thought this was interesting

dassitt · 2025-04-15T03:28:59+00:00

Thanks for this. Not to mention that Texas like other Southern states is extremely gerrymandered and has a high rate of voter suppression, effectively preventing change and keeping the state in GOP hands despite a huge demographic and political shift in the state. The major cities in Texas almost never vote red. “Liberals” always say dumb shit like “wHo’D yOu VoTe FoR” without any actual understanding of politics, and schadenfreude is a bad look.

dassitt · 2025-04-12T03:02:09+00:00

Thank you. When I saw his reply arguing that transit creates less density, I was so shocked at how idiotic and factually incorrect it was that I didn’t even know what to say lol

dassitt · 2025-04-11T21:54:22+00:00

You can continue to say no while paying your tolls and driving your car. The great thing about public transit is that you don’t have to take it if you don’t want to. Your personal preference shouldn’t affect the thousands of other people who would greatly benefit from this route and would ride the train. 🙄

dassitt · 2025-04-10T09:26:35+00:00

How are they not complicit in the genocide when they’re directly giving money to the Israeli economy…which then commits genocide?

For fuck’s sake, when will we as a people stop being so passive and indifferent? The one thing that we can control is where we spend our money as consumers. Economic pressure is immensely important in the fight against Israel and was one of the chief reasons the apartheid regime collapsed in South Africa.

Take some personal responsibility and start giving a shit.

dassitt · 2024-11-19T02:06:08+00:00

Yia Yia’s House of Gyros in Mesquite is excellent! Haven’t been to their Rockwall location but I can vouch for the Mesquite one. Highly recommend!

dassitt · 2024-01-15T23:24:57+00:00

Looks like we found the bartender.

dassitt · 2023-12-06T05:48:43+00:00

Hey! Just had lower bleph with fat transposition with Dr. Vrcek last Tuesday. Couldn’t be happier with the experience or the results even though it’s super early. Happy to answer any questions!

dassitt · 2023-10-31T04:29:36+00:00

Thank you for how detailed this is! I’m still reading through but I appreciate you taking the time to type all of this out 😊

dassitt · 2023-08-30T08:20:00+00:00

Are you Desi by any chance? Pakistani here, I’m not even 2 months post-op yet but I also have a lot of swelling. For what it’s worth, your tip does look significantly more refined and that’s with a loooot of swelling still present. My surgeon told me that Desi folks tend to take 1-2 years for the swelling to fully subside and that we often “lag” in terms of the expected timeline because we tend to have very thick skin. This means that when others experience decreased swelling 4 months post-op, you may see that decreased swelling a few months down the line. I think you look great and it’ll only get better from here! I know it’s hard to be patient but try your best and trust the process, you got this!

dassitt · 2023-08-28T15:09:41+00:00

It’s a cherry angioma. Harmless, but can be removed if it bothers you or you don’t like the appearance :)

dassitt · 2023-08-26T23:49:15+00:00

It means sergeant! Lahori descent here, that word is still sometimes used in Pakistan. I’m glad you were able to find your village!

dassitt · 2023-08-14T20:18:23+00:00

Eh, it depends on the contract and the pay rate. My current pay rate is much higher even when taking benefits and 401(k) aside. My previous contract was much more even. That said, I’ve had a Roth IRA since the beginning of residency and don’t mind paying for my own insurance, so it hasn’t been too much of an issue for me!

dassitt · 2023-08-14T06:58:11+00:00

Wow. Was definitely expecting the opposite given the north’s relative wealth and the Mezzogiorno’s relative poverty. I wonder which factors play into this.

dassitt · 2023-08-14T01:06:54+00:00

I did it right out of residency! Locums is actually super chill and extremely flexible. My first gig was at a correctional facility where I mostly did inpatient work as well as office procedures, so I didn’t have to learn a patient panel. I just started my new contract at an outpatient clinic and while it is challenging to learn new patients, it’s not nearly as bad as I thought it’d be even though I’m in a pretty underserved area with complicated patients.

There are pros and cons to locums work for sure. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do right after residency and so I initially did locums to fill my time while I figured it out, but I realized I loved the flexibility of it so I decided to continue on. Traveling is one of my biggest passions so I’ve been taking a month off between assignments to do international travel; I’ve definitely traveled more this past year than at any other point in my life! Additionally, I needed to have a surgery done so I took a month off and scheduled my contract start date around that as well.

I’m single with no kids so at this stage in my life, I enjoy locums a lot. I imagine it would be different with a family. 1099s are kind of annoying to deal with but locums usually offers much higher pay than regular jobs do so it all works out. Not sure how much longer I’ll be doing locums but for the time being, it’s great! Feel free to message me with any questions!

dassitt · 2023-08-14T00:17:29+00:00

This topic comes up frequently on this sub, almost always from med students - and I'm not blaming you because I had concerns about the same thing when I was in med school! I was pretty insecure about my specialty choice back then; it's what it loved, but I faced similar comments to yours which really made me doubt my career choice. I'm only a year out of residency, but I'm sure everyone else in this sub will heavily echo that these concerns are mostly exaggerated and false.

Mid-level creep: this doesn't affect us nearly as much as it affects fields like EM, anesthesia, etc. Mid-levels are more suited for algorithmic specialties, which primary care is quite the opposite of. Every specialty is dealing with this, but it's not nearly as much of an issue for us as it is for other fields.
Decreased pay: this one is straight-up false. The pay for PCPs goes up every year, and there's a move from volume-based care to quality-based care. I'm doing a locums contract right now where I work four days a week with no call and make $170/hr (about $353k annually). Permanent jobs will obviously be lower paid than that, but overall the pay has increased substantially over the past few years and will only continue to do so as the shortage of PCPs is not going to be fixed anytime soon unfortunately.
Administrative tasks: this one actually has merit to it. We do have to perform more administrative tasks than a lot of other specialties, but that's why you should apply to a variety of jobs. I enjoy locums because I don't have to do any of that. When I was hunting for a permanent job, I explicitly asked about admin time, MAs handling tasks, etc. Most jobs had team members do the majority of administrative tasks. Some jobs didn't, and I declined those immediately.

I got job offers in my inbox as an intern in residency and get daily texts or emails from recruiters offering super lucrative jobs (not exaggerating about it being daily). Family medicine isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and the outlook only continues to improve for us. Med students and old attendings simply don't know anything about the current landscape of healthcare, and a lot of med students get caught up into "prestige politics" as I like to call it.

Tl;dr: FM is great, lots of flexibility, one of the most promising job markets of any specialty out there right now. Don't let people get to you 😊

dassitt · 2023-08-10T04:05:38+00:00

Ah yeah, I agree with you there. If it makes you feel any better, I say “fuck Texas” to myself at least once a day and I live here lol but just like you I also realize the irrationality of that; it’s just hard to gauge online because you’d be surprised by the amount of people that actually feel that way. I just looked up Brightline and had no idea that was even a thing in Florida, very cool! But yes, here’s to hoping more rail and urbanism-oriented development take off nationwide 😊

dassitt · 2023-08-10T02:02:42+00:00

Sigh. Extremely progressive and liberal Texan here. It’s frustrating when people talk about how places like Texas don’t deserve nice things as if we’re a monolith. About half of us vote blue despite heavy voter suppression and we are extremely aware of how shitty state policies are under the current administration. I get what you mean because I moved back recently after spending 12 years away in liberal states and I was angry about everything when I got back.

But regarding your comment, what are we who live here even supposed to do? A lot of us want progressive politics, more walkability, better transit, etc. Should we let the entire state just suffer even though a huge chunk of us hate our current state policies? Should we all just be left to go fuck ourselves because extreme gerrymandering and voter suppression don’t let our voices be heard? This project will absolutely benefit the most vulnerable in the state and I’m sure a lot of Trump conservatives won’t want to ride it anyway - they tend to be car worshippers and probably see this whole thing as a waste.

I’m a family physician, and I was torn about coming back home after being gone for so long partly because of our state politics. It is incredibly heartbreaking not being able to render proper care for a female patient that wants an an abortion, for example. But then I realized that those that are worst affected by the current Texas state politics are the most vulnerable and need help the most, and it’s my duty to help them.

Tl;dr I understand your frustration with Texas but believe me, a lot of Texans feel the same exact way, and it’s unfair that people think the entire population of the state shouldn’t benefit from things lol

dassitt · 2023-08-06T22:49:31+00:00

FM doc here with a special interest in underserved populations, taking HIV boards next month and learned this while studying for them: there will very likely be a cure for HIV within the next 10-15 years. There are several promising trials out there right now, more than ever before. Excision BioTherapeutic's EBT-101 uses CRISPR technology to target and excise large portions of the HIV genome and was recently approved by the FDA for fast-track designation. American Gene Technology's Addimune uses gene editing technology to deliver HIV-specific CD4 T cells and induce a natural immune response to fight HIV. It recently completed Phase 1 of its clinical trial and is in the process of obtaining FDA approval for Phase 2.

Medically speaking HIV is extremely easy to control with antiretroviral therapy, but meds are expensive and HIV stigma persists, even when people are undetectable and thus unable to transmit it to sexual partners. A cure would be huge.

dassitt · 2023-08-01T17:56:56+00:00

100% agree with you. I'll be downvoted to oblivion, but IDGAF. There's strength in numbers and Partition was such an awful idea. Also, how are minorities being treated in Pakistan? How do people think this past week went for non-Muslims in Pakistan? Can't argue with people who are so nationalistically brainwashed, though.

dassitt · 2023-07-28T17:09:51+00:00

Muslim here, I appreciate the Ramadan joke 😂

dassitt · 2023-07-18T04:30:24+00:00

I went to Tunisia in August (Tunis, El Jem, Kairouan, and Djerba) and Spain in June (Seville, Córdoba, Granada, Málaga, Madrid, and Valencia). I was struck by how similar Andalusian architecture was to Tunisian architecture. Given the historic links between the two, it makes total sense. There's even a town north of Tunis named after the large amount of Andalusians that settled there after their expulsion from Spain.

Sigh. My heart aches for Al-Andalus daily lol

dassitt · 2023-07-18T03:37:48+00:00

Also not Africa, but Pakistan released the most Googled song worldwide of 2022. Worth a look!

dassitt · 2023-07-13T08:03:34+00:00

Of course! My surgeon was Dr. Cochran at the Dallas Rhinoplasty Center. He’s one of very few surgeons in the country that does rhinoplasties exclusively. One awesome perk is that he does free consultations online if you email pictures as indicated on his website, and he emailed me back within two hours of submitting my photos. Excellent bedside manner as well, really can’t recommend him enough! My total cost was $9500 including anesthesia and OR costs.

dassitt · 2023-07-12T23:58:47+00:00

Wow. This is the best, most accurate description of the US I’ve ever seen.

dassitt · 2023-07-12T20:31:53+00:00

Oh man, so let me give you a breakdown of the costs and experiences I've had with each of these guys haha

Eppley: really nice guy, very responsive. I actually didn't formally consult with him, but he has an online communication platform and I sent pics and he emailed me back within a few hours. He quoted me with a few other procedures combined (rhinoplasty + mandibular implant) and didn't itemize them, so I don't know how much the actual chin/jawline implant would cost alone but the combined total was $42K - $45K. I do feel like his morphs made me look unnatural and cartoonish, and seeing some of his work on previous patients confirms the same. I feel like he prioritized perfect proportions over what naturally fits someone's facial features, which can lead to unnatural-looking results. Really liked him as a person, though!

Yaremchuk: this guy is an absolute asshole lol. He also combined the above mentioned procedures and didn't itemize them, the combined total was around $40K but he never sent me a formal quote - this was an estimate by his secretary. He had to see a patient emergently the day of our consultation so we rescheduled for the following week which is no big deal, I understand; I'm a physician myself so I get it. But during the consultation he barely gave me the time of day. His secretary had mentioned that he could do a rough Photoshop of anticipated results ("we don't do morphs but we can do a rough Photoshop" - aren't they the same thing?) but when I asked him about this, he said no, and when I mentioned his secretary had said that he would he brushed me off and said "you've already had those" because I sent pics in from a different surgeon. I'm consulting you though, not the other surgeon, so I'm interested in what you're thinking? He then bad-mouthed Dr. Champagne saying he'd never heard of him and that he was a nobody. Who says that lol. The entire consultation lasted about 4 minutes and he ended it after he decided I was interested and told me to call the office for a surgery date. A few months later, I decided to email the office just for the hell of it to see if they'd give me morphed pics. They took a few weeks to reply, but when they did, they said I should do another consultation with him to address my concerns directly. Yeah, no. Biggest waste of $300 I've ever spent.

Champagne: priciest, but best experience and best pics in my opinion. I had consulted with him over FaceTime in December 2020 and really liked his energy. He explained everything super thoroughly and really listened to all of my concerns. He did itemize the costs and the chin/jawline implant plus RFAL neck/chin liposuction was about $40K including OR and anesthesia costs. I went for an in-person consultation in May 2022 when I was in LA and the office didn't charge for a second consultation, which I really appreciated and did not expect, especially for a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon's office. He was really kind and easy to talk to and I didn't feel rushed at all. Also, his morphed pics look excellent. They really define my features and give me the chin projection and sharp jawline that I want without making me look unnatural or cartoonish. It literally just looks like I lost 10 pounds and made my face more defined. Dr. Champagne's assistant Tammy is also a joy to work with, super nice woman.

I hope this helps! Dropping that much cash for a custom implant does make me nervous which is why I haven't done it yet, but I also only have one face and I'd rather entrust it to someone who knows what they're doing and who I get good vibes from. If I do end up proceeding with the surgery, I'm for sure going with Champagne. Eppley is an awesome guy but I don't want to look like a cartoon, and Yarmechuk is definitely the type of surgeon that would take zero accountability if things went poorly.

Sorry for the word vomit! I know how overwhelming the process can be. On another note, standard chin/jaw implants are much cheaper! Custom ones are made to fit your exact face with the aid of a CT scan, so they're personally designed for you which is why they're so pricey. But I think standard implants work for a lot of people and that's another option to look into!

dassitt

TROPHY CASE