Thundering Tuesday

So I was unable to go into the clinic yesterday and I realized that Monday 4/26/10 will be my last day there :( It makes me sad because I have been volunteering with Sam, Ruben, Mrs. Cantu, Jack and all of the other great people at the clinic for almost a year now.
During my time at the clinic I have learned how important it is to listen to your doctor, but also how important it is for a doctor to listen to a patient. Throughout my time here it made me question the medical practice we have in place right now... because we treat a symptom rather than the patient, and I feel like the treatments are done far to frequently with medicine rather than lifestyle changes (which do not have side effects that will cause you to take another medicine). One of the doctors I worked with last week said that exact thing and I didn't really think anything. But since last time I was there I have had time to reflect on what he said, and I totally agree. It came up because a patient kept asking for a certain Rx and he kept saying no, almost to the point that made her mad. And while talking to me later he said so many patients was A, B, & C and doctors will give it to them to keep them happy and it is actually making them sicker. I also was amazed by how easily the doctor was able to take a few facts, look at vital signs and determine an illness or lack of illness.
Another thing I have learned at the clinic is how prevalent type 2 diabetes compared to type 1 diabetes. I was speaking to the educator and she was nervous treating a patient with type 1 diabetes, because she had never really worked with a type 1 patient so we discussed everything and came up with a plan which we felt was best to treat this specific patient. It is so weird for me to think about the fact that so few people with diabetes actually have type 2, because almost every person with diabetes I have ever worked with had type 1 diabetes.
Well I will have one more post next week so bye until then! :oD