The Shanghai Express has arrived

Saturday morning my Chinese patient arrived at a psychiatric hospital and was admitted. I discharged him Thursday to two medical escorts. After weeks of fighting, my patient's insurance company finally complied with our recommendations-now-mandates, and hired a doctor and a nurse to take my patient to Shanghai.  As requested, I got to have several teleconferences with the German doctor/escort, who is an emergency flight surgeon and CEO of his own medical transport company. He and his wife (a nurse) came to our hospital Thursday morning with all the necessary arrangements in place, and the discharge went really smoothly. The only concession we made is that we medicated my patient with an over the counter antihistamine prior to discharge, so that way the commercial flight would allow him on, being as high risk as he is. So anyhoo, I got to meet the host father for the first time, after 5 weeks of phone conversation (he made it known that my appearance had been the center of much discussion between him and my patient- apparently he thought I'd be blond). It was creepy. I laughed nervously. The kid was totally embarrassed. The host father should have been embarrassed but it became apparent he doesn't have a lot of boundaries. 

So, at 10:30 Thursday morning the escorts, the patient and allll the luggage drove away in a hired car to go to the airport and I felt a huge sense of relief. I checked my work email today and learned that he arrived safely at his receiving psychiatrist's hospital and was admitted. Apparently the parents gave my patient a very cold reception, according to Dr. Weinlich, who escorted him to Shanghai. The psychiatrist is still concerned about the risk for suicide, as she should be, and is keeping him as an inpatient.  The plan is to still write up a case study detailing all of the cultural considerations involved in this case, but frankly I'm ready to be done with the keywords Chinese, adolescent, suicide, Communist. 

My new patients are really interesting in a completely different way. Both are from the area and both are severely mentally ill. Our team leader felt so badly for me having so much to do Thursday and Friday (I got the two admissions basically at the same time) that she lent her chain-smoking, anxious, social work intern to me to do my paperwork :) 

I did a pre-screening phone interview with the U of NJ med school Friday afternoon and pretty much knocked it out of the park. I hope to hear in the next couple of weeks about invitations for real, in-person interviews. The position I want is at the CARES Institute, a child/adolescent/family clinic that does all assessment, medical examination and therapy related to child abuse and neglect. Totally cool. 

Saturday a.m. style I went up to D.C. to pick up Becky, my sorority sis from NU, and we drove up to Baltimore for our pledge mom's bridal luncheon and shower. All the gals were NU alums, which was really fun, and we did some standard games/eating/present opening. However, the conversation was not exactly shower-standard...I loved it. There were too many NPR fans, too many people with graduate degrees. I don't think anyone cared much about the details of the wedding, we mainly talked about work, the economy, and some interesting trends noted among college students. A few of us went to the Inner Harbor/Federal Hill afterwards to see Mel's new townhouse and take the tour. Beck and I collapsed at her apartment afterwards for a bit, and then ambled down to a Mt. Pleasant neighborhood bar for dinner (while watching Tombstone). Awesome. Doc Holiday is totally my favorite character. 

I came back to Richmond this afternoon to do some cleaning and grocery shopping. Tonight, I'm hosting an informal Oscar's party and need to get my apartment ready. 

Over the weekend, I learned that my grandmother has been diagnosed with a fairly serious form of large cell lymphoma. I'm not sure how to feel about it yet (apart from anxious), and am still pretty surprised because the woman has like NEVER been ill. By the same token, I also feel pretty accepting, unfortunately, of the growing presence of cancer in the world and in my life. This will be my third experience with a close friend/family member receiving cancer treatment. I was talking with my mom yesterday about how I feel like we as a family have a Master's degree in cancer-- in the vast understanding of the anatomical, logistical, and emotional response to cancer and its treatment. It takes a tremendous amount of energy to process and learn all of the details related to the diagnostic process, the treatment planning, side effects, health maintenance, etc. The contingencies, tests, collateral information, and anxiety is pretty much overwhelming for a while, I think. You don't know when the emotional output will end either, and its really hard to explain if you haven't been there. 

I also have an increased, lurking fear about my own health, and as we all know, I am not an alarmist about myself. Amidst a very busy time in my own life, the best thing I can do right now is be good to myself, and remain as fit and healthy as possible I think.