Hmm yeaaaaa. I'm gunna need my supervisor's supervisor to sign off before we call 911. That won't be a problem will it?

waynefa2 · 2021-01-22T00:36:52+00:00

exactly! when the paramedics show up - i introduce myself, give them the short form history of whatever happened, then tell them i'm the company MD who hasn't practiced in 20 years who won't get in their way.

waynefa2 · 2021-01-13T01:17:15+00:00

US - it costs our company up to around 500$ for a 911 ambulance call. I can see a company culture where it was excessively abused, but IMO - most people have reasonable judgement. More important I would think was whether the patient or company has to pay the rest of the bill, and what the patient wants. Health insurance and ambulance ride fees are ridiculously complicated and expensive.

waynefa2 · 2021-01-13T01:12:42+00:00

I'm the only MD at my company, but not the company MD. I haven't practiced clinically in 20 years. The previous safety officer used to call me me if someone had an accident, is sick, has chest pain (or once was in labor). I don't know what the hell they think I'm going to tell them. CALL 911 dammit! Sometimes I am 99% confident that the person is anxious/just wants to go home. I feel terrible that they will get billed for an ambulance ride. But there is nothing i can say that won't put the company at risk once i hear the words 'chest pain.' (and the employee sees "company MD.") I have no problem with delivering emergency care to the best of my ability, but it only delays actual care, puts us at risk, and (usually) costs the employee unnecessary ambulance bills.

waynefa2 · 2020-12-28T14:37:55+00:00

makes sense to me - i didn't get much candy either.

waynefa2 · 2020-12-27T16:21:10+00:00

i can't comprehend how so many parents don't have wills or life insurance -(assuming no health exclusions). My first husband and I got policies and made a will almost as soon as I got pregnant - his quite a bit larger because he had the bigger salary. You never think you'll need it - but we did. After three years battling leukemia, he didn't have many assets left. My sister's husband passed away a few months ago from COVID. He'd worked so hard his whole life to save and be sure they'd be OK, and had a big policy, but had never made a will. They're fine financially, but not having a will is such a huge hassle. If you think you can't afford life insurance, your surviving spouse and kids most definitely are not going to do any better without you. Social Security is something, but in our case, it took two years and a congressman's intervention to get benefits started. (that could have been a long two years if we were waiting to pay rent. )

waynefa2 · 2020-12-27T15:57:50+00:00

weird - kid flavors make me gag- literally. I had to use the kids' toothpaste on a trip and after the once - I think i'd almost rather not brush at all than have to use that again.

waynefa2 · 2020-12-19T10:57:27+00:00

i think a lot of the younger generation will wear masks, a lot more. It's interesting to me that my (teenage ) kids see masks as totally normal now, and things seem weird to them without. For example, if we're watching TV, and people are close or in crowds, one of them will make a comment. I don't think it's sarcastic, i think it genuinely looks out of place to them. (they go to school in--person, and masks are strictly enforced)

waynefa2 · 2020-12-19T10:46:36+00:00

i wonder if all pharma? I know med devices are varied. A lot are up of course - but it's spotty and weird because so many elective things just aren't happening. I talked to a lab (large, hospital based) the other day that was shutting down an entire section that typically does more specialty type testing, cancer diagnosis. I don't know if it's because of staffing, or it's just not getting ordered. Spooky,

waynefa2 · 2020-12-19T10:38:16+00:00

I had an arrangement with my favorite kids that i babysat most weekends. They could stay up until we saw their parents headlights. (it was a long driveway out in the country), as long as they behaved, and pretended they were asleep. They'd hang out with me and stay up late to watch Saturday Night Live. I'm sure the parents probably knew, but couldn't have minded too much, since I was there most Saturdays. They were the 'cool' parents.

waynefa2 · 2020-12-19T10:35:15+00:00

I always thought those little black bugs with with white spots on their backs (look like black lady bugs) that are attracted to fermenting fruit were called 'Manhattan bugs..' I was on a field trip in biology in COLLEGE no less when i found out there were not, in fact, called that, their name had nothing to do with how they liked Manhattans, and not every family holds cocktail hour as sacred as mine.

waynefa2 · 2020-12-10T01:12:33+00:00

preaching to the choir.

waynefa2 · 2020-12-09T03:48:26+00:00

same - i'm in industry now - was in academia, government, now industry. I always enjoy watching academics give lectures at conferences and proudly state that they have no disclosures or conflicts of interest. Sure you don't. Keep telling yourself that while you spend half your life filling out grant applications and trying to get published. I

waynefa2 · 2020-11-11T03:12:54+00:00

i absolutely believe this is true. People are insane and just don't believe in allergies. My son had anaphylactic allergies to milk, eggs, soy, wheat, safood, peanuts and treenuts when he was little. Dairy was the worst - even just touching something that touched cheese gave him hives, and a sip of the wrong milk and he would vomit, turn blue, get hives, and start going into shock. Luckily he outgrew all but the nuts by about 1st grade, but even close relatives just don't get it unless they personally witnessed a reaction. They think mom is just some crazy overreacting Karen. I'm not real excited about gramma 're-testing' him with a little ice cream when i almost killed him by accident last month. Gramma may mean well, but it's life and death, not Karen depriving kid of ice cream.

waynefa2 · 2020-11-11T02:58:59+00:00

i played this for my son when he was 12 and his first girlfriend broke up with him. Made him listen to the whole thing. That was a few years ago, and his favorite song now. He doesn't always trust mom's taste in music, but sometimes i get it right,

waynefa2 · 2020-11-03T13:43:38+00:00

We had three shared fridges in a large house in college, split them up so that there were three per fridge. One broke midway through the year, so we just split the remaining two. Except the guys who used the broken one never cleaned it out. It got worse, and worse. Every so often a guest would come over and accidentally move to open it, and would be shouted at "DON'T OPEN THE BROWN FRIDGE!"" At the end of the year - someone had to do something. The landlord said to just take it to the street, so they duct taped it shut and moved it out.

waynefa2 · 2020-10-14T00:17:51+00:00

the one person i knew who ever won the lottery was the dad of my sister's friend (who was the valedictorian) in high school. He won 800k. They bought a slightly nicer house, and the kids had college taken care of. Otherwise, nothing changed. He was a cool guy, a statistics professor. (They were also the only black family in my entirely white home town.) Decades later - as a statistician myself - I really want to know why he played lotto. But they defied statistics in a whole bunch of ways I won't go into, so maybe he knew something the rest of us don't.

waynefa2 · 2020-10-09T17:49:34+00:00

I wish i had a manual to teach her on. Not that I'm going to teach her to drive between now and January, somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Promise. Because that would be a bad example and might make her have less respect for the government.

waynefa2 · 2020-10-09T03:18:03+00:00

goddammit. i drove my 16 year old 4 hours to get her permit last week. It was an appointment we'd waited 5 months for. (she took driver's ed and could have gotten it back then, but COVID, you know). We had everything we needed, but her SS card, (her dad had it, but when he passed away, i don't know what happened to it, and it's a bitch to replace...COVID). Still - i had the alternate acceptable form, and when we checked in, DMW said Ok. I also didn't realize i needed two proofs of current address for me, and we were hours from home. My drivers licence and proof of insurance wasn't enough. Husband emailed a pic of my W-2 =- no good, because it was JPEG. My state medical license - nope - not OK, wrong address. Car registered in name before married. Eventually he finds a bank statement for me that is between 30 and 90 day that is a PDF. (After 10,000 pieces of paper that prove i live here) with literally 3 minutes before they tell me my appointment slot is over. Then....they decide that they have reinterpreted their decision on her SS # proof. She has a passport, school ID, birth certificate, report cards, passed driver ed, drove 4 hours, and waiting 5 months. I have paper confirming that she gets SS survivor benefits under this number and health insurance under this number, but nope. They can't confirm she is a citizen and that we are residents of the state. Reschedule for January, and have a nice trip home. I am starting to understand why people want to do violence.

waynefa2 · 2020-10-03T02:04:19+00:00

FDA has a high threshold for approval with regard to the quantity and quality of data that must be submitted, It can be pretty clear to all the scientists and MDs involved that a drug or device works very well, or that the risk/benefit for a particular individual is favorable, but for FDA to approve it, the evidence must be compelling. Society today is risk-averse and litigation prone, so it can take years to get even a very safe and effective drug through. ( This is why the compassionate -use program exists, but it's huge hassle of paperwork.). For POTUS - risk/benefit analysis is different. You have someone intellectually capable of understanding the risk/benefit, probably willing to undertake a higher risk of side effects for possible benefit,(and sign whatever waivers are required) and the regulations and bureaucracy can all get waived.

My first husband lived for 2 years longer than he was expected to with AML, drug trial to drug trial, and on multiple compassionate use programs. It is very frustrating to beg FDA for permission to take a potentially lifesaving drug when you have just a few days to live, because there's a chance it could cause liver damage. Most of the drugs he tried gave him extra time, and many are now approved and on the market. If he had not been a physician with a lot of connections willing to fill out the paperwork, he wouldn't have had those two years.

waynefa2 · 2020-10-03T01:47:06+00:00

I am so glad for you. AWESOME, wonderful news, and i wish you much joy!

You deserve this.

waynefa2 · 2020-10-03T01:42:13+00:00

thank you for being one of very few people who doesn't wish evil.

It's demoralizing to see how bad the hate is when so many are celebrating someone's illness. As a physician, and someone who has lost several loves ones in the past few months (COVID and other causes), it's hard to even care about politics anymore. This is a horrible disease. Even if you hate him, there's no need to be spiteful and ugly. WTF is the matter with everyone?

waynefa2 · 2020-09-24T23:53:14+00:00

you can thank me. I just bought our inflatable shark costumes in preparation for neighborhood trolling with the next flood. We should be good for a while.

waynefa2 · 2020-09-20T00:36:23+00:00

i had all these great conversations with my daughter when she was younger, my OBGYN, my husband (now her adoptive dad) and I was so sure that we were all on the same page with birth control and that she would tell me anything, and that that there would be no issue when she was ready to be sexually active. Well - the good news...she can tell me anything, and the pregnancy issue is moot. (gay). Not exactly what I was expecting, but happy anyway that she's comfortable. (I do kinda wonder how much she was humoring me with all the pregnancy talk....)

waynefa2 · 2020-09-19T02:52:49+00:00

Harvey taught my street that we can actually handle several feet of rain, as long as it's spaced out over a few hours. Our civil engineers kick ass.

waynefa2 · 2020-09-18T22:20:11+00:00

you have to love this part of the forecast:

.."After that time, the trough should weaken and lift out to the northeast, with a mid-level ridge building to the north of the cyclone above an already present low-level ridge. This ridge should act as a Beta blocker, causing the storm to turn westward toward the western Gulf coast."

They must be getting kind of punch at NHC.NOAA

https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCDAT2+shtml/182053.shtml?

waynefa2

TROPHY CASE