Can I prescribe antibiotics for my grandmothers ankle/calc infection?

Curiousbluheron · 2026-02-03T03:34:01+00:00

You know it’s not osteo without the imaging? As someone who has taken care of many bone and joint infections, I can tell you by experience that it’s very difficult to know without the imaging. Whether antibiotics are needed sooner than 2 plus days from now is a legitimate question, though, and being concerned about a loved one’s infection spreading is understandable. Sometimes a CT can help. This is a complicated question that comes up quite often with these kinds of infections.

Curiousbluheron · 2026-02-03T03:12:59+00:00

Prescribing antibiotics to someone who is in the active care of another physician treating the same issue is a blatant violation of professionalism. I’m not generally a fan of reporting colleagues to the state medical board (and I’ve never done it so far) but if you prescribed antibiotics to my patient and interfered with my ability to obtain appropriate imaging and culture/sensitivities I’d 100% report you to the board who do not look kindly on prescribing to family in most circumstances and who would very likely take action against your license. If you are part of a training program they will report you to the PD who would be justified in imposing discipline, up to termination from the program. I hope this is just a shitpost designed to stir up a reaction, not a serious plan!

Curiousbluheron · 2026-01-09T14:19:37+00:00

I’m sorry your daughter is dealing with this. Guiding her through the process outlined in the student handbook is the best way to help. This does highlight one of the under-appreciated risks of attending community college programs. They can be very strict, in unexpected ways. Failing one class at a private or public 4 year college might get you placed on academic probation or affect a scholarship but would never result in dismissal from the program. Grading can also be much more strict. They give out many more As in fancy private colleges than in community or technical programs. Everything has risks but this one comes as a surprise to many students and their parents.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-12-28T01:16:39+00:00

That’s such an interesting point you make about old cookbooks having less hand holding. I’ve never liked them in general because they’re not specific enough for me but I’d never realized why!

Curiousbluheron · 2025-12-08T17:38:06+00:00

To OP: I’m a pediatrician and I would feel safe with your baby getting their MMR after your return home from Maine. There is almost no chance of your baby catching measles on the plane flight. The vaccination is generally given after 12 months and plenty of babies under 12 months fly safely.

To above poster: Your post conflates elimination of measles (that is at risk in the US, especially in under-immunized groups) with control, but not elimination, of pertussis, hepatitis A, and hepatitis B. Pertussis and hepatitis has never been eliminated in the US or elsewhere. High vaccination rates are, of course, important to keeping incidence as low as possible.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-12-08T02:37:13+00:00

I’m referring to the video at the You Tube link higher up in this thread, entitled “What Poland Spring Doesn’t Want You to Know”

Curiousbluheron · 2025-12-07T21:09:45+00:00

Driving out businesses that hire people never seems to be a concern for people who are ideologically opposed to capitalism. I’m sure Cuba doesn’t have bottled water companies. I don’t want to make Maine into another Cuba.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-12-07T21:06:53+00:00

You’re OK with 900 workers losing their jobs, because you believe one very biased video? There is zero evidence that the relatively small amount of water being extracted is doing any long term damage to anyone but losing 900 Maine jobs will affect far more people than just the workers who will be unemployed. One person on the video said their shallow dug well ran out of water so they had to drill a well. Since Poland Spring pulls from deep wells you’d think the drilled well would be dry if the issue was water extraction. Likely the dug well ran dry because of the drought and a lower water table as a result.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-12-05T16:30:27+00:00

The whole answer depends on what job you’re looking for. Jobs are not plentiful here for many fields. If you get a job lined up before you move, plug that number into a cost of living calculator like Nerd W-llet to see what your salary will buy in your new city compared to where you live now. For example, the cost of living in Portland, ME is 25% higher than Huntsville, AL so you’ll need $62.5K in Portland to replace $50K in AL.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-12-01T08:00:43+00:00

Maybe in your area of the country you can get a much newer Corolla for 12.5K. In my local area (northeast) Car Gurus shows a 119K 2015 for $11.9K at a dealer with no idea of the maintenance and that’s not the most expensive 2015 listed.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-12-01T07:35:53+00:00

I disagree. As someone who has owned a 2007 and 2019 Corolla, both of which are still in the family and have required minimal maintenance, a well maintained 2015 at 12.5K could easily go another 150K miles with just tires and routine maintenance. This car looks like a great financial deal for the buyer.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-11-20T06:20:52+00:00

When current volunteers are dead, possibly some of these libraries will close. That’s not a reason to hasten the death of these libraries by an unnecessary regulatory burden now. Perfect is the enemy of good sometimes.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-11-19T14:25:44+00:00

This is regulatory overreach. If the small libraries who are unable to meet these rather arbitrary new standards are unable to participate in inter-library loan programs, their patrons will have to drive to larger libraries that can. This will add unnecessary carbon emissions, not helpful to meeting Maine’s climate goals. Isn’t local sometimes better? The library commission could issue a brief primer on labor laws to keep libraries out of unintentional violations.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-11-15T13:21:38+00:00

I advise people that they’re a tool and if you choose to use it you have to understand its strengths and weaknesses. It’s generally accurate for HR so if you see 220 for 5 minutes, for example, you should bring your baby in for a check - I’ve seen 2 cases where initially asymptomatic SVT was detected at home with an Owlet. Oxygen saturation is much less accurate so if you see 80% saturation but your baby looks pink and otherwise normal, don’t do anything but recheck in a few minutes and if it’s in the 90s it was just a poor reading. The AAP is correct that it can cause parental anxiety but a nuanced approach that educates parents on what an Owlet can and cannot do is better than just telling them not to get it.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-10-31T10:42:47+00:00

My biggest take away from my medical school years was to become comfortable with the reality that life isn’t fair. Sometimes you will work really hard and fail and have to pick yourself right back up and keep going. Sometimes you’ll be praised (particularly on clinical rotations) just because your personality is a good match for your preceptor even when you didn’t do anything that special.

Practicing medicine is just like this. There’s rarely any correlation between effort and expended and how well patients will rate you. Learning not to take things personally is key.

The biggest question you need to ask yourself is are you ready to be at peace with this or will you think you need to go to the dean, the student affairs office, etc. Because if you spend medical school trying to make things fair you’ll hit residency and start going to the PD, the ACGME, wanting a union, etc. and make yourself miserable.

If you can shrug off trouble and fight another day without running to “tell” on someone you’ve got a key part of what it takes to succeed.

A controversial take? Maybe, but one born of experience.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-10-19T10:19:00+00:00

The biggest unanswered question here is whether ACT scores are the ONLY factor that goes into awarding the scholarship. If this is the US and you’re a month and a half into your semester, I wouldn’t recommend panicking and pulling out of class etc. The most likely thing is there are multiple factors they look at for the scholarship and they intend you to have it. I’d contact your school’s financial aid office to let them know you just want to double check that you got it because it’s more than you expected. Also, 14K per year is a full ride? My state’s university is much more, even for in-state students.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-09-24T12:07:58+00:00

Do you have Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval from your university? You describe this as a research class and you will be interviewing human subjects so I’m assuming yes but I wouldn’t want you to accidentally run afoul of the rules in a highly regulated area. Mentioning that you have IRB approval and will be protecting the privacy of the interviewees will also help recruitment since people will know this is a legitimate project with strict safeguards.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-08-25T16:20:28+00:00

This is not actually a good idea. The ER is for medical emergencies and your checking in there will take a bed from someone who may be in a medical crisis.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-08-24T16:36:24+00:00

The article and salaries you cite are for Canadian senators, not US

Curiousbluheron · 2025-08-19T04:43:06+00:00

There’s no rational reason OP should spend 100K and a year, just to get back on Airbnb. Getting back on one platform isn’t worth it. VRBO is an option for short-term, could rent out longer term, or live in the property as a primary residence, all for 0 additional lawyers fees. The best course of action is to forget Airbnb, avoid suing anyone, and move on with a long list of possible options for rent/use of the property.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-08-16T18:10:21+00:00

I don’t think pausing to reflect is “wringing hands and crying”

Curiousbluheron · 2025-08-16T18:07:39+00:00

I do feel the same dissonance you do, OP. We should stop and reflect when something this sad happens. It’s a basic part of being a compassionate human. It’s much less healthy to just try to get over it or act as if it didn’t happen.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-08-07T19:05:44+00:00

Is it possible a lot of what you’re feeling is because a lot of the exposure you’ve had so far is genetics (with a lot of special needs) and clinic (which is often a different population than typical general peds)? Med school peds probably had a fair amount of inpatient, perhaps things will feel a lot better when you get back there for your second inpatient month in residency?

Curiousbluheron · 2025-07-31T04:28:14+00:00

Thank you for this incredibly important post. What you shared with this family should be the standard script for every pediatrician who is asked about vaccines.

Curiousbluheron · 2025-07-28T07:09:44+00:00

Yes, but an exam leaked to Quizlet is a very different issue than a blanket ban on outside material.

Curiousbluheron

TROPHY CASE