iron levels because their body absorbs too much. I feel like, after today, I have a greater understanding and appreciation for hematology because I knew a good amount about oncology, but I never realized how much information you can retrieve from just a small sample of blood.
Fun Facts:
- Individuals of African American descent have lower white blood cell counts compared to other races.
- A unit of blood of a person with hemochromatosis (surplus iron) has the same amount of iron as someone with normal iron levels.
- Clare was a swimmer in high school who walked on to the University of Florida’s team.
- Iron deficiency causes high platelet levels, low RBC count, and small RBC size.
- Four new patients didn’t show up to their appointments today: Dr. Eisenbeis theorized that either they knew enough that they didn’t think the appointment was necessary, or they got scared because they saw the word “cancer” on the clinic’s name.
- Pro tip: don’t google your diseases; WebMD is basically Wikipedia. A headache does not mean you have a brain tumor.