Internet Dysplasia

Oscar the cat predicts patients' deaths PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Oscar the cat seems to have an uncanny knack for predicting when nursing home patients are going to die, by curling up next to them during their final hours. His accuracy, observed in 25 cases, has led the staff to call family members once he has chosen someone. It usually means they have less than four hours to live. * Read the full article at: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1120AP_Death_Cat.html

So some people on the bus today were talking about work. Apparently a cat in the Nursing Home lays down with some of the residents, and then shortly after they will die. Kind of freaky... but then how sick are the people in the nursing home? and what if the cat is carrying some sort of illness? Cats have always been cast as supernatural in ways... so it is easy to imagine some bad sign. I just know I wouldnt be letting that cat near me! Speaking of riding the bus. One of our attendings had an interesting way of comparing neoplasia in Epithelial vs. Stromal vs. Hematopoetic cell lines. Think of Epithelial neoplasia as a teenager stuck in a house, and a metastasis is when they sneak out. You can tell that they sneak out because they get dirt on their shoes, their jacket gets wet (hey, its Seattle).... Stromal neoplasia is like a teenager who lives outside the house. Their shoes are always dirty..so you have to look at other features to determine if they are metastatic. Hematopoe...

I got real comfortable calling myself Doctor today. My beeper and phone were going like crazy all morning. Doctor LaPointe is much quicker than First year Pathology resident. Anyhow, I probably should change the title of my blog, or should I? I want to keep this up as a site that Med students (especially at UND) can turn to, but I also want to share my experiences... So, today was day 2 of my program officially starting. We have a few hours of training in the morning (like how to use the computer system, dictation, blah blah..) Then start getting and looking at slides for the day. I'm doing GI and Liver right now. It is very interesting. UW has a big transplant service and I have seen a lot of liver biopsies to evaluate for rejection. Today however I diagnosed my first patient with cancer. Delivering bad news. They gave us sample cases in med school. They test us on it. And even though I dont have to look the person in the face, there is still quite an impact. Okay ...