When I first opened the box, I found a bag with the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine logo on it. About the size of a laptop, looks like it’d be perfect for carrying one to and from classes.  There was also a batch of materials that had been from Second Look Weekend, since I had unfortunately been unable to attend due to the injury.  Those were all pretty cool, but they paled in comparison to what else was in there. I pulled out a t-shirt, and the first thing I saw was the Case Med logo:

This alone was exciting, as I had tried to order a shirt with the medical school logo on it after I was accepted. Unfortunately, the only shirts available online from the Case school store only have the basic CWRU logo on them, and no mention of Case Med.  So having a shirt with the medical school logo on it was awesome.  Then I unfolded the shirt and saw the rest of it.

All over the shirt in silver marker were signatures and notes from the entire Class of 2012, the group I was to join this summer in matriculation at Case.   I saw the names of people who have contacted me since the blog URL was given out to the students, and there were very touching notes from people I didn’t know.  I was blown away.

The front of the shirt:

(Click to enlarge)

The back of the shirt was even more awesome. In addition to all the other signatures and notes, the students had printed “Dear Chris, Welcome to Case Med! Class of 2012″ in big letters.

The back of the shirt:

(Click to enlarge)

I cannot even begin to express how moving it was to see all of the names.  It was one of the few times I’ve ever been left speechless, and I have been sharing it with family and friends that I’ve talked to since then. They’ve all been equally as blown away by the thoughtfulness of the students.

Mr. Essman and Dr. Mehta made it very clear to me that it was entirely the students’ initiative to create and send the shirt.  And this is precisely the reason I chose to attend Case – the people.  The student body and the entire community as a whole are truly a supportive group, and the school lacks the cutthroat competition so prevalent at other institutions.  I felt something special when I visited the school during interview season in all my dealings with students and faculty, and I’ve felt that even more so now.  The warmth has really made me feel a part of the community, even from nearly 500 miles away.

To all the students of the Class of 2012 at Case Med, I thank you with my whole heart!  I cannot tell you how much the gift means to me, and how much I cannot wait to get out to Cleveland to meet you all at some point.  It is truly special to be one of your peers.

THANK YOU!!!

I was put on Etidronate to attempt to slow or halt the HO, and then several weeks later I would be X-rayed to see if the formation had continued to the point where it was visible on a regular X-ray.  The hope would be that nothing would show up on the X-ray – this would suggest that progression of the HO had been retarded.  But the expectation was that something would be visible on the X-ray.

Well fortunately for me, nothing showed up.  At all.  Dr. Stein seemed encouraged, and indicated another set of X-rays would be taken in another several weeks.  Those X-rays were taken last week, and again nothing appeared.  I was taken off the Etidronate last week (which is good, since it was irritating my esophagus), and Dr. Stein has indicated he believes the initial bone scan was a false positive.  Yes!!  He wants to do another set of X-rays just before I leave, for precautionary measures, but he again seems confident that things are in the clear.  Which is good, since I really didn’t want my hips to form a ton of bone were they shouldn’t.  It would make walking quite hard in the future.

Today while sitting in the Guggenheim Atrium (the Times seems to like it) chatting with a few other SCI patients, I saw the derm resident from Friday’s incident walk by.  I think she saw me, as she looked over several times.  Now, I doubt she realized they never came back to explain their suspicions.  But I was SO tempted to chase her down and ask why they never returned, why they never explained what they suspected, why they were putting me on the specific meds they did, or why they did not show proper respect to a patient.

But I decided to wait until I find the attending.  Yelling at a resident is nothing special, but getting to point out a mistake made by an attending is something that I won’t be able to do for a decade come the start of medical school.  So why not enjoy the fun while I can? 

I was watching a repeat of House, M.D. tonight and I noticed one of the hospital beds.  It was the same type of bed as they have at Mount Sinai, by Hill-Rom.  The odd part was, I saw it and my thoughts were, “that’s the same kind of bed I’ve lived in for two months.”  It made me realize how much all the parts of hospital life have crept into what is accepted as “daily life” for me at this point.  Leaving is going to be very weird.

I hope that once I’m out, I don’t constantly notice random things and have them remind me of my time in rehab.  But I am fairly certain it will happen for a while.

Friday morning, I woke up to a rash all over my body.  Dr. Stein observed it on my back, chest, arms, legs.. basically everywhere.  At first he thought it might be a reaction to something I’m taking, but with a significantly diminished medication list of late, that seemed unlikely.  He called for a derm consult to figure it out, and when the resident came downstairs she took a look at it, asked a few questions, and left the room saying she would return momentarily.

Return she did, ask more questions she did, and leave again she did.  An hour or two later she returned with her attending, and after he looked at it and asked more questions, he said they were going to step out into the hall the talk and would be back momentarily.  That turned out to be untrue.  They never returned, and they never explained to me what they suspected was going on.

If I see said attending again, he’s going to hear it from me.  Telling a patient you will return briefly, never doing so, putting them on two different medications, and never once returning to explain WHY you’re prescribing the meds or what your suspicions are is just horrible bedside manner.  Not to mention just plain rude and poor common sense.  There is absolutely no excuse for it.

I found out from  Dr. Stein and my nurse that they suspected some kind of infection, possibly strep throat.  They’ve subsequently put me on Augmentin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic, and Atarax as an anti-itching medication.  My scalp has been itching a lot for several days, so the past two itch-free days have been a welcome change.  But since it seems Atarax also has some mild anti-anxiety properties as well, I don’t think I’ll be staying on this one for more than a couple days.  It might have something to do with why I feel a bit better today, who knows.  Either way, as soon as the rash has disappeared entirely and the fevers are gone, I’ll be getting off the Atarax.

So that’s it.  It’s Saturday, I skipped my morning group exercise class because I had a temperature of 39.5°C (about 103°F) last night and figured twelve-plus hours of sleep might do me good.  PT today was good, albeit brief.  I feel weaker today than usual, so I’m taking it easy and not hitting the weights or doing anything too strenuous.  I want to make progress, but I don’t want to go backwards instead.