Week 6

 

Week 6

This week I continued to join the infectious diseases doctors at the clinic and inpatient rounds. One memorable case was an old lady with urinary track infection that has abnormally high white blood cell count. The doctors initially thought it was solely due to the infection, however upon further investigation and consultation, it was suspected that the patient has a specific type of cancer that produces G-CSF, which is a growth factor that stimulates white blood cell production, thus resulting in the insanely high reading while no severe infection was found.

During the rounds, Dr. Vielemeyer gave me an important lesson on treating severe cases - instead of reverting all abnormalities to the patient's normal physical state, it is more important to make the transition as gradual as possible, as the body already adapts to the diseased state. Any sudden changes would cause more problem than doing any good. In the case of a alcohol liver disease patient, although the asctic fluid accummulation presents a risk of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, no intrusive action was taken to drain the fluid at once. 

As the immersion comes to an end, I would like to thank Dr. Salvatore, Dr. Westblade and Dr. Vielemeyer for allowing me to join them at the rounds, clinic and lab. It has been a great experience to see how things are done in the hospital and to understand the mindset of the doctors regarding patient care.