of livers and cannabis

this shall be a certain milestone of sorts for a medical student

today at approximately 1115 hours, i did my first gastrointestinal physical examination on a REAL LIVE patient. i seriously touched (in medical terms, it's called palpate) the abdomen of this male patient.

AND i got to feel the liver!!

how cool is that??!!

it's cool coz for months, i have just been learning and observing the physical examination part. but now, i get to do it M-Y-S-E-L-F!!

and get this: the male patient that i examined was a CANNABIS USER!! a real drug addict dude!! maybe it's not exactly the coolest drug to get addicted to, unlike heroin or other heavy duty stuff. but hey, it's still illegal recreational drugs man!!

and not to mention, the guy was seriously cool about the whole thing. when we were practising taking his contextual history, the first thing he said was "Oh yeah, before i came in [to the hospital], i drank lots of alcohol and was doing cannabis...." i was like seriously unprepared and my mind was screaming "WHAT THE...??" you could imagine how huge my eyes went. *POPS*

and the doctor went like "yeah, okay, moving on from there, tell us about your abdominal pain..." totally cool, and taking it in his stride.

hmm... and because of patient-doctor confidentiality, the doctor can't tell the authorities about his illegal drug use.... and i'm only allowed to talk about it without using his name or any identifying characteristics.

and i got to feel his liver!! you can totally feel it with your fingers if you palpate deep enough and you ask the patient to inhale deeply and if you are at the right place, you can feel the liver do a quick in-step to avoid your fingers pressing into it!! it's seriously cute man!!

i'm so gonna practice on any unsuspecting friends that come by my room and that i can catch hold of!! *evil grins*

i get to see if their livers are healthy happy smiling little livers!!