Urban GP

Urban GP

Spring has finally sprung over here.

While this may seem like a good thing to many, it creates a few problems for me. Mostly it has to do with the array of fashions and fashion-statements the warm weather has brought out. Case in point: I was going for a run on the beach yesterday when I saw a guy taking his grandson down to the water for a bit of a swim. Grandad was shirtless, wearing a pair of denim shorts that were being pushed down by his Dunlop. (Dunlop is a common problem; it’s what you call it when your stomach dun-lopped over your waistband. But I digress.) Now, to help his shorts with this dilemma, Pappy had enlisted the aid of a pair of bright-yellow-with-purple-polka-dots suspenders.

I wonder how his tan lines will look…

It gets worse, though. I was with a few classmates driving home from the Women’s and Kid’s hospital when we passed a home-construction site. It was a nice day, bright sun and really warm, which makes no excuses for the Occupational Health and Safety issues one would expect while wearing leather work boots with your Speedo’s while hammering a roof into place.

Work boots and Speedo’s. And nothing else.

And he doesn’t even come close to the guy I saw sunning himself on the beach. He was wearing what my sister refers to as a ‘banana hammock’ – use your imagination and you’ll probably get it right. I have seen more material in a tissue than this guy was wearing!

Ya gotta hope he has a lot of sunscreen for his, uh, pink bits…

I don’t think I have mentioned it, but over the past 2-3 months I have been spending Wednesday mornings with Dr. Rob Wight, an Urban GP – urban meaning he practices medicine without the benefit of sheeps and cows. His practice is in an area called Christie’s Beach, about 20 minutes from my apartment. Dr. Wight was kind enough (or mean enough, depending on your point of view) to subject his patients to me. I would spend time with the victims, er, patients, getting to know them and addressing their needs and concerns. It gave me plenty of time and ‘volunteers’ to practice my skills on. As I am fairly sure I want to I want to practice office-based medicine when I finish up (unless the Red Sox call me up to bat clean-up before the start of the World Series on Sunday), I can say it has easily been the most educational and fulfilling experience of medical school so far.

For me, that is. I think his patients will be recovering from the crazy American for a long time…

And with that, it’s the weekend. Exams are 4 weeks from tomorrow, so the studying is in full swing.
I’ll spend some time tonight doing paperwork for school loans, and another all-day study session tomorrow, followed by studying on Saturday night along with some light review and book work on Sunday. Not to mention taking a few moments to find some suspenders to match my Speedo’s and work boots – ya gotta coordinate…

As always, Love to All and keep working on your 101 List!
Bryan