Almost a year.

I'm up way too late, but I don't care. I'm 22 years old and I can do what I want. That's what I like to tell myself, at least.

A week and a half from now, it will have been a year since my mom died. September 29th is the anniversary of her passing away.

A lot has happened since then; some good, some not so good. In March, our family found out that my dad has a Melanoma. Those of you who follow me on twitter might remember the exact day, because I freaked out just hearing the 'C' word.

Dad had a few surgeries. One to remove the melanoma in early April, another to remove certain inguinal lymph nodes on April 29th. In case you don't know why I would remember the specific date, April 29th happens to be my birthday. My first birthday without my mom and I spent it in a hospital room looking after my dad.

Luckily, I had a friend who was kind enough to bring a wonderful goody bag full of party supplies and treats and presents to me the day before, so when I got to the hospital, I could have my own little party while dad was drugged up and knocked out.

Also, luckily, I had a friend, who had spent a lot of time in that same hospital as a child, come visit me while dad was in surgery, so I didn't have to wait alone. He showed me where the little room was to get dad water or juice or something, and he showed me where the extra linens were. He even kept dad company with me while he was there (and while dad was awake). The guy spent at least 8 hours at the hospital with me, playing bored games with me, chatting it up with dad, and just being there.

In the summer, Dad started an ongoing treatment. He's doing some 'immuno-therapy' stuff, called 'interferon' (sp?). Basically, it's a month (five days a week for four weeks) of high dose meds that make him feel like he's got the flu, and 48 weeks of low dose, less frequent (three times a week) shots that he's been giving himself.

He got an infection a couple weeks ago and none of the antibiotics they tried slowed it down, so they had to go in surgically and remove everything, so that stunk. He spent a week in the hospital, and I spent three days there until he made me go home to take care of the house.

Things have been calmer since then, and I'm glad. I have time to reflect upon the things that have happened this year, and I have time to remember when everything was easy.

I'm still grateful to have a wonderful family, and I'm thankful to still have one parent. I'm thankful for everything my mother was while she was here, and to the wonderful example she set. I'm grateful for the support of our friends here, who, the day they heard dad was in the hospital, sent flowers, visited us, and had us over for dessert and movies and games.

It's just Dad, myself, and my two little brothers at home now, so when dad's not around, it feels like we're a broken family or something. Thankfully, we have a wonderful bunch of friends who are there for us, and we can rely on them for anything, even if it's just a night of company and fellowship to keep our minds off of things.

Yeah, life could stand to be a little easier, but I'm grateful that it's not worse, and that we're going through everything as a family. We still laugh and play and talk and watch movies together, and we say "I love you" to each other more often, and I'm thankful for the trials we've been handed, because they've helped us grow stronger and closer.

I miss you, mom, and I wish you were here, and even though I know you aren't coming back, I hope, at least, you're watching us, and that you're proud of how we've managed so far without you. I know I'll see you again, but until then, my memories of your life and your love will have to do to keep me company when I think I can't handle things.

"And when one of us is gone
and one of us is left to carry on
then remembering will have to do.
Our memories alone will get us through.
Think about the days of me and you.
You and me against the world."

--Helen Reddy

Karma is out to get me!

I don't know what I did. I don't know who I upset. All I know is that Karma is out to get me!


You'd think that after what happened at the end of September, I'd be on the safe side assuming I wouldn't have to visit the hospital for another year at least!

But this morning, my big sister called. And my little nephew has swollen lymph nodes in his neck.

I brought him lunch, and he seems fine, but his neck is swollen like crazy!

The hospital says they've only seen whatever it is twice before, and pediatrics have called Internal Medicine and ENT surgeon into it!


Even the medical students are being shown into my nephew's room to examine the weird frankenstien neck thing he has going on.



This poor kid is only 4 years old, and his doctor there is now saying that he might need surgery! I have faith as usual that what needs to be done will be done, but talking about surgery on my little buddy is kinda scary. He's my favorite little kid in the world and now he's going to have to get cut open?


I'm kinda frustrated with life throwing us these curveballs left and right. Thank goodness he's at the hospital he is. Our hospital here "has been ranked among the nation's top 50 hospitals in five specialties in U.S. News' 2009-10 publication of America's Best Hospitals."


None of the five ranked specialties have anything to do with my nephew's swollen lymph nodes, but it's still pretty impressive, yeah? Right? Riiiiiiight? Yeah, you know your jealous. Unless you live in Washington State, or Maryland, or Minnesota, or Ohio, or you know what? I don't care where you live. Just be jealous anyway. It will make me feel better.


My Little Buddy

(P.S.- this counts as a med-blog-gy post, right? Riiiiiiiiight? )





UPDATE: They sent him home Tuesday with an Rx for some pain meds and something to keep the swelling down. Hopefully, this was just a weird one time thing that will go away and never come back.

You look like you could use a haircut. . and maybe some surgery.

So lately, there have been alot of . . . injuries . . in my family. A little more than a month ago, my little brother broke his leg. Both the tibia and fibula.

Luckily, doogie howser-lookin' resident at the local children's hospital was able to fix the bones and put them back in place. He did a really good job, so my little brother didn't need surgery. He would've needed a plate and some screws if it hadn't gone as well as it did.

About a week after he got his cast on, my big brother called from a hospital up in North Carolina about his broken collarbone. He had been snowboarding and I guess he fell off of the lift straight onto his face. So he's been hurting for a little less than a month.

He is going in today (I'm writing this friday and posting it saturday) for surgery, and will be home later this afternoon. So he'll be getting a plate and 3-4 screws in his collarbone to stick it all back together. It was broken in three different places!

But he has been super frustrated. He's afraid that the bone will have healed wrong by now. And he was really mad that Surgery was "scheduled" for Tuesday, and then moved to Friday. Apparently, the person who told him surgery was on Tuesday was new and made a mistake. He apologized and scheduled (for real this time) his surgery for Friday.

Big bro wasn't too happy about that at all.

But he's finally going in today for some outpatient surgery. So he'll be home later and I'll be in charge of watching him tonight while mom and dad have their weekly date night. So I guess that's neat. Getting to make sure he's comfortable. I think that he'll be asleep most of the time, though. Poor big brother.

(Quote in the title was from the hilarious show "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack".)

P.S.-25 days until I turn 21! Hurry up and find him! Hahaha!

Guest Post: Why Doctors Go Unheard

I got an e-mail awhile back from Kelly Kilpatrick who writes articles for Nursing School Search, a site dedicated to helping nursing students find exactly what they're looking for in a school! The articles she writes are very good, and I was sort of surprised that she wanted to guest post on my site. I don't think I was the only person to whom she sent a request to guest post, but unlike some other bloggers, I'm a risk taker. ;) Hee hee. So anyway, on with the awesome guest post!

GUEST POST:

____________

Why Doctors Go Unheard…

There’s not much sense in going to see a doctor if you’re not going to accept their diagnosis and follow instructions for your treatment, but that’s just what most of us do at some time or the other. We recognize signs of illness and wish to get them checked out, and so we go to a doctor. But there are times when we fail to listen to them, and the reasons are:

• We may feel the suggested treatment is too aggressive: Some patients get it into their heads that the doctor is out to make more money off them and so, recommends diagnostic tests and medications that are not actually needed. Some feel that they’re under pressure from the drug companies to prescribe their products, especially if the medicine is not life-threatening. Other patients feel that the doctors are scared of being sued for malpractice if any serious disease shows up later, and so, are trying to cover all the bases by taking extra precautions.

• We may feel the suggested treatment is insufficient: Some doctors are considered too lazy to properly examine the patient and then diagnose his or her condition – they use superficial symptoms to make a hasty diagnosis and prescribe placebo-like medicines. Some patients feel that their symptoms are too strong to be dismissed as just a common cold or a viral fever, and if the doctor pooh-poohs their fears, they get to thinking that they’ve not been subject to the right amount of treatment.

• They feel the doctor is not competent enough: Some patients feel that they know enough about medicine to tell when a doctor is good and when he or she is not. They may base their decision on the questions the doctor asks and on his or her bedside manner.

So what happens when a patient refuses to accept a doctor’s treatment at face value? Well, if the treatment is perceived as being too aggressive, they may decide to skip a few of the suggested tests or forgo a few of the medicines prescribed. And if the treatment is thought of as being too mild, they may seek another opinion before following the original prescription, or they may decide to change doctors altogether.

The dicey part of not listening to your doctor is that you don’t know if you’re making a big mistake or if you’re just being smart enough to call things as you see them. A large part of medical treatment involves trust; you need to trust your doctor because you are literally placing your life in his or her hands, and when this trust does not exist, it’s time to question your doctor’s diagnosis and seek another opinion. Remember, it’s not the doc who has anything to lose if you decide to leave and go elsewhere; but if your decision is wrong, it could cost you your life. So follow the treatment, one that you trust.

By-line:

This post was contributed by Kelly Kilpatrick, who writes on the subject of choosing a nursing school. She invites your feedback at kellykilpatrick24 at gmail dot com
____________________________________________________________

To read other articles from Kelly, try out these links!

The Heparin Conundrum

Caring for the Caregiver

And don't forget to check out the rest of the site over at http://www.nursingschoolsearch.com/!

Thanks, Kelly for the wonderful guest post! If you are ever in the guest post-ey mood again, feel free to drop me a line! And that goes for the rest of you as well!

Happy Holidays!

Yeah, Acting's My Fallback

So around here, there is a program called the Standardized Patient Program. This is where actors are used to simulate a patient-physician interaction. The actor plays the part of a patient with a certain chief complaint and list of symptoms. A medical student taking their OSCE exams comes in and gets as much information as he or she thinks they need from the patient in order to make a diagnosis.





The actor is provided with a checklist of items the young medical student should have covered through the exam. These items include questions the medical student should have asked or behavior the medical student should show.





So Thursday, I had my first job with the SPP. I was playing a patient with shortness of breath in the Internal Medicine OSCEs.





Now, I'm not allowed to disclose any specifics about the case or the patient I play in it just in case there are medical students out there looking for cheat sheets. But what I can do is tell you that this is a fun job.


The training for it is fun, and you learn all sorts of things. The acting part is fun because you get to pretend to be someone else (and sometimes hand out clues) to help a medical student pass their exam.


I get a packet of information during training which includes the page the student will get with your name, blood pressure, pulse, temperature, and any other basic stats they should know. Another page gives me the information I need to study about the character I'm playing like medical history, family medical history, review of symptoms, the medications being taken, the family life, amount of children, job of spouse, and age that the character is. Finally, I get a checklist with all of the items the medical student should cover. I review that to make sure I keep an eye out for everything during the exam, and when their exam is over, I go over it with them and give them any information they left out if it's important to the case. I also make sure they know what mistakes they made or what questions they might've left out, and just generally let them know how they did.


All of the students Thursday did wonderful! And I think I did a pretty good job conveying the information without handing it to them on a silver platter. I heard from one of them that a standardized patient at a different station had really let them have it for leaving out a certain question! That surprised me greatly! Our job is not to critisize, it's to help! And I hope that the person who berated the medical student for forgetting to ask about whatever it was comes to see that that's not what we're there for.

A Mommy Story

[From The Desk of Our Very Special Guest Blogger!! Enjoy! -3M]

First and foremost, I would like to thank Mary for asking me to place a post on her blog – I am always delighted to “share” my many life experiences with Mary. She is so sweet and so very easy to talk to. As she stated in her intro, we met in medical terminology class and have continued to grow our friendship ever since :)

During our weekly gathering after class, we all sit around a table and talk about our many classes. As I listen to each of the students, all of whom are so much younger than I, I cannot help but to think about how lucky I am – here I am, 42 years old and surrounded by young adults in their 20’s, just starting their adult lives with such enthusiasm and open minds! How fortunate I am to feel accepted by the warm and loving hearts of our campus community.

After sharing the fact that I have a son (who ALSO attends the same college) I decided to tell them one of my many “mommy” stories about my son, Andrew …

At the very end of my pregnancy in the summer of 1990, I became quite ill. It was a hot summer that year and I wasn’t due to give birth to my son until July 17th. On July 2nd, I spiked a temp (approx 102) experienced a backache, nausea and vomiting. For 24 hours, I tried to deal with the “virus” I initially diagnosed myself with. Sometimes, those who are in the healthcare field make horrible patients – seems we are always ready to help others, but fail to take care of ourselves the way we should :)

Well, that temp did not go away and I knew that it signaled an infection. The back pain I experienced was near my kidney and I was concerned enough to go to the Dr. After a trip to the OB/GYN, he confirmed a kidney infection. Since my “due date” was only 3 weeks away, he wanted to contact the pediatrician to see which med the baby could tolerate best. He sent me home with Keflex and assured me that my 4th of July holiday would not be negatively influenced by this illness :)

As instructed, I went home and took that horse pill! They also prescribed Phenergan, which helped to cease my vomiting and also made me sleepy. The next morning, to my elation, I woke to find that the Dr was right! Here it was, 8 a.m. on the morning of the 4th of July, and I awoke after the BEST night sleep OF MY LIFE! My fever broke, the backache was gone and I felt WONDERFUL! I remember my husband and I rolled to face one another in bed. I told him how happy I was to feel so much better. He embraced me as we snuggled together for a moment. I then giggled softly and said “too bad we couldn’t have a 4th of July baby” …

I then sat up in bed, and my water BROKE – literally GUSHED right after my statement! Andrew entered the world that evening, 10:42 pm, amidst the fireworks I could see from my hospital room window! As soon as he was born, the Dr and my husband commented on his striking RED hair, so fitting for a 4th of July baby!

He truly is, and always has been, my little “firecracker”!

The moral of the story might possibly be: A good night sleep will prepare you for all you may face the next day :)

News Cruising. . .

I found this article while reading the blogs this morning. I found it over at med student musings. Nice find!

If You Only Knew ...

Reader's Digest offered two dozen doctors a chance to tell it like it really is, and general practitioners, surgeons, shrinks, pediatricians, and other specialists took the challenge. Some wanted to be anonymous; some didn't care. But all of them revealed funny, frightening, and downright shocking things that can help you be a better, smarter patient.

Oh, you doctors think you're being sneaky keeping these secrets, huh? Well Reader's Digest has got your number! None of these really surprise me.

And I thought it was funny when one of the physicians gave Reader's Digest what was coming to it!

• I know that Reader's Digest recommends bringing in a complete list of all your symptoms, but every time you do, it only reinforces my desire to quit this profession.
--Douglas Farrago, MD

I thought that was pretty funny. Like him saying "Not even Reader's Digest, "Oprah condensed", is completely without fault here." I mean, seriously, that is like going on the Dr. Phil show or something and saying "I know Doctor Phil here always tells you _______ but the truth is ________". I'm honestly kind of surprised that they published that one.

This last one is the final one that I want to mention. You know it'll have people bringing their measuring tape from home. You know it.

• In many hospitals, the length of the white coat is related to the length of training. Medical students wear the shortest coats.
--Pediatrician, Baltimore

So watch out you guys! I know all your tricks! You think you can fool everyone but you can't! Reader's Digestives will make sure of that! Don't you try to keep secrets while they're around, 'cuz they'll find them! Yeah, they will!

Oh, and make sure to stick with it until the last page. Priceless for those anal-retentive people who love to complain about bills.

Fun Times and My Birthday!

WHAT??? Two Posts in a day after a period of weeks without posting?? Yes, I am that nice.

My birthday was last week, and I got some presents. My favorite one by far is the Zune. I can have as many songs, videos, pictures and podcasts as I want on it.

I, being the technilogically inclined one in the family, have figured out how to get podcasts on my Zune! As you may or may not know, Dr. A hosts his own podcast on BlogTalkRadio. It's wonderful that I can download the episodes that I've missed. They are live podcasts that air, but I, unfortunately, never know when they are, because I never can remember to find out and write it down.

Last episode he interviewed Dr. Val Jones from her blog at Revolution Health called Dr Val and the Voice of Reason. I have the link up at the right, I'm pretty sure.

Well, recently, Dr. Val had the opportunity to interview M.D.,Vice Admiral Richard H. Carmona. For those of you who don't know, Admiral Carmona is America's #1 doctor, the Surgeon General. Yes, he is an actual person. The Surgeon General is more than the warning on the carton of cigarettes. He is probably the most respected voice in medicine today, and Dr. Val compared her joy at interviewing him to "a catholic person meeting the pope". Now, Admiral Carmona was appointed by GW himself in 2002, and left office when his term expired on July 31st, 2006. Rear Admiral Steven K Galson is presently the Acting Surgeon General, and will act as the Surgeon General until such a time that we have a new President, who will then nominate and install (via a majority senate vote) a new Surgeon General.

This interview was very, very interesting to read about, more interesting to listen to, and it was wonderful to hear the discussion that Dr. A and Dr. Val had after it had all happened. The latter of which was probably more relatable for those of us who aren't professional medical persons.
I'd definetly reccomend taking a trip over to Dr. Val and The Voice of Reason for more details.

On a more random note: I have become addicted to the video for Morandi's song Angels. Morandi is a romanain pop group (more like duo) that reminded me at first of our own 1990's Evan and Jaron, but now I'm hooked on that one song. (kind of what happened with Evan and Jaron, huh?)

Also on the Romanii music front, I have all of my favorite Akcent songs finally on my Zune. You can't beat having those four hotties available at all times and in all places! I have a few videos as well, but I'm pretty sure the only one who cares about these boys (stateside at least) is me.

And the final Romanian Music News for you all today is that Dan Balan (formerly of the famous "O-Zone" band that will always be known for their Numa-Numa song) Has come out with his own addicting (and this time good) song called "Crazy Loop".

Look them all up. Now. Just click on all the links. It's that easy.

Embarrasing Doctor Things

Sometimes it's hard to be a student of medicine. I mean, talking about organs and blood and bones and nerves is fine. It really is. In fact, sometimes, it's just plain fun! But there are certain things that I knew would come along sooner or later that just come right up and bite you. Things like the reproductive systems. Things like the birthing process and stuff that I feel I really don't want to know about. This topic came to mind when on my daily rounds. You all know I start over at politedissent.com. It's fun over there. All sorts of medicinal reviews of comic books, and shows. It's pretty interesting to see. Well the other day, I start my rounds and I come across This Post from the good Dr. Scott over at PoliteDissent.com. A comic book doctor having trouble telling a young lady that she is "with child". He found it amusing, and I guess I did as well, but I quickly came to the defense of the poor old comic doc. Sometimes those things are hard to talk about! You can read my comment on the whole thing from there. Basically, I said that sometimes, people don't want to deal with embarrasing things such as that. I mean, someone being pregnant, is, I'll admit, one of the easier things to talk about compared to what it could've been. The doctor could've been telling her that that rash on her you-know-where was an std. It was even embarrassing for me to write that! I know I'm going to have to deal with all of this someday, but for now, I'd really like to just not have to. I have a test today on the reproductive systems, and I really don't want to even study. I've done fine on the rest of the tests, so I'll be fine if I just do my best. But I'm not looking forward to diagrams. 'Cuz that stuff is yucky!

Terminal

I hate my Med Term. Class. I do. There are so many abbreviations and terms and things that I totally could've waited until med school to learn. I really don't like having to learn that OA can stand for either Osteoarthritis or Overeaters Anonymous.

Mom wants me to go to Ricks. For those among us who were around when it was called that, you'll know where I mean. I for one, have heard too many stories of "oh, we met at Ricks, and we just knew we were right for each other!" I'd have to use both hands and probably one foot to add up how many couples I've known that met there. I really don't want that to happen for me.

I mean, yeah, marriage is important. I'll get married someday, but right when I'm trying to get into med school? I dunno. It seems that getting married would just mess up my plans. I'd have to rethink my priorities and be responsible. You know. Grown up stuff like that. I mean, it's not like I want to totally put off getting married until I graduate from med school, but at least hold off until I'm in the middle or something. That way, the commitment is there, and I can finish getting my medical lisence and probably do a couple years in a diagnostic fellowship before I have kids. I mean, it would be nice to make it all the way. And by all the way, I mean be head of the diagnostic department in a hospital. An attending. Someone who everyone asks for help when they don't know what to do with their patients. Maybe I could even make it to chief of medicine, but I wouldn't want to put off a family for too long.

And then what about debt? I mean, eventually, Mom and Dad won't be able to afford the school I go to. I'll have to get a student loan to pay for Med. School. Then I'll be in debt hundreds of thousands of dollars. If I get married after that, the debt will affect both of us. Especially if he has just as much (if he went to med school too) How unfair would it be for me to accumulate so much debt and then be a stay at home mom? How unfair to me would it be if I went through years of medical training and then just gave it all up to be a stay at home mom? I want to go to medical school because I want to be a doctor! I don't want to have to give up a career so soon. I would love at least to work as a doctor in a big hospital for awhile. I'm afraid of ending up in Pediatrics or Family Medicine. Those are what most women go into. Those and Ob-Gyn. I really really ree-hee-heeeallly don't want to go into Ob-Gyn.

Anyway, those are my fears. I won't even go into how much I'm afraid to commit to med school just to realize I want something else out of life. That'd kill me. It really would. Being a 3M and all of the sudden "Oh, I really want to be a teacher! That's what I really wanted all along!" That would seriously murdalize me. But I digress. ( I do love doing that)

I guess, as an old friend used to say "everything will work out".

oh my goodness-gracious

I gave blood on Saturday as a part of my little brother's Eagle Scout Project. He had the Blood Connection come and do a blood drive up at the church. I had to fill out that form and then answer all of those awkward questions they ask you as fast as they can. After that was the routine mini-physical where they prick your finger and test your blood for stuff and use the blood pressure cuff to make sure your healthy.



The problem comes when searching for a vein. Apparently, no matter how much three nurses dig one needle into my arm, they can't find one. There was digging and poking and all that for about a cup of blood. when they finally decided that we were not going to get enough any time this century, we decided to search for a vein in my other arm.

I'll let you know something. I hate needles. I hate giving blood. I do it anyway. So, when I'm patient enough that I'll sit through being poked a half of a dozen times, I know it's for a good cause. They kept asking me whether I was okay or not, and I was kept telling them "just do what you need to do, don't worry about the gruesome faces I'm making or the things I'm yelling, really."

So now, I have two huge bruises on my arms. One on each. Anyway, they finally got the right vein in my left arm, so that bruise is alot smaller. They had to use the blood pressure cuff to find it. Weirdly enough, the vein is on the outside of my arm almost. The most lateral part of my elbow.

Today, we had 8 children over. The Nephews, always present, had some friends over. A family with four boys, in fact, and the child that we usually watch while the older nephew is at school, brought his brother because today was a "school's out" day for some reason. I still had class, but the county schools didn't.

I almost died from the frustration.

Second Today

Got this link from GruntDoc. (I'm on his blogroll, how exciting is that?)

24 Hours in the ER in 5 Minutes

I thought it was exciting and I got this tingly feeling when they were showing the new med students in the lecture with the Cheif of Medicine. Gaw, I can't wait for then. Can't wait.

Just in case anyone actually decides to read this...

I put a disclaimer on the page just in case anyone decides to read this blog, and especially just in case anyone tries to take it seriously. It basically says that I'm not a doctor or a med student, so don't think I am and don't read my posts as if I were. Just trying to cover my bottom when it comes to things like that.

On a different note, I wish I had pajama pants that made it look like my legs were smarties candy. They come in rolls, so it wouldn't be much of a stretch to put the image on some pant legs. Also, tootsie roll pj pants would be wonderful. Then I'd have "smartie pants" and "chocolate pants". Pun completely intended with that first one.

Also, my PDR book is coming in the mail today... although the book is so big, I don't think it'll fit in the mail box... it really is a huge book. In fact, one of the reasons I ordered it is because it's so big and it'd be like christmas with such a big package.

Anyway, the disclaimer is on the bottom and I put up labels on the side so that anyone can sort through my posts by description.

What a load of... work.

So today on our mailbox, there was a handout from some pharmaceutical research clinic that was warning us about COPD. It stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

I would scan the whole thing and set up a link, but my scanner is on the fritz. I can, however, tell you that the little handouts had a link on the paper to www.goldcopd.com. (On the paper, it says .org, but that's wrong.)

It tells about COPD and the symptoms and how it can be treated and then they invite you on the bottom of the handout to "refreshments wednesday" where they will hand out "free educations materials" and give "free breathing tests" and you can also meet their staff!

Wow, how helpful of them to give everyone another "restless leg syndrome" to chase after. How thoughtful of them to help out all of those paranoid people looking for an excuse to go to the doctor and get yet another checkup, whilst wasting countless hours of time. Way to go pharmaceutical researchers for helping to increase the daily flood of patients to the ED and free clinics all over the country. Geez... people hear about something on tv or in a mass handout and they panic because it sounds slightly like something they felt one time when they were five. Come on, give us a break. Do everyone a favor and stop doing us favors.

Oh, and also in the handout, it states that today is "World COPD Day 2007"

Happy COPD day...

A little bit of medicine

Well, yesterday, big brother cut his finger open at work. He got stitches in his finger.

They prescribed some naproxen to him for the pain. I told him some of the side effects of naproxen and now he doesn't want to take it. He even refuses ibuprofen now. I don't know why.

He got 5 stitches and thinks he needed a few more closer together.
... it looks like it's going to be a big scar.