Endocrine Assessment- Part 2: Blood Calcium

(pic: Bert and KC having a beer at Harry's in Alpine!)

Now it's time for a story...

Most of you are aware that MD Anderson is a teaching hospital.  So the normal process is that a Physician's Assistant will come into the room and go through the visit as though they are the primary doctor.  Ask questions, examine the patient; the whole nine yards.

Then s/he will leave the room, have a briefing with the doctor, and we don't see them again.  Sometimes never, because the PAs are transitional as they are still basically in school.  Later, the 'real' doctor enters the room and we start all over again. 

Most of the time, the PAs are spot on.

This time, she couldn't have been more wrong.  Albert's doctor came into the room and basically said...yeah, whatever she told you...DON'T DO IT!

It almost felt like we were being punked and I swear we must have been on candid camera, because he had an urgency when he told us.  I had him restate his words and so did Albert...it was so weird.

Then we asked him a million and three questions because we were sooo caught off guard.

Even his side-kick student (the one that is not allowed to speak, but only observes), was looking surprised by what the PA had told us.

Basically, Bert is being taken off of some meds to see what his body does on it's own.  With the meds his blood calcium is perfect...the doc wants it to be perfect without meds!

Never a dull moment!!

Thanks for checking in!