Week ending12-9-11

Last week of clinicals before the winter break! Lots of fatty livers this week.  Saw one recannalized paraumbilical vein.  First time for that.  Also saw two oddly shapped cysts (parapelvic) not circular at all.

Week ending11-30-11

Saw an interesting scrotal ultrasound this week.  had three epididymal cysts in the right teste.  One looked kind of grungy. There was bilateral hydroceles too.  Ready for the winter break!

Week ending11-23-11

Short week. Happy turkey day.  saw a guy with a grossly cirrhotic liver this morning. he also had splenomegaly and a sick gall bladder.  had masses or very echogenic sludge, not stones.  also a thickened wall 3.6mm at the smallest.  with pericholecystic fluid.

Week ending 11-18-11

I comped out on my Carotid exam as well as the venous legs in the lab this week.   I am glad to get those out of the way.  That allows me to pass for the semester. now I need to work on the other exams to get an A.  Here is an incidental thyroid that I saw while doing a carotid exam.  slightly increased flow.

Week ending nov 11

Scanned a homeless person this week that stunk so bad i had to wear a facial mask and chew gum. When I was done the transducer was black from all of the dirt on his stomach and the gel.  in the end he did appreciate the work that I did, even though I didn't find anything.  Also came across a cyst on a left kidney that was 11cm, the kidney itself was 12.  Almost another there.  for sure provided mass effect. he didn't complain of any though.

Week ending nov 4

Hard to concentrate on school and everything with the holidays here.  Lots of stuff to do with the families.  I did find an abscess in a gall bladder fossa that had a recent cholecystectomy.  It had internal echoes and it will likely be drained.  makes me feel good that I had a part in this.  even though another would have found it. it was pretty obvious.

Week ending Oct 28

My time at the vascular site is getting short.  I have sure learned a lot here.  I am looking forward to my ob rotation.  I wonder what hospital I will go to.  I feel like I am behind in that respect. and I am, but there are other students whom also don't get any ob at their clinical site.  Man the semester is over half over, flying by.

Week ending Oct 21

Honing in my abdominal skills.  This week I found a gall bladder that was pretty ugly.  the boss couldn't even figure out what it was.  possibly cancerous.  sort of looked like a porcelain gall bladder, but much uglier. it is nice how this stuff just jumps out at me now.

Week ending Oct 14

Faster and faster at these vascular exams.  It was nice to see the difference in the way that they do them compared to the hospital.  I got to watch a venous leg at the hospital.  different protocals I guess.  Some things seem obvious to me like typing aug for augment.  obviously there is an augment. do you think the patient vomitted and I took a picture of the waveform? silly. again protocals and the way certain people are trained. it is certainly good to get many different perspectives.

Week ending Oct 7

Coming along with the venous legs now.  Coapting away.  people should really take better care of themselves then when I press it won't hurt so much.  Better diets too. exercise. etc.  next week I get to be in on some procedures, looking forward to that.  EVLT's endo venous laser treatment.  or they use a wire with a radio frequency to ablate the veins.  looks bloody when I walk by to get my next patient.

Week ending Sep 30

Getting pretty fast at these carotid exams, when there is pathology it really slows you down.  You have to "walk" the sample gate through the entire area of stenosis and identify the area of highest velocity.  Man these plaques can sure appear differently.

Week ending Sep 23

Saw a nice big mass on a uterus this week at the hospital.  The left ovary was also pretty ugly.  Poor lady.  Looked similar to this one. Slightly bigger though.y was

Week ending Sep 16

At my vascular site 2 days a week now and 1 day at the regular hospital. It is a nice change of pace even though it is much higher paced at the vascular site.  I am learning to do ABI's, TBI's, PPG for the toes if the ABI is greater than 250cm/s, Vein Mappings, lots of Carotid Dopplers. I guess that they do Arterial legs, haven't seen those yet and Aorta studies as well as Renal Artery Dopplers.

Week ending Sep 9

This week I am lucky enough to start a rotation at a vascular site.  It coincides perfectly with the start of our vascular class.  Very high paced.  Never worked inside of a doctors type of an office/building before.

Week ending sep 2

short week this one, only one day.  took me the morning to get back into the swing of things after a nice break.  nothing fancy.