Quaintr

We did something very stupid... especially if you know the state of our bookcase: completely stuffed. In our defense: we've just canceled our tv...

A depressed man with dementia, formerly living completely content in our nursing home, has just decided he wants to go home. To his daughter:

"How did you get here?"

"By bike."

"Ow, go-odda-amni-it, and how are we going to get all this stuff (looking at his furniture) on a bike?"

"It smells a bit weird don't you think?"

"Well, ehm... no? not really... i think..."

"Mmmm... kinda smells like garlic"

"Aaaah. Yeah. That's me. Finished a whole bulb yesterday. Uncooked of course."

I used to be the health food kinda girl. And deep inside me I still am. Only since being back in Holland my diet has been lacking the healthy ingredients it used to have. Maybe I’ve just got lazy. Maybe I’m not being over stimulated by my friends anymore. Or maybe I’m finding a balance. Apparently people die from eating to healthily. Just like people die from not eating enough. Or from over-eating. Will we ever stop complaining about food? Our bodies? Our health? I don’t think so. But the quote that sticks in mind is from Hippocrates:

“Let food be your medicine and let medicine be your food.”

The downside of being a MD yourself, is that you're usually right about a diagnosis. So if you cancel your friends because you feel a bit nauseous (and you don't think belly dancing to be a smart activity with your stomach jumping around inside your belly)... and you sencerely hope this is not the norovirus you suspect it to be... the changes are extremely high you'll be sitting on the toilet just two hours later, with a bucket on your lap, feeling very sorry for yourself.

Maybe the reason I've become a MD, is that I'm not very good in being sick.

I don’t do sugar… or maybe sugar doesn’t do me… Let’s just say we don’t get on well together. So my diet is mainly ‘sugarless’. But sometimes one likes to indulge oneself. So I prepared marshmallows. Am not really keen on them – too sweet. But making them is very easy, very quick. Instant gratification. You’ll only need to have a lot of patience (not one of my virtues in case you didn’t know yet). So I’m still waiting. But the lukewarm-not-yet-set-marshmallow-mix tasted heavenly! Unfortunately, since sugar is an immunosuppressant, it might not do me any good…

This time a story from a colleague of mine, telling about his time in Kenya. One night, a nurse calls:

"Doctor, the condition of the patient has changed."

"Changed? In what way?"

"He has no pulse and his pupils aren't responding to light."

"You mean he's dead?"

"Well, you better check for yourself doctor."

Runner-up for the most wonderful ‘get-well-soon’-present: A bottle of Rosé. I mean: you just wanna get well in order to be able to drink it, don’t you?

And of course the chocolates I got for international mint-chocolate day (which apparently was on the 19th of Feb, or maybe he just made that up…)

Amongst the old cookery books, with the most interesting and most disgusting recipes, I’ve found a Bible, printing date: 1745 on my nana’s shelf. It’s very hard to decipher, but a wonderful read! (that is if my eyes would be able to focus for more than a few mins)

It was a beautiful spring day when i got kidnapped and was dragged onto the horse. It was my first time (in 9 months) and it was great! Just like in the old days when we were young. We rode for about 3 hrs through the forest in which we grew up. And visited a place people already talked about 14 years ago (but we'd never been there).

The next day i realised horseriding really is a sport that involves all your muscles...

As some of my friends like to say: “I’ve got a thing for old gnomes”. True. I love old books, things with some history, fairytales, and I absolutely don’t like to let go. Despite me trying to convince myself I do. But luckily sometimes people enter your life and show you you can still have those wonderful times. It’s just that the scenery has changed, and so have the people, and of course, you’ve changed as well. It doesn’t change/erase the wonderful times from the past, but it adds to the experience that is NOW.

There are things in life I still don’t understand and probably never will. One such thing is: why do we keep re-inventing the wheel??? Reading through some old cookery books I came along the notice that eating too much fat and sugar causes the rise in obesity, and the good housewife should make sure that she takes care of her family by not providing them with this. Obesity? On the rise? In the 50’s and 60’s? Giving kids too much candy? In those days? And of course one should steam veggies to preserve the nutrients… ???

 

So why does it seem to me that we pretend we know so much more now then they did then?

I'm not curious, I'm just interested...

But i just can't stand not knowing who has send me a card... *grin*

I do love the seasonal food in winter. Very practical too. Especially for people like me, who forget the appointments they’ll have in the coming week, and, adding to this, also can’t contain themselves whilst buying food. That’s the great thing about root veggies and cabbages: they’ll keep much longer than your lettuces…

"Sorry to disturb you at this late hour, but her last glucose check of the day [the fourth one today, the eleventh one in two days] was way to high." 

"It's okay. Give her 6 units of insulin extra" 

"After I give her the extra insulin, do you want me to check the glucose level before she goes to bed?"

Trough the telephone, I hear the lady in question (standing beside the nurse) whisper "oh, no, not again!"

Emergency: need to run to patient who stopped breathing... run to patient... remember I'm on the wrong ward... turn around and run for the door.

Old lady in wheelchair: "run faster, run faster, you can do it!"

There lots of things that make me happy: a piece of broccoli, a slice of cheese, the health food store that suddenly decides to start selling ‘oatly’, a nice dinner, wine, and of course: cooking. I feel it provides me with the wonderful opportunity to reflect on my day. There’s nothing I can stress about… There’s just me and the food. Even if I prepare my food in under 10 mins, it seems to give me the peace of mind I need to get through the eve. And it’s just a great feeling to sit down with your plate of food and your glass of wine, a nice cd, and be grateful…

Kinda sad, don't you think?

Ps. do you want your own travel map?

There are some things you shouldn't do when you've almost finished sowing a skirt... one of those things is to (accidentally) cut a hole in the front. Grmpfh.

After surviving last week (and so did all my patients) I decided I would give myself a very small gift... (one shouldn't spoil oneself to much, should we?) The incredible vegetarian cookbook I borrowed from my mum, but had to return (because she's tired of me stealing her cookbooks)... is finally mine to keep! Now everyone in my family has one (my mum, as said, and my brother-not-yet-in-law have copies too).

... the i-net.

Just in case people have started to think what has happened to me: I'm still alive, fully and happily, but without the i-net at the moment. And i'll keep doing so for another 5-6 wks. Despite some downsides, i must admit that it is wonderful to live without. The amount of spare time! I'd almost forgotten how that felt...

(i used to get very frustrated about not having i-net at home, so we'll have to see how that goes)

"Help"

"Help!"

"He-e-elp!"

"Madam, goodmorning. I'm a doctor. What's the problem?"

"That's non of your god-damn business!"

Do I need to feel guilty... when I decide not to change the medication the cardiologist prescribed to a man with a serious hypertension with a blood pressure of 220/100 mmHg (because he feels completely fine and knowing this man will visit the cardiologist tomorrow) and he suffers a major stroke in the night?

Do I need to feel guilty... when I can’t instantly solve the unknown cause of a man who attacked his roommate and a nurse (but I do write a crisis protocol and start all things necessary to come to a long term solution in 24 hours) and he seriously injures a nurse again the following evening?

Do I need to feel guilty... when I decide not to treat a woman (because she asked me not to do so) and she dies just before one of her sons can say goodbye?

No. I don’t need to feel guilty. In med school, I’ve learned how to diagnose diseases and how to treat them, but I have not received a magic wand with my graduation. Some things can’t be done by doctors. Why don’t you guys realize this? Why don't I realize this?

I'm not the only one who's a bit confused about the non-typical-way diseases present themselves in the elderly... the hospital called earlier this week about a patient of mine (who's temporarily staying at their place) to tell me he's wasn't going to be discharged just yet. My patient had vomited... the hospital thought he had an obstruction and wanted to conduct further investigations before sending him home. The hospital called me (again) today, they found the cause of the nausea: a pneumonia?!

... I will have to decide I want to end someone's life.

Euthanasia is still a criminal offence in my country, but a medical doctor will not be prosecuted if he (or she) has committed euthanasia in very specific cases, under very specific (and defined!) circumstances. It's not, like other treatments, a patients right (a doctor is not obligated to do it). Nor is it a privilege. It's different. It feels different.

That's why this article surprised me. It states doctors have (besides the conditions required by law) other criteria they use to decide if they find a request for euthanasia valid, mainly the way the request is formulated. It also states higher educated patients have more developed communicational skills and are therefore more likely to formulate a valid request for euthanasia. This puts behind the less educated patients and that's why they have published ten ways to formulate the euthanasia request in such a matter the doctor is more likely to proceed. They make it sound a patient has a right to have euthanasia and it's our duty to make sure every patients has a equal chance... but it doesn't feel that way. To commit euthanasia, a doctor needs to be absolutely sure the patients suffers 'unbearable with no prospect of improvement'... and this, logically, depends on the way the request is made. It feel wrong to publish 'ten ways to convince the doctor.' Or at least it does for me. (Which is actually quite strange... because I think the possibility to choose the way you die, is a possibility we have to charish.)

Apparently, I'm not the only one having a go at the foodfiction presented by diet-goeroes, the industry and researchers. But this guy seriously wants me to believe the following statements: 'gedroogde pruimen bevorderen de stoelgang niet', 'het maakt weinig uit wat je op je brood doet, zolang je het niet te dik belegt', 'sinaasappelsap is bijna net zo ongezond als cola', 'koffie werkt niet dehydraterend', 'groene thee bevat net zoveel cafeïne als zwarte', 'fritessaus bevat weinig calorieën en verlaagt het cholesterol', 'een broodje kroket is minder vet dan een broodje kaas', 'in fruit zit maar weinig vitamine', 'een appel bevat veel suiker en is slecht voor het gebit', 'kant-en-klaar-maaltijden zijn niet ongezonder dan wat we zelf koken', 'olijfolie is niet gezonder dan slaolie, wel duurder', 'afvallen met een dieet lukt nog minder vaak dan afkicken van heroïne' and 'in een punt vruchtenvlaai zit net zo weinig vitamine C als in een zak patat.' WTF?

A sponge finger-peanut butter-marshmallow pie?

Accompanied by the line: "The most horrid combinations are always the bestest ones"

I might actually give it a go...

Looking for a fruit, preferably red, in season in the months March-July... any suggestions? (This in season cooking with local ingredients can get a bit frustrating in the beginning.)