A week in my life... new kids in town

A week in my life…New kids in town

I’m not the most social person in the world. Sometimes a room full of people makes me nervous. You would never know it the way I hog a camera or love to do presentations or sing, but to interact socially with people without walking away feeling like a total dork is a bit of a challenge for me. I had just such a challenge tonight as I changed clothes half a dozen times and tried to find just the right thing to wear to the annual “welcome new doctors to town” dinner at the hospital tonight. I decided on a brown mini-dress with tights and go-go boots. If you have to ask “is this dress too short?” it probably is but I was running out of time and decided that it would have to do. I usually hide behind my broad shouldered husband and let him do the talking so I don’t get too nervous and say something stupid. Tonight I had to go alone. My Mom was out of town gambling her little heart out in Tunica and my husband stayed home with my son. They were so cute as I left watching them playing with Lincoln Logs and in fact they were still in that same position on the floor when I returned. Who knew Lincoln logs would hold my little mans attention for more than 5 minutes. I’m not sure if he has true attention deficit problems but it does seem that he is very adept at “multitasking” several different games or activities at one time.

I had a patient this week, a seven year old boy with autism. He had bilateral gout that means uric acid precipitant deposits in the joints of his big toes. Amazing. You usually only see that in older people. It used to be called the “kings disease” because usually affluent folks got it due to the fact that diet has a lot to do with uric acid levels. Alcohol and rich fatty foods, red meat and protein lead to the most uric acid accumulation in the system. With time and age our kidneys are less able to process the uric acid, so this was wild to see it in a seven year old. He limped around our “kid’s room” looking at various toys we keep in there and when he pulled off his house slippers I lost my breath for a minute. There was no doubt about what I was seeing. He had been up all night crying when the bed covers lightly touched those toes. A classic finding in gout. It got me thinking instantly, as I love a good challenge. This boy has autism and gout. Could there be a connection? I told mom I needed a minute… Knowing I was hurrying to my computer to google, “uric acid + autism” . As I pulled the vitals sheet off the front of the chart, three pieces of paper almost flew to the floor. I caught them. Mom had already done this search. There it was the link I was looking for. A research institute in Lenexa, Kansas has made that connection and many others. They do autism research as well as some other difficult amorphous diseases like fibromyalgia and look for biochemical underlying mechanisms. I immediately called them to talk with one of their doctors. A biochemist called me back and we scheduled a time to chat that evening after work. We talked almost two hours about this interesting finding and the biochemical processes. She couldn’t believe I had a child with autism and bilateral gout. We both felt a research project coming on. We continue at this time pursing that. I’ll let you know the outcome. I of course have a personal interest in autism. I have a nephew with it and we are constantly looking for ways to help him in the family. My radar is always scanning for new ideas in that regard.

So, back to the dinner… I walked in feeling a bit “alone” and shy. Immediately one of the seasoned doctor’s wives, who is now retired, rushed up to me, embraced me and immediately made me feel welcome. She started rambling about the Hogs and the score of the game we were all missing. My mind was racing and thinking of the open bar calling to me from the corner. “I drove myself here”, I am thinking. Just one glass of wine with dinner would be ok. I’m not much of a drinker so I could definitely take it or leave it but I must admit it does take the edge off when you are nervous.

I excuse myself, not even sure if I am mid conversation with her, and grab a glass of wine. My anxiety by this time had well taken over. I am wishing that I could just be a little more social and ramble as well as about little of nothing without sounding amazingly goofy. I have spent so much of my life studying and trying to sound intelligent, but the things that I know and like to talk about may not always be interesting dinner conversation. Although it seems that lay people are always more than willing to talk about their medical problems to me, when you are in a room of doctors, it seems that often that is the last thing they want to talk about. Keep that in mind when you find yourself at dinner with a doctor. In college and medical school I remember it getting back to me that often people thought I was a “snob”. Funny, that is the last thing I want people to see me as. I feel I am pretty down to earth. The problem…. I decided… is that I am always thinking, in my own little world, type A personality, and so deep in thought that I sometimes don’t see the world around me. I have decided that it takes all kinds of people in this world and I am just one of the “thinkers” who will probably not be the most “social” in the world, but don’t get me wrong…. Keep inviting me to those parties. I tend to feel left out if you don’t. I may be standing in the corner blending into the wallpaper, but hey, I was there….

I had a delightful dinner with my beautiful friend, Stacy White, and her husband Dr. Bruce White. Bruce is one of the smartest people I know and I depend on him quite often if not weekly to help me with complicated patients. He is amazing with internal medicine issues as well as his innate oncology/hematology knowledge (cancer and blood). Stacy is so “bubbly”. I truly wished that I had a fraction of her social talents.

So, I found the courage to just walk right up to the new people. They were very easy going. I think I found the courage because I had it in my mind to take their picture and put it in my blog this week so you could meet the “new kids in town” with me.

Dr. Aaron and Brooke Wallace

Dr. Wallace is a new Orthopedic surgeon in town. He did his undergrad and medical school in Arkansas. His B.S. was in chemical engineering. Bruce White gave the opening remarks at the dinner, as he is the Chief of Staff at BRMC and commented that is always a little strange saying B.S. “How true”, I thought to myself. He then did an orthopedic residency in Erie, PA. and a sports medicine fellowship as well. All you sports folks out there will be interested in that. I see big things happening for our local sports teams with him around. He enjoys being athletic and sports personally, he lives in my neighborhood and bikes and runs, so I can vouch for that. Hey, all you couch potatoes with bad joints (knees and hips…) from high school football many moons ago, sounds like this may be the guy for you, too. His wife, Brooke is as cute as can be. I met her not to long ago at a Silpada party (jewelry) at another one of our neighbors so I can vouch for her taste in jewelry. Fabulous!

Dr. Mark and Kimberly King

Dr. King is new dermatologist in town. Always a welcome addition. It seems there is a never ending supply of skin problems to go around. (Forget the sunscreen, he may need some job security… just kidding). Dr. King is also home grown as he did his undergrad in Arkansas and also stayed in Arkansas for his medical school training. Interesting on his “bio” we were supplied with as place settings for our dinner read that he enjoys, “outdoor activities”, cooking and traveling. I bet he wears his sunscreen. It only takes seeing a few melanomas (skin cancer) kill a few folks to get your attention, I’m sure.

They also mentioned two other newbys in town. Dr. Margo Jackson-Lockyer was on duty in the ER where she works now. Good excuse to miss the dinner I would say. Stacy White was passing out some “welcome gifts” to the new docs and we teased her about taking Dr. Lockyer’s down to her in the ER. In the heels Stacy was wearing, I figured someone would get it to her later…

Dr. Frances Radkey an internist was here in Mountain Home for a while and is returning. We have a pretty great medical community. Sometimes docs just can’t stay away. Dr. Nachtigal one of the surgeons in town had that happen to him too. Just couldn’t stay away! Our little town really is a great place to raise a family. Other than the occasional shooting in grocery stores, it is a really safe place to be. I had the thought the other day yes we have a little crime rate from time to time, but in the larger cities it is “everywhere” all the time.

Luckily my friend, Sheriff John Montgomery, keeps us pretty safe and comfy. I was seated at dinner next to Dr. Neis, one of our local ENT’s. He asked me where I was from, originally. That’s the key “originally” since most docs move around a lot for schooling. I told him I was born and raised right here in Mountain Home. That always gets a bit of a shocked look. I peeked across the room at Dr. Max Cheney who delivered me and had to smile to myself.

The CEO of BRMC, Ron Peterson talked a little to the group about how lucky we are to have the medical community that we have. I agree. He told the story of an interaction he had with a cardiologist in a small town that was bragging about all the services they offered to a population of 70,000 and Mr. Peterson reminded us that we have all those same services to a population of 15,000. Pretty cool. He didn’t tell that cardiologist as he didn’t want to “burst his bubble”. Mr. Peterson seems pretty humble. But it is easy to be when you have such a great medical community behind you.

I find it interesting that Bruce White was talking about his tour of duty as chief of staff at BRMC and how he won’t miss those middle of the night calls he received. Dr. George Lawrence is the next upcoming elected Chief of Staff and he will be dealing with irate surgeons at 2 a.m. and disgruntled medical staff who sometimes need reminded that we are no longer in grade school and we all need to just “get along”. I guess I’m trying to say that our medical community is not perfect, but precious in it’s own way.

When I refer a patient to another specialist I always ask myself would I go to that doctor or would I send my mom there. I think it is a great feeling to be able to refer to a lot of great docs right here in our little community.

For more info on the great plains research and autism you can visit: http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/home/eng/about.asp

Remember this month is breast cancer awareness month. I leave you this week with a cute but poignant photo that will hopefully stay with you to remind you to get those mammograms and get others to get them.

I had a great show this week with a guest who is the coordinator of the Peitz Cancer House at BRMC and talked about local resources including Free mammograms and follow up to those who don’t have insurance, etc. Get those mammograms (http://www.arbreastcare.com/media/publications/2007_info_piece.pdf)!

To watch the show you can go online, if you don’t have cable on your TV: http://www.xl7tv.com/watch.php?link=http://www.xl7tv.com/shows/HealthyAmbitions/playlist.xml

And for more information if you are dealing with breast cancer or know someone who is go to http://www.baxterregional.org/programs_and_services/70-peitz-cancer-support-house. With statistics like 1/8 women get breast cancer, I’m sure you do, you may just not know it.

Till next week stay healthy…

Dr. Tammy