clinic

I started back at clinic yesterday as part of my women's health month. It's been several months since I've done any clinic, and almost a year since I've seen adults in clinic. It quickly reminded me of why I'm going into peds.
So I'm supposed to focus on women's health this month, but my first patient yesterday was a middle-aged guy who had diabetes and "oh, by the way" (the dreaded phrase) had a thrombosed hemorrhoid that needed immediate attention. I saw three women who openly admitted they had endured physical and sexual abuse, and four more who were probably abused but didn't discuss it. I saw women who were so desparate to get rid of their pain that they were willing to have hysterectomies (one of them was twenty-one years old).
Our bodies break down, some faster than others. Adults are so much harder because there is ALWAYS more than one problem, and taking care of one problem, especially with meds, often makes other problems worse.
I know that not all kids are healthy, but at least in a pediatric practice you get to see SOME healthy people.