Geriatrics: Small is not harmless

This morning my classmates and I were supposed to present the papers we'd written about our experiences with grief, but Dr. RM never showed up at the appointed time (apparently he forgot). I was a little disappointed b/c I'd looked forward to hearing what others had to say, but instead we passed the time by chatting about our various rotation experiences (Eric and David had lots to share about their surgery experiences). Dr. JK gave Justin and me our patient cards for the afternoon (Corey was randomly chosen to spend his afternoon with another attending at the PCC) with the understanding that we'd see be ready to present at 2:00 pm. So we saw two patients in the morning, then two patients after lunch, and managed to start rounding a bit early.

One of my Alzheimers patients was all nice and sweet when I saw her (she kept humming Christmas carols), but later, for no reason at all, she came up to me with a somewhat menacing stare (even though she was smaller and thinner than me, I still felt scared) and asked me what I said. "I didn't say anything," I said, and a nearby nurse got the patient's attention and made her sit down. Dr. JK later told Justin and me that my patient used to fly into rages when she didn't get her way and has beaten both her grown son (gave him bruises all along his arm) and her incapacitated husband (who had a stroke and couldn't defend himself), and while she's calmed down considerably, her behavior can still be unpredictable. Another of my patients was a former firefighter captain, and he has a habit of spitting as he walks. It made me watch my step to make sure I didn't step on spit. We also met a lady who's been at JLWest for 13 years; there was a meeting held to discuss her care, but her son has been to so many of these meetings (52 to be exact) that he knew the drill and the meeting resolved in 5 minutes. Dr. JK also dug up some EKGs for Justin and me to read; I think we've gotten better at it =P