Monday, June 23, 2008

Introductions

I suppose everyone has to start somewhere. I have always loved to write, and I have missed it very much. It is remarkable how blogging has given a forum to all of us amateurs. So far, it seems to be pretty straight-forward. Maybe my technophobia won't show too badly.

I'm not entirely sure what this will become. I have thought about trying to create a forum for medical questions and/or complaints...kind of an "ask the doctor" deal. But I've also had a great desire to write about some of the political and economic issues that face American Medicine - and that have been so front-page lately. Perhaps it can be a little of both. I guess some introductions are in order so you can know your author a little better.

I am a Texan. Worse still, I am a Texan of the most obnoxious variety, as I do not currently reside in Texas. A dear college friend of mine from California was convinced that the brainwashing of Texas schoolchildren occurred in about 4th grade, as it seemed to her that for anyone over the age of about 10 it was already too late. I guess there's some truth in that. It's not easy being number one.

I first left home at seventeen after enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps. I spent 4 years mostly "State-side", and was honorably discharged to pursue my education. I attended Panola College for a year, then transferred to Baylor University. I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology, and just a couple of credits short of minoring in religion, classics, and chemistry. I was accepted into the University of Texas Medical School at San Antonio, and graduated in 2003. I completed a rotating internship in family and community medicine with heavy obstetrics experience in Conroe, Texas. I moved to Alabama and began practicing as a general practitioner in 2004.

If required to sum up my feeling about my practice of medicine in one word, I fear it would probably be - well, disappointed. It would be an oversimplification to blame that disappointment all on the changing economics, or the interference of third parties in the doctor-patient relationship, or the lack of respect afforded family physicians in the specialist-driven marketplace, or even to blame it all on the many external factors, as I am confident my own weaknesses have contributed mightily to this situation as well. I do feel strongly, however, that the world has changed, and has left the Family Physician, critical to the success of the system, behind.

I look forward to posting and I hope that you will all find it interesting, entertaining, thought-provoking, or at least an amusing glimpse into the madness and silliness that is my life.