getting hyper

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Thanks for the kind words. I am very lucky to have such an amazing wife. She's special to me.

As for the white picket fence, yeah that'll have to wait a bit. I'm in no rush to buy a house and manage all the responsibilities. And how about your goals? Did you get into those mountains yet? Any cats? :-P
posted by Anonymous Sunday, December 06, 2009

Friday, October 02, 2009

Congrats Sig! I am glad to see that you're getting married tomorrow as I know that's exactly what you always wanted. I hope you two have many happy years together and you are able to have the home (complete with the white picket fence and all) that you always wanted!
posted by Marianna Friday, October 02, 2009

Friday, September 18, 2009

The more things change, the more things stay the same...
posted by Anonymous Friday, September 18, 2009

Sunday, September 13, 2009

I am so very, very glad that I never have to hear that coming out of my computer again
posted by Marianna Sunday, September 13, 2009

Welcome to homestarrunner.net...It's Dot Com!
posted by Anonymous Sunday, September 13, 2009

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

From the other side, a haunting perspective.

Having decided over the last few months on family medicine as a career choice, most of the opinions I have heard in response to health care reform have been strongly slanted toward excitement over it's promises to improve primary care and primary care compensation. While I do think this is the correct persective, especially when one considers that the countries with most success in health care delivery are primary care based, apparently it is a threatening position to specialist. In particular, this week on the start of my two week stint in Anesthesiology I have come in contact with strong hostility toward Obama and his plan for health care reform. Ironically, there is no clear plan so much of it is speculation and by no means just Obama's objective. In any sense, the attending anesthesiologist I was working with today apparently wanted to talk about this issue at great depth with me today after learning that I was applying to family medicine. I wish I could say that he had a particularly good argument for fearing that specialist would be "screwed" by Obama's plan, but honestly I can't. His major argument was that since primary care docs will likely see salary increases, specialist are looking at a pay cut. His gripe therefore was about money. While I understand that many fields of medicine require more training than family medicine and thus might deserve higher compensation, I think his perspective is very narrow minded. True, specialist will likely see a pay cut, but even if it is substantial they will be adequately paid for their services.

At present the spending on the end of specialist is out of proportion. Much of the this overpricing isn't so much because salaries are too high (though some of it is) but rather because specialist are being utilized at an unnecessary rate. With a very week primary care system in the US at present, many patients do not recieve the primary care they need to prevent speciality consult. Hence the number of patients seeing specialist is above and beyond what would ever be needed in a sound health system. Hence, health care reform likely will reduce demand for specialist in addition to reducing their pay somewhat. However, this is indeed a compromise this country must make to ensure that it may rise to become a health care leader. Indeed, American greed shows its terribly teeth in our health care system which is currently ranked below many third world nations.
posted by Marianna Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Thursday, August 13, 2009

500th post!!!!! Winner!!!
posted by Anonymous Thursday, August 13, 2009

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Hmm...so I signed to post to my other blog and this one rose to the top of the list...alerting me that it had been written in. Consequently, I find myself saying, "What the heck, why not post an update!"

It's been a little over a year again and ironically I'm almost in the same sort of place...studying for another part of the boards. However instead of memorizing specific genes and enzymes involved in obsure diseases I'm trying to sort out what test to order next, or what disease a patient has given a specific exam finding. This stuff is way cooler.

What's hardest for me to believe at present is that I'm just about finished with another chapter of my life. I'm already into my third month of my last year of medical school and being a doctor is less than a year away. Amazing! I'm also about to make about the next biggest decisions of my life...where to residency. Fortunately I've decided what type of Doc I want to be...just your run of the mill country family medicine doctor. Unfortunately that leaves about 400 programs across the country to choose from. I know I want to find a place that's got training in rural medicine and sports medicine, but what I don't know is exactly where that will be. There are great programs all over this country, and from what my folks tell me, out west is beautiful. However, after spending the last 3+ years in Florida, a mere 1500 miles from my family, I've realized that I've missed way too much change in them. I mean, my brother went from a skinny little twurp (sp?) to this pseudo-man who's already a sophomore in college. The kid could beat me up now if I wanted to. Then there's the guy thing...I don't want to drag the boy who moved to Florida for me all the way across the country. He deserves to be near his family too. In honesty, I feel like my soul is calling me back to NY. Perhaps I should listen.
posted by Marianna Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Saturday, August 01, 2009

Post.
posted by Anonymous Saturday, August 01, 2009