Blueberries

Walk with a Doc Newsletter

Good morning!

I have to share a HIPAA-filtered patient visit I experienced on Wednesday. It was actually yesterday; I’m not permitted to give the real date.

This meeting started off rather oddly, yet once completed, was full of new(er) health information.

The morning was sunny, and I celebrated its arrival with another liberating ride.

This was followed by one of my favorite podcast s on my commute into Westerville. You’ve likely seen the news, but the FDA fast-tracking psilocybin is what Michael Pollan was sharing this a.m.

My 8:00 am patient, Bill, was ready early for, hopefully, yet another uneventful annual follow-up. I’ve been connected to Bill since our days at Miami.

“Bill, my brother! What’s up? You look good.” Can’t hold back a smile as we walk in.

His visits are always easy.

“Sabs, I have a pointer for you.”

“Fire away”

I’m smirking at my nurse, Holly, as I sink into my Midwest-patterned, modestly-cushioned armed chair as she takes her seat on the swivel stool. Just beginning to feel the coffee raise my energy, I’m once again reassured I chose a great profession.

“Sabs, you ever go to the Starbucks bathroom to do #1 and you find that the person immediately before you, ummm… had definitely not been doing #1?

Holly stops typing.

She subtly glares at me, and I ignore her disturbed glance in an effort to parlay how important it is to keep my eyes locked on our patient.

He resumes.

“Seriously, are you ever consumed with fear that once you wash your hands and open that bathroom door, someone will be waiting and they’ll assume it was you? There’s nothing you can say, right? Wrong.

David, here’s my advice.

You intentionally leave the seat up and as you exit, you confidently look ‘em straight in the eye.

That delivers a strong, essential message of,

‘Ma’am, today’s not your day and today wasn’t my day.

But as you can see, it clearly wasn’t me.’”

I break eye contact to share apologetically with Holly that Bill was my big brother in Oxford. She responds with a conciliatory, yet disgusted nod.

“Bill, you know that story just sent 17 people looking for the unsubscribe button?” (Editor’s note: It’s located at the bottom of the page, no need to ask us to do it).

“Doc Dave, you’ll be proud of me. I just finished oatmeal and blueberries and I’m feeling alright, how are you?!.”

”First, in regards to breakfast, good call. A great way to increase our fruits and vegetables is to have them at every meal. Adding fruit to our cereal, lunch could be a delicious bowl with a ton of veggies and maybe tofu.

“Tofu?!” screams Bill.

“Oh yeah, I switched. With all that great goop (veggies/sauce) in the bowl or wrap, I honestly can’t really tell if it’s chicken or tofu, so might as well go tofu. Salad with dinner and I’m set”

“Wow, that’s a lot about yourself. Isn’t this my visit?”

“Ha! You’re absolutely right, I see your BP is 146/88?”

“Yeah, I think it’s just because I’m here”

“Bill, you need to stay on top of this at home. Take 10-15 recordings this month, an hour after your meds, and email them to me. It’s important, did you see the news this week?”

“You’re writing a little flowery. What are you reading?”

“Ahhhh, I thought this was your visit? You’re changing the subject on me.

I dove into Nabokov’s Stories. The Loonshots author, Safi, was sharing how flowing and gorgeous Nabokov’s prose was. I had to get it. He’s right, I’ve never read anything like it.”

“One more question for you. Michael (his cool husband), wants us to be ‘flexitarian(s)’. Your thoughts?”

“It’s personal, but it’s significantly healthier than the Standard American Diet (unsubscribe button still below). Kristin and I are trying it. Along those lines, did you see this news today? Caught us a little off-guard.”

“Yeah, its’ nuts. We need to get a beer and catch up. I’ll also want to get your take on all this recent Pharma news.”

Okay, it’s me again (David) and we’re back live.

You’ve likely seen, but jic I have to share this 1:18 video that is guaranteed to make you happy.

Our docs and nurses watched yesterday, repeatedly.