Damn...it sucks to be ghetto

Today was rather surreal. I only saw a handful of patients, but the ones that I did see had serious psychosocial problems.

My first patient hasn't been able to work for the past 4 months because of serious migraine headaches that take him down every day. He has trouble handling stress, so he has weekly anxiety attacks and his wife and kid are gone now because he has anger management issues. The big tough guy came crying to me because of how miserable he was. He can't afford real meds, so he is on excedrin migraine. I wish I could help you buddy. The weirdest past is, it's the most wonderful time of the year was playing in the background. Maybe for people like me.

My next patient took me 2 hours to see. She has really bad lupus, RA, HSV-1 and a host of other problems. She is in so much pain that she can barely get through the day, so she can't work. No job = no health coverage. Her husband cheated on her and left her with a kid, who is 5 and starting to have lupus flare-ups. She can't afford any of her meds. She finally got medi-cal. The one med that works is making her blind. She unloaded on me the minute I walked in and just started bawling.

Man...medicine is such a privilege, but a huge burden. Hard to go home and enjoy your beer when you know shit like that is going down in people's lives every day. I know you're not supposed to bring your work home, but it's hard and it's draining. I'm not gonna be the little bitch who goes crying to his significant other. Damn...the state of medicine is a sad affair indeed.

-bender