Day 3 – Physician’s Pavilion

For today, I arrived at the Physician’s Office Pavillion, rather than the Surgical Center, which I attended the last two days. It’s quite pleasing to explore new locations and partially emphasizes that a doctor’s responsibilities are found extensive – impactful – to a broader roster of patients: physicians, including Dr. Lawal, commit to serving by all means, whether travelling to a hospital forty minutes away from their homes or having to be on-call over the holidays.

Dr. Lawal’s routine is quite fascinating and reminiscent of my father’s, who is also a G.I (they are both equally superior doctors): they both work Monday-Wednesday in their own practices, then work Thursday-Friday to communicate with patients in their offices. This idea, similarly, corroborates that doctors can be versatile (regardless of their medical field specialties). Serving for a large community is a rewarding experience, and I’m 120% game for it.

Today, Dr. Lawal has communicated with various patients to explore their bowel movements – to put it simply, poop! The reason for communicating with patients is to schedule their endoscopies and colonoscopies ahead of time. What I noticed is that the majority of his patients developed liquidy (rather than solid, or somewhere in between) stools in the result of inflammatory bowel disease, chronic inflammation of the G.I tract (small and large intestines); the cause of IBD remains unknown, otherwise (and scientifically) known as “idiopathic.” The majority of these patients contracted “ulcerative colitis,” which causes ulcers in the lining of your large bowel; Chron’s Disease, on the other hand, only damages the small bowel.

One specific patient not only built this mystifying disease, but has also contracted osteoarthritis, the most common form of arthritis. Unlike IBD, ostearthritis has a primary cause: the breakdown of defensive cartilage found within ligaments. This joint disease is most commonly found in the elderly – best ways to treat it are to take certain medications and participate in physical therapy/various exercises.

Interacting with patients has been a blast, but I limit myself to very little conversation to not alter their relationships with Dr. Lawal. Nonetheless, he does the magic, and I’m there to support him as much as possible.

Also had lunch with Harrison! Went to Bojangles for the first time. Harrison can vouch : D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Toodles,

– N