Monday 12 March 2012

Moving on


Hi,


A pretty insignificant week, as dermatology wraps up with a session where each student does a presentation on an interesting case they came across this rotation. I chose the patient I talked about before, who had been working in nuclear weapons testing, and had ended up covered in skin cancers. A simple, informal affair, and I got to hear about some of the other interesting things that my colleges had seen in the wards, including a man who had come in because his dog had kept licking behind his ear, and a melanoma had been diagnosed and (hopefully) successfully removed, thus saving his life. Man's best friend indeed! It is assumed that dogs can smell the different compounds given off my malignant tumours, such as altered MHC groups, and 'investigate' them. Several papers have been written about using dogs to diagnose cancer, but they are not as sensitive as other investigative methods.


Other than this, I do very little dermatology this week. This has been a very relaxed rotation indeed, and its a shame that stops now, and I am back having to spend WHOLE DAYS in the hospital at any time. My next rotation is ophthalmology and ENT, and as chance would have it, I am having my own tonsils removed in about a month, due to recurrent tonsillitis, which coincides perfectly with my ENT rotation. I don't just get to watch tonsillectomies, or even assist. I actually get to try one out myself. How is that for a learning experience...


Still, it might be a little strange if I have medical students in on the operation, as they would be my friends from the wards. I'm not going to say no, though, that would just be silly after all the patient's operations I have seen myself.






Very little to report from this week I am afraid, though I hope to have a lot more to tell next week!

5 comments:

  1. Love the story of the dog licking the ears of his master only to be diagnosed that he has melanoma. A man's best friend indeed. btw, God bless with your operation, eh.

    Take care,
    Peny@greys anatomy scrubs

    ReplyDelete
  2. Animals can be so amazing, can't they? I've read an article in the news lately of a woman whose cat kept jumping on her right breast. After several weeks of this, she decided to go to her doctor and have her breast examined, and after a mammogram she was found to have a very small lesion of cancer...It's just amazing what those little critters can detect!

    Good luck with your tonsillectomy!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dogs are amazing animals! I've read a few articles on dog behaviour linked to carcinomas - fascinating stuff. Hope the tonsillectomy goes well!

    ReplyDelete
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