Category — Uncategorized

Rather than add a new post every time I want to add new stats on walking, I decided to make a separate page that will contain graphs showing my progress walking.  If you look on the left navigation menu, you’ll see a new link for Walking Progress.  I’ll update the graphs on there at least once every few weeks, and at the top of the page will be the date on which the page was last updated.  And there’s been some decent improvement since the last time I posted the graph.  So check it!

Far be it from me to attempt to solve a complex matter like the current debate on screening mammography.  I’m a first-year medical student and haven’t had extensive experience treating patients dealing with cancer. But the climate of the current debate is troubling for a number of reasons, not the least of which being the knee-jerk reactions many people are having that fail to take into consideration a lot of the science behind it all.  I’ve been talking about this with a lot of people lately and figured I’d share some of my thoughts on the matter.

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Just a quick post.  As many of you know, I’m leaving the computer security/UNIX/development world for medical school. But since that will surely still be a big part of my life and I wanted to document some things I’ve been working on, I setup a new, separate blog to post random technical bits.  If you’re so inclined, please check it out!

http://bitdrop.st0w.com

That’s right, I broke my right knee. Let me tell you the story. A few weeks ago (just after I last posted, so about three to four weeks), I was walking on the walker with a PT and Richie, one of the aides. After about thirty or forty feet, my right knee buckled and Richie caught me. The right knee had been feeling a bit strange prior to that, but nothing so unusual that I was worried about walking. After catching me before I had the chance to hit the ground, I sat and rested for a bit while collecting myself.

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Just came across the following op-ed in the Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/02/opinion/02thu2.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

It discusses the extremely poor adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) systems throughout hospitals and physican offices, and touches on a major factor that, until addressed, will prevent EMRs from obtaining the widespread adoption that President Obama would like to see.  And by the way, just throwing money at hospitals and physicians and telling them to implement EMRs is not going to do anything to fix the problem.  It’s a lot more complicated than that, although yes, money is definitely a part of it.

The subject is of particular interest to me, as I am leaving the information security and technology realm for medicine.  I’ve designed several large systems before, and have seen the obstacles that you have to deal with. This article does hit the nail on the head, albeit several years late.  Of particular importance is the following:

The ultimate goal is an “interoperable” system that would allow easy exchange of clinical data between hospitals and doctors. The modernization effort will have limited value if a mélange of different computer systems can’t talk to one another.

While applying to medical school two years ago, I wrote one of my secondary application essays  on the very subject of interoperability and what I view as the only way to solve the problem.  That essay is attached here for your perusal.

EMR Secondary Application Essay Response

Well, it’s been quite a long time since the last update.  Not for lack of activity, mind you.  Those of you who know me well know that I certainly don’t live a life of inactivity – wheelchair or not.  These past few months have been no exception.  So what follows is synopsis of what I’ve been up to, as well as the real important stuff: where I’m at with respect to recovery.

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If you look on the right-hand side just below the search box, you’ll see an input box that allows you to subscribe to blog updates via e-mail.  Since my updates tend to come a bit irregularly (I’m shooting for at least once a week, which I’ve been fairly good at keeping up), you can have an e-mail delivered right to your inbox whenever an update is available.  The subscriptions are handled via FeedBurner, a service offered by Google.  This will make it easy to keep up-to-date. 

To subscribe, just type your e-mail address into the subscription box and press enter on your keyboard.  A dialog will open prompting you to confirm your subscription, and you’ll be all set! I certainly won’t be selling any addresses or using them for ANYTHING other than blog updates.  Feel free to read the FeedBurner privacy policy if you have any concerns (they’re not evil either).

The other night I got out of the hospital, thanks to a good friend of mine, and played in a charity poker tournament.  Hosted in midtown west at a luxury auto showroom, Poker4Life is an annual event to raise money for SCI research.  Over $250,000 was raised for the Buoniconti Fund, which is the national fundraising arm of the Miami Project.

The venue was gorgeous and the event was well run and really just a ton of fun.  Plus, I can’t even express how great it felt to be more than five blocks from the hospital and out in a normal social setting for once.  I can’t wait to be out of this hospital.

People have been sending me links to some very inspirational stories lately, so I’ve decided to start posting them.  On the right-hand column of the site, you’ll see a section entitled, “Inspirational Stories.”  I’ll be adding links to that section whenever people send them, and the newest links will appear at the top of the list.  For more details on a story before you read it, just hover your mouse over the link, but don’t click it.

As much as I liked the look of the previous theme, I don’t think it was very clear.  A number of people commented that they only saw two posts on the site, but there were a number more.  So I decided to go with a more simple theme for now.  I’ll keep looking for something a bit more visually interesting, but keeping clarity the topmost priority.