Wellness
Health-care professionals and the situations they create are frequently chuckle-worthy. It may not be ‘Carry on Doctor‘, but, sometimes, it’s close. So Embarrassing When I was a much younger fellow, I encountered an uncommonly good-looking-woman. Q: What did you do? A: My med-student brain fogged over and… Chest examination (IPPA): Inspection done, Palpation done, Percussion … Read more
Q: What do Cumberland and ChatGPT have in common? A: Nothing. Why Cumberland? I communicated with a former patient who lives in Cumberland a couple of days ago. Why ChatGPT? I’ve been playing with it for a couple of weeks. My reference to Cumberland and ChatGPT could be a brain fart. Let’s see where this … Read more
Fans of ‘Carry On Doctor’ or ‘Doc Martin‘ know there are times when medicine creates amusing recollections. If you’re sensitive about dark humour, not gallows stuff, but semi-taboo subjects, you may want to skip this post. Here are just a few of the many things that made me laugh: at the end of an overly … Read more
‘Come From Away’ stories and even a Broadway play are all the rage these days. This short post is not a ‘Come From Away’ story, rather it’s a single page ‘Come Apart’ adventure. A sigmoidoscopy gone wrong, let me explain. Picture this: A smirking gastroenterologist looks at five medical students and commands, “Take a deep … Read more
What do you know about the microscopic structure of tissues? How does histology relate to the fiftieth anniversary of the first men to land on the moon? Allow me to make a tangential connection between histology and the moon. Traditionally, first-year medical students acquire a microscope. Mine was a compound, Bausch & Lomb beauty. Histology … Read more
Lesson: If you’re middle-aged?, a scissor-kick, high-jump can lead directly to the debate, stress fracture or osteoarthritis? Background: For those who don’t know, I was a GP in Cumberland/Courtenay, Comox Valley, BC for thirteen years. One sunny day, while visiting Stanley Park, a thirty-eight-year-old? GP was feeling half his age. His brain said “I’ll bet … Read more
There are all sorts of things that are inappropriate in the workplace. Laughter is not one of them. Happy, competent medical personnel fuel the best hospitals. Deep background: Hospital gossip informed me that one of our maternity nurses had mentioned that her husband, a fighter pilot, knew how to ejaculate from his plane. It was … Read more
I received my doctor’s bag as a gift. Background story: On a dark night in 1974, I heard someone yelling, “Doctor Eves Dr. Eves“. The guy yelling was Marty, a Navy medic. Marty and I were on duty at the Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt Hospital in Victoria BC. A retired Navy vet had diverted to … Read more
Is it possible to diagnose illness with a smartphone? In the very near future a smartphone will vastly improve your healthcare provider's ability to support your wellness. Decades ago, some doctors worried that computers might replace our profession. Other doctors, the clever ones, knew that the digital age would be a boon to our patients. … Read more
What was once boreal forest and fresh water is now one of Canada’s tailings ponds. These tailings ‘ponds’ are so large, they can be seen from space. © Greenpeace / Eamon Mac Mahon Q: What the heck is a tailings pond? A: It’s the toxic wastewater, chemicals, sand and clay that’s left over after separating … Read more