Advanced Life Support

An AED. This is a rep, not me. ; )

"Annie! Annie! Are you okay?"

Anybody here know what that means? If you do, you most likely have taking a Basic Life Support Class, an Advanced Cardiac Life Support Class, or a Pediatric Advanced Life Support Class from the Red Cross or the American Heart Association. "Annie! Annie! Are your okay?" is said while shaking the shoulder and shouting at someone who might have need for chest compressions.

I just took the class today. We take it every two years. I taught it once, even. It took a special course about a two hour drive away, all day, for me to be able to be an instructor. So much has changed since I first took it, that as a Reiki Master/Teacher I see a lot of transition and enlightenment in both the way it is taught, and the way CPR is done inside the hospital.

1988


This is my first class. It is at the company where I work, in a nameless, faceless building in an industrial park. I am honored to be one of the assigned people in the company to be a first responder in the event someone has an event at work.

The class is strict. Some people don't pass. Our competency has to be proven, under stress. This is to ensure we can perform under pressure.

1996


Medical school and the main medical center have a class. Anyone can sign up. You purchase a guide book for forty dollars. You study the night before, and take a pre-test that must be turned in.

The class is lecture format, again with the dummies in infant, pediatric, and adult sizes, like before.

I apply myself and memorize the answers, for there is no guarantee that anyone will pass. Failures have to come  back to another class to retake the test.

1998


This class is part of the residency training hospital. I am in the class with nurses, respiratory techs, doctors. I still have to pay for the book. With a check. And study. People are stressed because without that card, they cannot go back to work.

But class is taught by Barbara, an ER RN. She is funny! And she makes her point: this is the dose for a dead person (no pulse, no respirations). I learn more and retain it.

She also lets us 'remediate' our mistakes on the written exam.

In spite of this, people are pushy, in a rush, and not willing to help the other guy in the Megacode test.

2000


I go the the private place designed for these courses where most of the ER nurses go to renew in the community. Barbara is also teaching here. She is wonderful. The facilities are terrific. It costs more. There is tuition in addition to the books. I have to study a packet and take the tests. Everything and everyone is ALL BUSINESS.

The course takes all day, on a Saturday. From nine until four. We get lunch, as well as breaks.

I  feel held back. Due to the nature of my work, I use my advanced skills every day. The day drags on. But no one is made to feel incompetent or dumb. There is more support.

(I wanted to become an ACLS instructor as a Chief Resident, but the guidelines are being redefined, and I must wait.)

2002


I take the ACLS instructor course. This is fascinating. I am with people from far, each of them hoping to start their own business teaching ACLS. There are paramedics, nurses, but no doctors.

The class is more video format. And sadly, we learn that our personalities get in the way of education. The course has been changed from a lecture format to a 'teacher plays the DVD where the actor instructs the class'. It goes so far as to have students watch how to do chest compressions on a video next to them sitting on the floor with resusc-a-Annie. I am disappointed. I don't feel like there is a connection to my future students this way.

There is also a lot of psychology of adult education in the course. About half of the training is how to teach an adult and not make them feel dumb so that they want to come back.

I get my card, and am eager to teach.

2004 - 2008


I teach at the University where I work. I am amazed at how difficult it is to set up all of the equipment for a class, and how some of it does not always work. I had to use cut up pieces of paper with heart rhythms on it because the monitor with the dial on it did not work.

I feel funny because the medical center does not financially support this important function enough. It is like public schools where the teachers have to pay out-of-pocket for supplies to give the students a good experience. A huge introduction is the AED (automated external defibrillator) that kind of takes the work out of the whole experience. It analyzes the rhythm and recommends a shock. No more decision to synchronize or asynchronize the shock any more!

When we teach the anesthesia department, we cut that class back to one hour! It's the best.

I enjoy teaching, and am supportive and fun for my students. I sign them off and see them in two years.

Although the American Heart Association is making great strides in reaching adults to increase learning and decrease fear, a scandal breaks out in the area. A nurse is making fake ACLS cards and selling them to people to make it easier for them to renew. They get caught, and everyone involved gets fired.

2010


I go to the private class again. I let my teaching certificate lapse, because it was too much time in my busy schedule. Most of my friends are renewing 100% online.

I can see why. We look at lots of video footage for the class. Our lead instructor just cues it up and sits.

The course is only four hours now. No lunch. Short breaks. I breeze through. The airway station is painful, because I do that every day, and know more than the instructor. I try to keep quiet but I keep adding helpful hints the whole time. Megacode can't come fast enough so I may pass and leave.

2012


Everyone is happy. No one seems upset to be 'wasting their time'. It is an older crowd, many I recognize from earlier. The business office has moved to a smaller suite, although the lecture and practice rooms are the same. We also have a course online directly through the AHA to take to renew our BLS. We needed a 'key' code, and after doing the work online, were expected to bring in a certificate.

I pick up a strong sense of unity. We are healers, and 'if you get one question wrong, that means you have three more options to choose from when you take it again' said the teacher with a smile. There was no pressure. There was accommodation for fast test takers (me) and slow ones.

People seemed to 'get' that their role and purpose in a code was to help others. No one was annoyed or confused that the 'rules have changed' since the 2010 guidelines came out.

To be honest, I am scratching my head, and wondering how everybody got to be so nice in all this. The AHA, the course and instructors, and the students. It's like a whole new world. I really like it!


ACLS is a specialty where we take the moribund and try to bring them back. At first it was a high-pressure, high-stakes venture with only the best being able to 'save a life'. Over time, the drugs have had some changes (Bretylium anyone? That is an inside joke for those like me that work in medicine)...and also the mystique of being able to decide how much electricity to give to a patient is usurped by the AED.  Patient and family rights are considered now, such as family-present CPR and also when to terminate efforts. Stroke and choking are included, as well.

ACLS. BLS. Community First Aid. All of them are good things to know. And the community is becoming more warm and open, and in my opinion, more effective. Maybe you might want to consider taking a class so you will know what to do, too?

Healers with CPR skills! That would totally make my YEAR!

Namaste,

Reiki Doc

P.S. I am working on a book about the ones that do not make it. They come back and talk to me. From the Other Side. They always have a message, and it fascinates me. I want to share their messages with you. Keep watching!

Your True Calling

I want to write for you.

And I can't. I am always being interrupted. By my son, who is riding his bicycle out in front of the house, and playing hopscotch. By the chores, that keep piling up. By a plumbing leak in the garage, that makes me have to haul tons of treasures I had piled up in storage underneath it, into the house, to keep them safe from the repairman.

I want to write, and I can't. There is always something in the way. There is the phone call, the neighbor, the day at work, the bills to pay, the mouth to feed (I have pets). There is the errand, the task, the chore.

I went to the bank yesterday. I noticed that there was a surveillance camera on my window. Everyone there knows everything about my transaction, what I wore, and that my boy was with me carrying two driftwood sticks that he had found at the beach. I was aware of it, for the first time, and it felt wrong, this video surveillance for just about everything.

Inside, my heart is on fire with love from the Universe, and with my purpose. It is changing. My task at the hospital is pulling back. I may go, but I feel my purpose is going to change somewhat in the near future. That calling to the hospital I have had all my life, is different. The pull is now more to this.

I write, and the sounds of my boy stomping on the hopscotch, and tossing his marker, try to distract me.

And the writing is difficult.

There are forces used by the dark to undermine us in our searching for the Light. And how to shine it like a beacon that we are. Some of them are very high tech. They affect our ability to get along by altering the vibrational rate of our chakras. Some take away motivation. Others make the Earth and weather patterns, and natural disasters occur. Some make us tired and sleepy, without explanation or reason. (More will be known about this in the coming weeks.)

I went through medical school with a chronic sore throat. I had tonsillitis about five times a year. My sinuses were so inflamed that my primary care doctor had me keep antibiotics in the home, just in case, to start whenever I flared up. How could I have accomplished what I have with all the challenges layered upon layers as I move forward in my studies?

Every challenge, every annoyance, every illness, every disappointment, has a purpose. That purpose is to strengthen our will, our intent to survive the struggle, to overcome, and to carry on.

Yesterday, barely three weeks major abdominal surgery, as I was moving boxes that I really shouldn't move to get out of the way and make room for the workers, I thought, 'I just can't take this anymore! I am at the limit of what a human can withstand. I have an earache, I just got worked up for a pulmonary embolus on Friday, I am a single mother and my house is falling apart!'

Then it hit me, 'ask for help'.

And I understood. Ask for help from the angels, guides, and deceased loved ones. Pray for the strength to persevere, to carry on.

Sometime I get the funny feeling that I am paying off the last of my Karma. Big time.

No matter what, I have a task to do. As do you yourself. This task is known by the inner workings of your heart. It will bring joy to you when you are near to it, your task. Your fruit. Your calling.

You shall bring forth great things, to the betterment of others. And to this world.

Not with your mind. Not with your struggle. Not with comparing yourself to others.

It is with the quiet understanding that you get to know, deep within your heart, to be true to yourself, and to seek happiness that comes from being in the right place, at the right time, for your quest to be alive. It won't go away, no matter how much you try to run as far as your can away from it. Or ignore it.

There is only one sign for you: just breathe and you will find it. And the best part? You don't have to go it alone. There are plenty of guides out there to assist you. Just ask.

Just now he fell off his bike. Lost traction in a puddle. I had to put down the computer and run. I picked him up, gently, and put him in my chair out front.

I have to go. Duty is calling. Do not be afraid to do what it takes, to carry on. A new day is going to happen. Do your best and get on with it.

Namaste,

Reiki Doc

Fat Doctor. Fat Nurse. On Hospital Food--part 2

I recently began to follow a nutritionist on Twitter. I had just posted about hospital food trying to kill me when I was in the hospital. And I asked this expert if they had any ideas on how to make the food service in a hospital better from a nutrition perspective.

The response was shocking--'Hospital food is poison, just go look at the fat doctors and nurses eating Mc Donald's in the hospital'.

It was arrogant, dismissive, and completely without understanding for the situation most of our patients, doctors, nurses, technicians and other hospital employees are in. Coming from a teaching background, where I was a University professor for eight years, trained in the notion that 'there is no such thing as a dumb question', I felt extremely dumb after seeing help from this individual.

Like Nora Ephron's parents once said, "take your misfortunes and turn them into a story", I am sharing my story now with you.

First and foremost, anyone new to the working side of medicine needs to understand this: most of your caregivers are overworked, sleep-deprived, and hungry. Yes, we are in the business of health care, and in caring for our patients we are not exactly practicing what we preach.

When I was a medical student, I ate with the team. Surgeons tend to eat their meals in the gaps between cases. But while caring for patients on the floor, the interns sometimes go without. A colleague who was in internal medicine used to have soup for lunch because 'It was faster' (he could eat it while walking around taking care of patients). When I was in charge of the ICU and Burn Unit, the nurses would look the other way while I helped myself to ensure, because they knew that I was not able to eat due to my workload while taking care of patients. I did this so often, they showed me a way to make it more palatable: mix it with equal parts milk and pour it over ice. While I was on that service I lost twenty pounds.

After I changed specialties to anesthesiology, I was given a fifteen minute break in the morning, thirty minutes for lunch, and fifteen minutes in the afternoon to attend to my personal needs. This time was watched closely. I would get in trouble if I did not return promptly from my break. If the patient was unstable, or it no one was available to give me a break, it was understood that I would go without and not ask for a make up time since I was salary, not hourly, worker. Can you imagine the lines in the cafeteria? They are long. As a consequence, I learned to eat my meals as fast as possible. At a restaurant, I eat so much faster than friends and family, that it is embarrassing to me when they point it out.

These breaks went away once I graduated from the training program. Now I eat in the gaps between surgery cases in the O.R. But when work is busy, or I have a pushy surgeon who will not begrudge me the ten minutes it takes to buy and eat a sandwich, I do not get to eat.

Everyone knows that hungry people tend to make unhealthy food choices, and overeat.  I find in the hospital, the thought about mealtimes is eat while you have the chance because you do not know when the next chance will be. I actually pack my lunch of organic, wholesome food even though I do not have to. Doctors at my hospital have access to hospital food at discounted rate. But I find my own food is faster. I don't have to run to the cafeteria. It saves time. And I feel better, too.

I think hospital workers are Innocent bystanders in the Hospital Food Conspiracy. We are a captive audience. Where else to go?  When there is time, we escape to Fast Food. One of the staff will make a food run and usually the doctor on call will treat. Many times, the food that is served at dinner in the cafeteria has been on the steam trays since lunch and is unappetizing. (I also do not eat any of the chicken dishes, because the chicken is of low quality and I suspect full of hormones and antibiotics. The same is true for beef and pork, and most of the fish that is served.)

Work hours start at seven in the morning, and often last until seven at night, or longer, for many of the workers in the medical center. Consequently, there is very little time to exercise (I take stairs whenever possible to compensate.) The hours and the workload can be stressful.  But there are always little treats around the hospital, like donuts or a candy jar. It is difficult sometimes to pass these up. The stress is even worse when we are stuck at work on holiday. Because we miss spending time with our families, we often have a pot luck to make ourselves feel better. You can imagine what kind of goodies everybody brings in.

In the hospital the work is demanding physically, mentally and emotionally. There is not much aerobic activity although we are on our feet most of the day. (I wear compression stockings to keep my feet from swelling up after my shift.). We also see misery and conditions that are disturbing, such as death, suffering, and fear. If anyone is in need of excellent fuel and optimization to do their work, it is the workers in the health care field. Many are forced to make the choice between time spent with their family and taking care of themselves with exercise during the short hours they are awake when they are away from the hospital.

What has our workplace done for this? Sneaky changes that are touted as healthy but are only stop gap measures in the big picture:

* the ice cream freezer 'broke' and was never replaced three years ago
* January 1st we learned of NEW HEALTHY FRIES! Baked, not fried. The deep fat fryer was taken away. The sweet potato and regular fries are tasteless and not edible.
* Doritos, Lays', and Fritos got the boot January 1, too.  Healthy Chip options are pita chips and whole grain baked. Not even Sun Chips. Again, Kale chips would taste better than these.
* Unfortunately they still have Coke, Snapple, Minute Maid Juice, fountain drinks, and energy drinks. But Honest Tea, sweetened with honey in glass bottles,  is gone.  Wouldn't this have been one of the first places to have made a change for health like the others?
*Although a salad bar is always open, a food worker once told me, 'you don't want to see what we have to do to the food so you can eat it--regulations'

The changes are inconsistent, without buy-in from the staff, and promote the American Heart Association recommendations for low-fat, low-cholesterol diet that is now being found to increase rates of diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome.

My favorite vegan surgeon actually met with the CEO to discuss the possibility of having hospital food meet more current demand, such as organic, vegetarian, and locally grown foods. His ideas got shot down with laughter by the head of the organization, then and there in the administration's highest office.

And that, dear friends, is the opportunity that lies in front of us: to bring health back into the health care industry, one hospital, one patient, one worker at a time. Your knowledge and input is crucial to making this a reality. Ask for it. Don't accept the situation as it is. 


Namaste,

Reiki Doc

What is Going On With my DNA?

Dear Reader,

This is going to sound woo-woo. Very esoteric. But it is really great.

I am on a team of supernatural healers of the Divine. We work with the Guides of Compassionate Healing to heal Gaia from her pain.

We do work to address the negative imprints on her surface. It is localized to areas of intent, and therefore is more concentrated than an overall global effect.

Early into the team, a special project came up that was optional. I had to join the team! I love the leader so much, and their work, that I would love to step up and do work on the level that our leader is currently doing.

This project took a lot of faith. There is a sign, that was downloaded from on high, and it has something to do with DNA. As a physician, I learned through my training everything about DNA that I needed to understand in order to take care of patients. It sounded hokey, holding an item over the symbol and repeating something. That was it. But once I started, my soul spoke out loud, I want to HELP! and I started shaking and crying. I had the sense that this is one of the reasons that I was born. To do this. No matter how little sense it made at the time.

The project began in 2011. A group of us signed up. In our homes we went to work. I took it with me while traveling, always keeping it up. And our leader kept track of our work.

At the beginning, we were told we had to reach a certain number by a certain time. When we did, we hit a tipping point. Guess what? About a week later, the whole Egypt thing for freedom went off! We on the team were wondering delightedly, do we have a part in it?

Let me get back to the DNA part. Once I did my first one, I got hit with an energy process that I just had to rest. It was like Karuna Reiki on steroids! (Our teacher always says that Karuna Reiki is Reiki on steroids, just to let you know.) Others in the group felt it too. Our DNA was being transformed to doing what it was meant to do.

We kept at the project, making a small competition to see who could make the most DNA upgrades over the length of the project. I did not win. But the project closed, and we started a different one on the economy.

Last Sunday, we started up again.

This time I understand exactly what has been happening.

Thousands of years ago, some researchers messed with our DNA. As a species, we got shut down from our normal number of functional strands to just two. All of that junk DNA we learned about in medical school, the ninety plus percent that seemed a little unusual in a body/machine that was so elegantly designed to have junk anywhere in the system, is what got shut down.

DNA interacts with Light. It carries it. I am not sure how it works exactly. The light travels down the double helix in the manner it would a fiberoptic thread. I suspect it has something to do with the way our energetic system (chakras) transform Universal Energy into matter, and Life as we know it. And possible with our connection to higher dimensions.

Do I notice any changes myself? Nothing major, and definitely the anesthesia and medication worked like normal on me during my operation I had recently. But I find in general I feel better when I get sunlight, and it is more than Vitamin D. For example, when I had surgery three weeks ago, in my recovery, when I got out in the sun and lay on a blanket on the grass, my surgical pain went away. I found energy, and purpose. And hope.

In my dietary choices, I find I feel better when I am on fruits and vegetables, over the fried foods and meats I could handle in the past. But now, with the ongoing DNA changes, I find I yearn for sunlight in the manner I get hungry when I go without food. I was back to work, yesterday, in an operating room that was inside, and far from any source of natural light. At about two in the afternoon, even though I had lunch, I ran out of steam. I had to be excused, go home, and take a nap. Is it from the surgery or light? I don't know. It probably is a little of both. Time will tell what is happening. Sooner or later we will all know with certainty what the DNA upgrade involves.

The energy changes are difficult to describe to one who is not experiencing them. But for myself, I find myself drawn to lighter foods and brighter environments, with less dense recreational activities. (Being in a bar is like hearing fingernails screech on a blackboard).

For those of you who follow the Galactic Free Press, Michael said today that, 'we have reached a tipping point'. This is the second time I have heard that term, and I look forward to seeing the results from it. For all it's worth, I am going to keep making DNA upgrades so we can starting waking up like popcorn! Because whether there is any action by the ground crew that makes non-mainstream news, or mainstream for that matter, the point to be taken is that we all need to lighten very rapidly for the next step after that.


Namaste,

Reiki Doc

Elementary School Blue

My father was an elementary school teacher. Some of my earliest memories are from going with dad to his work. There was a hopefulness about the place. All of the children looked so much bigger than me! I looked up to them, and looked forward to the opportunity where I too could go to school and learn.

I thoroughly enjoyed the educational process. I picked up loud and clear that the generation that built the school hoped for great things from us students. Everything was neat, clean, orderly, and pleasant.

Recently I took a bicycle ride with my boy to a neighboring school. (He does not attend it, he goes to a school I selected just for him. He is a bright boy, and I want him to be encouraged to develop to the fullest of his potential.)

As an intuitive and as someone who has advanced degrees in higher education, I was shocked to see the local public elementary school. Where were the windows? There were no windows whatsoever on any of the classrooms! The school was painted drab gray, not the bright pink or yellow ones I grew up with in another school district. Although the playgrounds were fairly standard, and also there was a big grassy field with lots of trees, I noticed there was a lack of color. Gone were the flowering shrubs that were familiar in my youth at all of my schools. In a word, it was depressing.

There were many bungalows present, and I was surprised at how many jackets and lunch boxes were carelessly left outside over the weekend. I felt that everyone was just going through the motions, students, teachers, and the government that was not being a good steward to taxpayer money.

There was no auditorium or cafeteria, only benches underneath a shade. Litter was everywhere.
It was in disrepair. I have seen Navy Hospitals and VA Medical Centers that were more pleasant!

I was sad. I felt like this was a place where the life force in all of our young people was systematically destroyed. The children were being taught to live in their mind, and not their heart center. The heart is actually capable of making intelligent decisions on its own. But the heart needs peace, joy, love and contentment to function in its highest good. Not piles of homework and a backpack that weighs thirty pounds!

I envision a happy place for children to explore life, and to also learn from each other. Not just the social things, but from who they are. For everyone to learn at their own rate, and not be separated out so much by age and by academic ability. Some of the kindest kids on earth are the ones in the special education department. Their humanity is a shining example for love to reach beyond the confinement of Down's Syndrome, developmental delay, and physical special needs.

In addition to a brightly colored place where children helped to run it and decorate it and maintain it, there would be a curriculum to spur one on in the life experience. There would be cooking, woodworking, and computer skills from a very early age. There would be classes in metaphysics, the true history of the Universe (not this pack of lies that everyone has spoon fed you), and practice in honing the intuitive skills. Reading, writing and arithmetic would be there, of course, just like the science that I adore. There would be music and dancing every day. Lots of art in many different types of medium--clay, paint, computer just to name a few.  And lots of time for playing in the sunshine! It would be a place to build hope, confidence, and mutual trust in the skills of one another.

There would be animals and plants, and ample opportunity to get to know and take care of them.

There is so much to learn from the direct interaction with Gaia.


Namaste,

Reiki Doc

The Anesthesia Record

Everything I do in the O.R. I document on a piece of paper called an anesthesia record.

I am like a taxi cab, in a sense, because the minute I take you to the operating room, you are under my care directly. I take care of no one else but you until I take you to the recovery room, and transfer your care to an RN PACU nurse.

Most doctors who are not anesthesiologist (or CRNA nurse anesthetists) can't understand what is written on the anesthesia record. It is an important document, and I will point out the basics for you to understand.

First check the name and make sure it is a copy of your record. You will find your name, the surgeon's and the anesthetist's near the top. There will be a line for the proposed surgical procedure, and a line for the actual procedure performed. (Sometimes in the O.R. Plans change, depending on what is encountered in the surgery.)

On top of a series of tiny boxes lined up in a grid, you will find a time scale, reading from left to right. Underneath is a grid, like on graph paper.  Each small square stands for five minutes, and each big box stands for fifteen minutes. (Fifteen minutes is one unit of anesthesia time, and this is how we bill. There are also units assigned for the case and the complexity of the case).  Your blood pressure, pulse are charted every five minutes. Little carrot marks are systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and a dot represents pulse.

One of the things to watch for are when the blood pressure and heart rate are parallel and even like railroad tracks. This is often the case when your anesthetist is catching up. A real time chart would have ups and downs in patterns, with some random variation. This pattern is sometimes connected to what is happening on the surgical field. Blood loss, pulling on the peritoneum, or pressure and discomfort are just a few of these possible reasons for vital signs to change with time. You are asleep, but your body reacts to the surgical stimulus. Evening out this process is the meat and potatoes of anesthesia technique.

There are some cases on healthy patients that are uneventful, and tend to railroad track. But you would anticipate a drop in pressure as anesthesia begins and the patient falls asleep, a rise with intubation, and also a rise with the start of surgery. If there is a tourniquet, such as for orthopedic surgery, it is common to see a trending up of both blood pressure and heart rate during the course of the tourniquet use. They ramp up from the discomfort of a tourniquet.

On the right hand column, or sometimes below in little boxes, is the narrative of what was done in the anesthetic. On our record, there are lots of little boxes for one to check to save the anesthetist time. I am a writer, and I write more than most in my description of what I did. Box checking and hardly writing anything does not necessarily mean someone is not paying attention to you. It may mean that they just don't like to write. I document so that if anything were to happen to me during a case and someone had to step in, they would know exactly what anesthesia-wise has been going on.

On the left hand, there are lines with medications preprinted on them. These are common anesthesia agents. At the top is typically the gases, oxygen, air, nitrous oxide, and volatile agent (sevoflurane, isoflurane, or desflurane). Then come the different drugs. There you will know exactly what type of medicine you were given, and at what time.

You will also see patterns with the blood pressure and the medicines given. That is anesthesia, or a big part of it, after the airway management.

A big part of the anesthesia record pertains to airway. What was used, and how everything looked. We have ways of describing the anatomy and the equipment that was successful in getting a breathing device in place. That is also on the left hand side, in most cases. Underneath there are boxes for warming equipment used, what iv's and lines are inserted, and field avoidance (that is when anesthesia has no access to the head, for example, an ENT case). We also document controlled ventilation versus spontaneous ventilation rates and settings on the anesthesia machine.

Real anesthesia records get spills on them. In residency I discovered that anesthesia agent spilled on an anesthesia record can dissolve ball point ink! Sometimes they get blood. If a case was really a challenge, and possibly a patient passed in the operating room, there isn't much time to write while frantically managing the case. Sometimes, I print out the vital signs and make a new anesthesia record after that is more legible than my actual one in the OR. But I have not had to do this since my trauma surgery days.

Modern anesthesia machines have the ability to print out an automated anesthesia record at some facilities. Having done quality assurance for a department that transitioned to this form of documentation, I find it harder to extract the information. What is condensed in one page on a handwritten anesthesia record is clear and easy to focus. But off a printer, it takes four to six pages, and although the information is accurate, I find it more difficult to pull together what was going on. The meds don't line up with the vital signs, or the gases, as nicely. Furthermore, the automated record puts the burden on the provider to explain any irregularities in the hemodynamic trends. There actually are people who can watch the monitors from the computer room, and warning bells light up for them when an anesthesia provider is giving an anesthetic that has vital signs outside a threshold warning limit value. These computer monitoring people can talk to you through your screen and ask if everything is okay. These people are not medically trained, just technicians on the computer system. As a result of this technology, the anesthetist is placed in the defensive position, and where I worked, the surgeons would get annoyed and tell anesthesia to look at the patient, not the computer, as they were typing away to cover their you-know-what by documenting every little thing that is pertinent to the case.

Other things we document are the surgical positioning, which can be supine, prone, lateral, lithotomy, sitting, and prone jackknife. We check for pressure on the eyes and nose when the patient is prone, and check it. We record all fluid intake and output at the bottom, too.

It was a mystery to me when I was a surgery resident, the anesthesia record. It is my hope right now, that it will not be so mysterious if you ever have to look at one. Especially if that anesthesia record belongs to you.

It is my understanding that there exists a record for our experience in life, much in the way there is a record of what happens during surgery when anesthetic is given. There records of our life experience go across our entire lives. They are referred to as the Akhashic records. Some people are able to go to the great Hall of Records and look at them for individuals. However, no one is allowed to see their own during a current lifetime. I took a course online taught by Kevin Todeschi. He is in charge of the Edgar Cayce organization at this time. I was able to go through some guided meditations, and was surprised at how much 'stuff' from my past lives came up.

Whether you are into things like the Akhashic Records, or not, doesn't it make sense that in this day and age of video surveilance, that there might be some form of higher technology to keep track of what goes on in a lifetime? Isn't this the 'life flashed before my eyes' kind of information that some experience in a crisis?

One can never be certain. One can only hope to find out these kinds of miracles in due time.


Namaste,

Reiki Doc

Dear Patient

Dear Patient,

I want you to know that I love you.

In the almost three weeks I have spent without you, I discovered something important. You see, when I left to have my operation, I thought that I would be comfortable the rest of my life if I never saw you or took care of you again. I was that sick of being a shoulder you could cry on. I was that tired of being just another cog in the industrial medical complex.

In my experience as patient, I grew. I saw your horrors first hand. I saw bewilderment, as different people told me different things, and many did not do what they said they would do. My warm blanket never came. People did not hook me back up to the monitor. No one really cared that I was sick to my stomach or felt weak. It was like an assembly line, and I was just another product being processed through the system.

I saw the world through your eyes.

Isn't it humbling, the great equalizer of all, the hospital gown, and having to wear it?

That quiet call in my heart as I was home myself, recovering, it was for you. For all my life, my calling has to become a doctor. I jumped through many hoops to get through the training. It was my dream come true, in my heart. Being a doctor 'is not like on T.V.' my mother and I say to ourselves, It is an inside joke.

But I missed the part of me that can be there for you.

Last night, as I reflected on my first day back, at L&D, I thought about my patients. The husband, who after asking his questions on behalf of his wife, said, 'I put my trust in you'. When I got to the room, I was surprised, for she was writhing in pain and screaming with each contraction. When I left the room, she was quietly resting, with her head on the pillow and a half smile on her face. The look in your eyes of gratitude made me feel the struggle to get to be her anesthesiologist, all those years, was worthwhile.

We later went to c-section, your baby did not fit. And everything worked out for the best. Your child is beautiful and watching the birth was something I was lucky to be able to do. You do not know it but I was praying for her and you the whole time, with a thing called Reiki.

The first-time mom, with the excellent control of the pain for her contractions, got a 'set it and forget it' epidural. Inserted at eight cm dilation, she sat back with a smile, and every time I checked she gave me a big thumbs up. The entire family, from husband to grandma to auntie, were glad for the gift of taking away the terror of contractions of childbirth.

And the last, you were in the ER. A terrible spinal headache. You simply could not take the pain any more. I did a blood patch. You didn't believe me, but you knew you were there and there were no other options, so you took it. One hour later, when you sat up, the look of relief on your face, and that of your husband's, made my day. I knew the agony of post-dural puncture headache all too well. And I feel a great satisfaction when I resolve it, doing what I have been taught to do.

For you see, when I treat your pain and suffering, I treat my own.

And the world is a better place because of our interaction.

Be free and be well.

Namaste,

Reiki Doc

Where is the Substance and the Money?

Today I was invited to go to a psychic healing fair.

It wasn't what I had expected. There was an undercurrent at every booth--money. Fifteen dollars for fifteen minutes of psychic services by twins that work together. Ten dollars for a mix plate of food.  An extra dollar for a cup of Yogi tea. Buy this 'last healing tool you'll ever need' for one-hundred-sixty dollars. A singing bowl made by a priest in Tibet for sixty dollars.

The last one is what hurt the most. The thought of a poor Bhuddist priest working days to weeks on a work of art, only to be sold through a middle man, and shipped to the U.S., everyone taking their cut along the way. The priest will never see the sixty dollars. Perhaps six?

Why is it that the people who tend to go to these events think nothing of charging for their services in an open market, tax-free, under the table, and yet point fingers at the medical community for making money off of health care? And being an industry? Aren't they the same? Healers working to help others, and trying to make enough to survive.

I have news for you. Nobody is going to need the services of a psychic when everyone ascends to 5D, the fifth dimension. Because everybody is going to be psychic on their own. We don't currently pay anyone to see for us do we? Or to hear for us? Well, it is kind of going to be like that.

And I have news for my medical center and all the people who work there. In the fifth dimension, nobody will get sick. Which is a good thing if you ask me.

Last night I had to go to the emergency room. I had a pain in my upper right chest with breathing. Since I was two weeks post-op, the risk of a blood clot in the lung is pretty high. So they sent me straight to the Emergency Department, but fortunately not by ambulance. I took my son to Mc Donalds because he was starving and there was no time to cook. We stopped off by the house to get my phone charger. And off we went.

There was a line at the entrance for security. We were waved past it, since we were going to the ER, not to visit a patient. Then I filled out a form on a clipboard, and gave the clipboard and my driver's license to a man behind a bullet proof window. He kept it.

And we went to sit. I was looking for a plug, and a kind man got up and let me take the chair next to it. My phone was almost dead, and I was going to need it. We started talking. He was an appendix, and I was a blood clot in the lung. Ever the anesthesiologist, I advised him on post-op nausea/vomiting (PONV) prophylaxis while we sat. I also shared how much I hate to be a patient, and how I was scared. He was scared too. He lived in another town, but knew not to go to the local hospital. 'They send the sick ones here' he said, concerned for his well being. I know the Operating Room on this hospital. Our tech used to moonlight there. It is chaos. Our tech quit. All the anesthesia techs quit there. I reassured him and said a silent prayer for him, and hoped perhaps since it was an appy he would be okay.

Triage called my name. Chest pain. Gets you to the front of the line, even when it's not the heart. Believe me, I have seen deaths from massive pulmonary embolus. I was a time bomb, possibly. The people in triage called me right away. My sats were 97%, which was a good sign. Normal heart rate and blood pressure, too.

I asked how long the wait was. The RN was kind, and said that there were two ahead of me, and that many were discharged from the ED recently so beds were opening up. So back to the waiting room.

The appy man was back in his chair, and offered it up to me again. And this is where I started to get upset--this waiting room thing, and forms, has got to go. I saw a grandmother who looked like she had been assaulted sitting in a chair, wiping blood from her cuts. She had a huge black eye. There was a woman with an ankle up on a pillow, and my friend the appy. There were patients with children, worried and holding the lumps in blankets close to protect them as best they could.

When you work in the hospital, you have no concept of the wait. There are admissions or hits that keep coming in. Each one takes lots of work. It feels like a wave of people trying to suck the life out of you, there are so many, an you are barely keeping up. One new admit to the operating room, like a case in the middle of the night, means two to ten hours in that room with that patient. Do not pass go. There goes your life, your plans, your sleep, your meals, your bathroom time...but it's your job so you go do it.

This time in the ED, I spoke up. It was terrible. I was monitored, but they only did my blood pressure the first time and that was it (in the OR it is every five minutes). When I went to the bathroom, they unhooked me from the monitors, but nobody bothered to hook me back up to the EKG, pulse ox, and BP cuff. I had to ask. The portable chest X-ray was easy. The cartridge hurt under my back. And the lady who drew my lab hurt so much. And I have good veins! She said, 'your vein is not working with me'. Yeah, right. She said it was the skin that hurt. I said, 'No, I can feel the needle in the vein' and I knew there is a nerve very close to where she drew. She didn't know that. And the i.v! RN Skip breezed in. He bragged about how long he's worked in the ED. I smiled. I've been in the business longer than him. By far. But he was good. It didn't hurt. He only hep-locked me. I knew contrast was coming, and my ED doc is a personal friend. He had wanted me hydrated first. (Did you know contrast nephrotoxicity shows up about three days after exposure? That right, after the angio and right about the time for cardiac surgery!) So I called Skip and asked. It turned out the ED doc forgot to write the order. When Skip hooked me up to the i.v., he didn't wipe the connection with alcohol. You should ask people to do that when they connect you or inject into you i.v. It decreases the risk of infection.

As they wheeled me to the CT scanner, I saw appy man standing in the hall. He wished me good luck.
And I tell you, out of the whole experience, that heartfelt 'good luck' from someone facing the O.R. and in a hospital gown meant so much.

The CT Tech was thorough, and explained the injection would make me feel warm from my chin down, almost to the point of feeling like I wet myself. He was right. A lot of the contrast leaked but the study was good. D-Dimer was positive (I had clot somewhere) but the scan showed it was not in my lungs.

ED doc showed me there was an incidentaloma--a thyroid nodule. And two in my lungs, lymph nodes. Did I currently have bronchitis? I get to follow up.

But the weirdest thing? My friend did a healing by distance in San Francisco. It was two days ago. She was surprised my problem was not my second chakra (uterus), but rather in my fourth chakra (heart/lungs) and my fifth (throat). She was right on. She did the healing for free.

Healing like this is so much more pleasant than going to the ER, or going to a festival of psychics. My friend healed me, and warned me of what she saw. I had pain, so I went to my doctor. By referral to the ER, I found out my friend was right. And now I have a plan to follow up on the throat, the chest, and I am taking medication for a bronchial infection (if you ask me it was pleurisy).

What are we going to do about the psychics and healers who are making a business? Should we merge them into mainstream medicine, sort of like chiropractic and acupuncture that are billable to many insurance policies?

Cedars Sinai and other hospitals have Reiki available in the hospital. But only on a volunteer basis. How can people make a living in that? And how can the current teachers make a living by teaching others healing such as Reiki? The lure is to be able to teach it and make money, support yourself. In a way, it might look like a pyramid scheme. But in another, if Spirit is behind it, it is putting people in the right place at the right time.

The free spirits I saw today, were having fun. They were feeling and interacting and not confined by the practice of medicine. It takes discipline to work in the healthcare field. But all of them are healers. The obsessive-compulsive RN's and MD's who spent half their lives with their nose in a book, and the tree huggers with ADD and 'medical marijuana'. in both groups we have the spiritually dead mixed in with the spiritually awake.

The sound healing I experienced tonight at the psychic fair makes total sense. And it is a segue to the healing light boxes. For everything is vibrational.  But who is going to run this next generation of medicine where all the healers work as a team? For God's sake, the patient needs all of you! They are suffering!

So pay the Reiki practtitioners enough so they can earn a living at the hospital. Teach Reiki to the medical staff, including docs and nurses so they can have more intuitive guidance on taking care of the sick. Heck, make it a requirement like ACLS and those computer competency classes for HIPAA and computer security we take every year! Wake everybody up!! In the hospital, there is the way of doing business that has been established for a long time. Some of it is not working. There is room for imrprovement. We need to get from here to there, together, so that when advanced technology comes to the forefront, from wherever it comes from, we are able to step up and carry the baton. No one is going to heal anything for us. We must be ready to accept whatever help that comes our way, take the technology and apply it, and take care of all the stragglers so that everyone can enjoy the perfect health and balance of living in the fifth dimension.

Namaste,

Reiki Doc

What Ascension Means to Me

There is a lot of talk out there on the Internet about Ascension. Have you heard about it? Do you know what it is?

Basically, Mother Earth is not doing so hot right now with all of the pollution.

Tree-hugger extraterrestrials have come to Earth to assist. They can not do all of the work for us, since it is our planet and we can decide how to take care of it. But they are here to help.

Everyone has to pitch in. Once on land, they can harness their advanced technologies to the benefit of Gaia, working with us to get the clean up job done.

There is  not much time. We have a choice: do the work and help Mother Earth, or let her do the job herself. If she does the job herself, it will be like a dog shaking off fleas. We are the fleas if you get the picture.

There exists a hierarchy of entities of the Light, and a similar one for those not-so-of-the Light. Both groups are vying for your attention. Because if you think it, it shall come to pass. Whether it is a worry though (it will manifest), a fear thought (it will manifest), an angry thought (it will lower the vibration instead of raising it), or one of welcome and deep longing. For some reason, we are creatures that can make things come to pass, just by keeping it on the mind and believing it to be true.

Mass media takes advantage of this.  'The world is a scary place'.

There has been a game going on for thirteen thousand years. It plays out much like this:
'A big horrible scary disaster happened! We need some organization to step in and take care of it!'
And guess what? Some institution steps to the plate, and takes over. Literally. Takes over.

And freedom is lost.

There are many kinds of freedom. Depending on what layer of veil you have pierced, if will affect your definition of freedom itself.

Veil 1: Thinking, breathing, existing. 'Working for the weekends' (ninety percent of population)

Veil 2: Gotta vote! Gotta work the political system! Experts are legit. It is worthwhile to sacrifice for national security. (ten percent of population)

Veil 3: Better learn from History of what is going on. Study of the relationship of government to man over the ages. (ten percent of those who pierce Veil 2 will pierce Veil 3)

Veil 4: Something funny is going on with banking industry. All of the world's resources are controlled by the few extremely wealthy families. Much of the global economy is indebted to them. (ten percent of the Veil 3 piercers with pierce Veil 4)

Veil 5: The presence and the role of the Illuminati, Freemasonry, and other secret societies is known. These groups use metaphysical symbols to keep ordinary people in political economies in spiritual bondage to the oldest bloodlines on Earth. (ten percent of Veil 5 piercers will pierce Veil 6).

Veil 6: The secret societies are so advanced technologically that time travel and interstellar communities have no boundaries. (ten percent of Veil 6 piercers will go on to pierce Veil 7)

Veil 7: Childhood fairy tale creatures of Dragons and Lizards and Aliens are the real forces behind the secret societies. Veil Seven piercers are the kind of people that enlighten and brighten the world no matter where they are and what they do. (ten percent of Veil 7 piercers go on to pierce Veil 8)

Veil 8: The harmony in the Life Force makes all things exist, even the dark ones have their role. God has made this world to polish us and make our spirits glow in shiny Light back to him. Everything is perfection, everywhere you look. We are One. This is the Christ Consciousness that lets us travel the stars at will, without technological advancement.

An excellent summary of the veils is in this link: ttp://soundofheart.org/galacticfreepress/content/freedom-project-slavery-and-8-veils-english-high-quality-hd

The problem is that no one can appreciate the view a higher veil has from the plane of their lower veil. The higher veil one seems crazy to them. It is incomprehensible. Furthermore, as people achieve Veils 3 and beyond, they are a liability to the controlling factions that dominate the politico-economic system of Earth. Many people who rise up in the Veils suffer loss of friends, marriages, and family due to the differences in perception between the piercer and the ones in their immediate circle of employment, home, and family.

How does this fit in with Ascension?

Gaia is moving up. As a planet. To a higher dimension. From 3D to 5D, which is apparently different because time is not like we have it here and now. It  is supposed to be pleasant.

Are you going to move up with her?

If your vibrational frequencies match, that is not a problem.

If your vibrational frequency is not as high as hers, that is a problem. You will either be taken off to another planet that is compatible with your vibration (still 3D). Or you may choose to pass on and reincarnate here at a later time. All of this was decided in your before-life Plan and Life Script.

2012 scenarios are right around the corner.

The Solution For Everything is Love.

Be Love in your heart! Honor lovingkindness everywhere you go! And with all creatures.
Keep in the joy of your heart center no matter what is going on around you. It is your touchstone to get you through all this. What the mind cannot understand the heart knows well!

The decision for which outcome--like the movies with lots of action, or peaceful and calm transition for Earth--this year is being made this week.

I vote for peace, love, and  harmony. <3

Namaste,

Reiki Doc

The Role of the Government in Medicine

The Government has far reaching interplay with conventional medicine for the length of my medical career, and beyond. This article is informational, and will review the ten main areas of interactive role the US government has in the Health Care portion of the economy. For example, the supply of graduating physicians is controlled by the government, who places a limit on how many medical schools can exist, and the size of the graduating classes.

I. Funding for Residency and Internships


Upon graduation from medical school a medical student is not able to practice medicine. They must fulfill additional training as internship (first year out), and residency program. Students apply, and are placed at various programs through the match, a very complex process. Some students do not place. They are notified the day prior to announcements on match day and have to scramble to find a place to train.

All of this training is funded by a federal grant to pay the salaries of all these individuals in training. The amount each year is graded according to level of training. There are small pay raises, but the salary is low and the work hours long enough to casually be considered slave labor. In my day, I worked seven days a week, sometimes forty hours straight with no sleep, two to three times a week. One hundred twenty hour workweeks were typical, although eighty was the norm. The eighty hour workweek has been put in place as a direct result of the Libby Zion case in which an over-tired resident gave demerol to a woman who was on an antidepressant that has a fatal reaction when the antidepressant and demerol are mixed.

There are no work hour restrictions on graduates of the training, attending physicians, the working doctors you see every day who have completed the training.

II. DEA and Schedule II and III Medications


All physicians must apply for a federal DEA number from the Drug Enforcement Agency. This bureau assigns a DEA number to each doctor, allowing them to write prescriptions. There are triplicates, special prescription pads for the dispensing of controlled substances such as dilaudid or morphine. Triplicates used to be actual pieces of paper but now they are an entire computerized system that goes straight to the pharmacy. All controlled substances must be accounted for drop per drop in the hospital. I have a balance sheet with all of my anesthesia narcotics and agents that can make someone high. If my records and the balance sheet do not match, I have to write a note in the medical record. A pharmacy that does not correct miscounts will get a twenty-five thousand dollar fine.

III. Medicare


Medicare is the kingpin of all insurance around. Medicare pays competitive rates to just about all specialties besides anesthesia. Anesthesia reimbursement is twenty cents on the dollar that we bill. Despite the high rates members pay into the Medicare system, the doctors are not seeing that much. A long case on a fragile senior that takes much vigilance and is a technical challenge will pay less than a quarter of the value that is being given by my services. A healthy D&C with good insurance will pay two to three times as much, and there is very little risk to the patient from the anesthesia.

Another unusual thing about Medicare is that it stipulates direct payment to the provider. It gets wired into a bank account, but it also has authority to withdraw money without notice to adjust a payment. I still have to pay a seven percent billing fee to my company on all funds given. It just comes out of the other insurance reimbursements. It feels like total Big Brother to me.

However, despite the low reimbursements, Medicare makes up in volume. Hospitals will do everything to get accredited and win a Medicare contract. Unfortunately, Medicare is playing hard to get. For example, a major component in primary care is capitated care. Medicare will pay one lump sum to a provider for all primary health care coverage for a year in advance. It is like a game--if the doctor keeps you healthy, the doctor gets to keep the money. And, to raise the challenge, payment is contingent upon key words in all medical documentation. It is not enough to say, 'massive blood loss'. The physician must write the words, 'symptomatic hemorrhagic anemia'. It is this way for just about every disease state. And there are billing and coding specialists combing through all of the paperwork making sure the physicians are in compliance, in other words, writing those special words to be awarded payment for their services.

And the latest? Any and all medical complications not reimbursed. That can be a lot of care for free. Complications happen--medicine is not perfect, and some patients are more at risk for them, for example, smokers...


IV. JAHCO --Joint Commission


This organization runs the inspection process for all hospitals to be eligible for Medicare contracts. The week that JAHCO comes to the hospital, a transformation takes place. Extra equipment and furniture disappears. It is like a realtor would do staging to sell a house. All the employees are prepared phrases to say in case they are questioned. I hide in the O.R. on a case, but if asked, I will state, 'I will ask my supervisor. I don't know.' In my work, if a case finishes on the hour, the nurse and I alter it by one or two minutes. We call it JAHCO-time, because the inspectors get suspicious if the times are neatly rounded off in the record. Now all anesthesia carts have to lock, no drugs can be left on top of the anesthesia cart. The O.R. is a restricted part of the hospital, and having to go through these steps takes extra time. But some inspector decided unilaterally, 'this would be safe' and now everyone has to do this. It is this way for all parts of the hospital, minutiae in the name of safety, just more regulation to slow you down in your day. Some safety parts are important, but ninety percent do not have the kind of impact on patient care that the inspectors hoped.

Inspectors get rewarded for the changes they bring about. Not if the changes were needed in the first place. Signing charts at medical records is grounds for suspension if you are past a certain time. Delinquent charts after that charge the physician a fee, in hundreds of dollars, just like an overdue library book. It adds up.

V. End of Life Care (TBA)


The are the things Sarah Palin shot down. The implication of government intervention on is far-reaching: the decision as to who lives, and who dies. In the hospital, I have seen countless resources wasted on terminal care, where the family seeks cure when hospice would be more compassionate. The family is just not willing to accept that death is inevitable. I have also seen ICU patients kept alive until a family member could fly in and be present when termination of efforts is done (unplugging from life support). There is room for improvement in this area, but no actual practices have come into the arena. The only difference that the government was proposing to do, is to reimburse the physician for having this conversation with the family. Currently it is not billable. But it is a delicate issue indeed.

VI. HIPAA


Privacy. Now if a staff member goes into the hospital they work, other caregivers have to log into the computer under break the glass security function and state who they are and exactly why they need access to the records.

If you ask me, this is another area of control, where lawyers stand to gain a great deal over infractions.

Now we have a whole layer of administrators on privacy and HIPAA compliance, monitors and officers, in charge of everything. When I was starting out, at the VA, we used social security numbers for identification of patients. That WAS their medical record. We used the first letter of the last name, and the last four of the social security number, to look up patients and to keep notes on who was who. Those days are no more.

VII. HICRA


This is another one of the alphabet soup policies. The Health Care Responsibility Act is a statutory requirement placed on every County. I am not sure what all of these acts and things mean. There are so many of them. There was another one that had letters, and hospitals had to document time of administration of antibiotics prior to incision, or risk a negative measure. It had requirements for patient temperature in recovery room too. That explains all the little blowing blankets in pre-op holding. They are used in surgery and also in PACU too. The average clinician is barely aware of these, and it takes special administrators to decipher them, and give recommendation to caregivers on how to 'toe the line' on the latest things we have to do.

VIII. Work Hour restrictions




Your doctor can work more than twenty-four hours without sleep and still do your surgery, anesthesia, or medical care. There is a disparity between trucking, commercial airlines, and medical care on mandatory rest periods After sixteen hours of work, it is like being legally drunk, as far as impairment measurements are concerned.

Yes, I have worked those hours. I do not enjoy them. And the next day at home, I am a mess. It takes two days to recover from this, but sleep debt adds up. Frequent vacations, about five weeks a year, is helpful in counteracting this.

State of the art organizations have four-hour rest periods built into the call system, with one anesthesiologist assigned to give respite to the Labor Deck anesthesiologist and then the O.R. on call anesthesiologist back to back.



IX. Affordable Care Act


So what? Is this another way to decrease Medicare reimbursement for services? Is it really going to help? Does anyone really know the over one-thousand page law? What will the judges decide? You tell me. As I see it, it is just another step down the slippery slope that leads to less autonomy and less financial reward for my work. Yes, it is good to get the insurance industry in line, and also to give healthcare to others who are in need of it. But who gets the final say? Does medicine have a chance to give input? Or is it unilateral decision-making again?

X. Reiki in the Health Care Industry

Do you want this to happen to energetic medicine and complementary medicine? How to handle it? I don't trust The Establishment on it.  My recommendation is this, invite Higher Powers that Be, for Divine Assistance in the merging of the Healing Arts. And to have the money-changing icky part to stay way out of it.

Clearing--Six Dollars and Eighteen Cents

Today I had a guidance to clean an old bookshelf.

Those medical books are hard to throw away. They are the more expensive than Engineering books from undergrad. And the study guides that get you through your Board Examinations? Super expensive and so hard to let go because you spent so much time on them.

I thought, 'Why don't I look up some of these books to see what value I have to trade them in?'

So I looked on Amazon book trade-in. Guess what? Out of fifteen books, only four were eligible. And the price? Cardiac Anesthesia, by Kaplan, fourth edition: seventy-five cents! That book had cost me almost two hundred dollars! But that was twenty years ago.


Cardiopulmonary Bypass by one of my heroes, Christina T. Mora, M.D. is worth $4.93!
And Decision Making in Anesthesiology, an algorithmic approach? A steal at fifty cents!
(there are terrible reviews on this function of trading in textbooks--it is outsourced. I opted not to try.)

How time does fly! And how classic textbooks get new editions. So then you wonder, what do I keep? What do I toss? Have I really looked at any of this? It is so old that the information is hardly any use.

Want to know a secret? The straight-A students in medical training no longer buy books. They go online. Yes. Because resources on the internet are up-to-date. And the process of writing and publishing a book takes over two years. (incidentally, Up-To-Date is an excellent site for medical research).

I wrote a chapter once. It took all my free time for about six months. And the editor never used it. For some reason, technical writing is something I enjoy but editors seem to hate.

My big break was supposed to be an article on anesthesia for the separation of conjoint twins (thoracopagus) who shared a double-heart. I wrote on that thing, and wrote on it. But my lead sat on it. And never published. He wanted it perfect.

I have papers you can find on a search. Articles I have written, or contributed to. And I am proudest of my letters to the editor and case reports, for I did several of those completely by myself.

There was a mentor at San Diego, Jon Benumof. The most famous in the department. He came up with the anesthesia algorithm for the unanticipated difficult airway. Saved a bunch of lives.

Everyone ragged on him about his lousy game of golf at conference!

What I remember most is his smile. His encouragement. His excitement for unusual, unpublished discoveries. And the little plaque on a break room that was dedicated to his parents. He must have paid a lot of money for that.

As I went over my career, the one in academics that was okay but not as super famous as I have envisioned, I was wistful. I got rid of Jensen's Big Blue and Big Red. He is an amazing man, Niels. He took failing the written boards and turned it into a million-dollar business helping others who are in the same situation pass. I went to him because the people I wanted to study with said four was plenty and had no room for me. Devastated at the rejection, I opted to 'study with Niels'. I ended up sitting next to the one who rejected me at the actual written exam. And you know what? God was taking care of me. Two of those four classmates failed their boards. And one of them sat next to me!

Today, I found an old receipt from a case I did in private practice from December 2004. I could not believe my eyes! It was like God winked. Super famous? I had taken care of a writer you would know not once but twice! This was the second time I had taken care of them, and I had forgotten. I probably put this one in sweats and wheeled them out to the car, because at this small boutique facility, I had to do nursing work too! I had no clue at the time who this person was. Or that is was the second time.

One day, at a different place, but still in private practice. I had a patient who is known for affirmations. I did not know at the time who this patient was. As I prepared to insert the i.v., this patient said one, like, 'this is going to be painless and I am going to be fine!'. I got irritated. I thought, 'Duh! You're here with me and I work with angels!' But I didn't say a word. And that was before Reiki!

Now is the time to clear. Time to let go. Of old character traits. Of old baggage. There was a lot of fear locked into to that Big Blue and Big Red from written and oral boards. I kept MOCA Big Blue, though. I love that man Niels Jensen so much.

The books I kept are all from people I know. Irene Osborn. Jon Benumof. Christina Mora. Carol Lake. (Did you know I did a heart dissection under the guidance of Dr. Mehmet Oz once?) The ones on Thoracic surgery, which I love more than cardiac. And all of my binders of notes, all of my flash cards written in letters so tiny I need glasses to see them now--information packed densely on the page. I found my study notes from the hardest test I ever took, the Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiograpy Examination. I had to take that one a second time to pass.

And my favorites of all, are my old Chemical Engineering books and notes. Transport Phenomena was so elegant. The notes are almost incomprehensible now, so many years later.

So let go of old dusty items--be they in your heart, in your memory, or on your shelf.

Let it go and experience a freedom you did not know could exist.

Namaste,

Reiki Doc

An Energetic Look at Recovery From Surgery

Recovery from an anesthetic and surgery is a highly individualized experience. Some of the best advice is to instruct the patient to listen to your body. I cannot emphasize this enough. There is a quote by Edgar Cayce, in one of his readings:

Remember, healing--all healing comes from within. Yet there is the healing of the physical, there is the healing of the mental, there is the correct direction from the spirit. Coordinate these and you'll be whole! But to attempt to do a physical healing through the mental conditions is the misdirection of the spirit that prompts same . . . But when the law is coordinated, in spirit, in mind, in body, the entity is capable of fulfilling the purpose for which it enters a material or physical experience.

Reading 2528-2 Edgar Cayce

Here is an example of someone who doesn't get this point in a big way--a patient, a high-ranking official, scheduled himself for hernia repair surgery on a Saturday. The whole team came in on a non-surgery day just for him.

He let us know he had plans to attend a baseball game later in the afternoon.

'Good luck, buddy!' we said, thinking he had no clue about what he was in for as far as his recovery from surgery is concerned.

Mind over matter doesn't work while you are recovering from surgery. The fact is that you have been through a major healing experience that will have lasting effects physically, mentally, and energetically.

To guide you in your recovery, here is more detail about the post-operative healing process, both from Conventional Medicine and also what Reiki Doc adds:

Immediate Post Op Recovery (Day of surgery):


you can expect nausea and vomiting. Here are some risk factors:
female
non-smoker
motion sickness
prior episode of PONV
brow, breast, nose/throat surgery (drainage down throat irritates stomach)
laparoscopic surgery (insufflation of abdomen with carbon dioxide gas)
longer than three hours of general anesthesia
surgery on a large joint (knee, shoulder, hip)

here are some conventional remedies:
drugs to decrease nausea:
zofran, compazine, reglan, decadron, scopolamine patch, Emend (aprepitant),  phenergan, Tigan suppositories, diphenhydramine
half juice/half Sprite combo fluids
take pain pills with food
supplemental oxygen, either by face mask or nasal cannula

**any local anesthetics, pain medicine, and anti-emetics given in the OR will wear off 6-12 hours after surgery**

Reiki Doc advice:
self-Reiki on stomach and/or other surgical site
hydrate--aim is to have frequent, hourly urine output to keep nausea under control
Preggie Pops, lollipops made with herbs/flavors to fight morning sickness
ginger in any form you can tolerate ginger ale, crystalline ginger, ginger remedies sold OTC
homeopathic remedies--those sugar pellets you dissolve in your mouth
acupressure points on inside of wrist. There are magnetic bands for this.
Avoid TV, reading

Consider risk of interaction with narcotics and anesthesia before using medical marijuana or alcohol or other street drugs this is risky

Ibbuprofen, advil, other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication, and aspirin increase risk of post-op surgical bleed that would require an emergency trip to the operating room to stop it.



POD 1:


goals are pain control, resolving atelectasis, preventing blood clots, removal of foley (urinary catheter)


here are some conventional remedies:
pain--stay ahead. Keep theraputic level in bloodstream of analgesic
itch-benadryl or nubain
ambulate (walk) as much as possible with assistance
OOB to chair (out of bed, again, with assistance)
Incentive spirometer, deep breathe and cough

**if you want to be discharged from the hospital, know that ladies need the 'lipstick sign' and men need to shave. Freshen up!**

Reiki Doc advice:
sunshine and fresh air
listen to body
self reiki
family support
rest
soothing music (I bought the entire series by Kauilapele music, six CD's of Hawaiian slack key guitar)


First Week after Surgery:


goals are pain control, first bowel movement, preventing pneumonia from atelectasis, preventing blood clots


here are some conventional remedies:
have help in house, have a driver to help with errands
Iron pills if high blood loss (warning, these can be binding)
stool softeners ( pain pills with prune chaser!)
chicken soup
switch to ibuprofen when surgeon approves, and get off narcotics. (kidney disease, omit this)
increase ambulation

**be very clear with your family and loved ones what your limits are. Once you 'are home' they may assume you are 'normal'. You are not, you are recovering from major surgery**

Reiki  Doc Advice:
Journal
cycles of activity then rest
nap
sunshine and fresh air
shower, get hair done--appearance more towards normal

unless given the okay by your surgeon, refrain from baths and driving a car at this time



Second Week after Surgery:


goal is to increase stamina back, to transition towards prior level of functioning


here are some conventional remedies:
cut back on pain meds
switch to NSAIDS if surgeon approves
cut back on naps
follow-up visit with surgeon
stitches out
continue increasing activity as tolerated; build stamina

**consider going to see a movie or taking short walks in the neighborhood to 'reconnect'**

Reiki Doc Advice:
Try short trips driving car if surgeon says it is okay
Meditate and allow for deeper healing (an energy worker did distance healing on me, and I released grief and loss from twenty-four years ago)
continue Journal, also be sure to look back at earlier entries
Plan for caregiver to exit, but be sure to keep things simple around the house yourself

be sure to allow yourself ample time to rest. Stop any activity when fatigue and pain set in.



Third and Fourth Weeks after Surgery:


there is a risk of depression at this point, one that is typically mild and self-limiting. If it lasts, seek professional help. There is frustration at this point in progress: it seems one-step forward, two-steps back.


here are some conventional remedies:
listen to your body
work with family, doctor to establish when to return to work
Upon return to work, expectation is to be at full capacity--think wisely on this
Disability is ended upon return to work. If tired and goes off work after, new phase starts ticking.

**you may be feeling 'back to normal' but know that you must be in top condition to resume all of your normal activities from before surgery**

Reiki Doc Advice:
this is your last chance to really assimilate all the healing and lessons from the illness
continue on your journal and reflection
give thanks to your body for its ability to heal
listen to your heart and higher self on what to do next

Namaste,

Reiki Doc

Hospital Food is Un-Reiki

My stay overnight at the hospital after surgery was a complete shock to my system at mealtimes.

Why?

At  home I strive to eat only Organic, locally grown foods that are pure and of a very high vibration. Although I am not all the way vegetarian, I have cut back significantly. Furthermore the animal products I ingest are of the highest quality, grass-fed, hormone-free, antibiotic-free, no GMO, and free range. I avoid High Fructose Corn Syrup like the plague. My house is free of Trans Fats.

At first I felt like the food on my tray was going to kill me.

Dinner was clear liquid diet. I had sugary jello, salty broth, four ounce cups of fruit juice laden with high-fructose corn syrup, an 'italian ice' with more high-fructose corn syrup, and a popsicle, again, with high-fructose corn syrup. Those foods would be enough to make me throw up any given day, never mind after laparoscopic surgery! The little cans of sodas offered were also something I did not take, because they were too sweet and full of high-fructose corn syrup as well.

Here are the foods the hospital made available to  me on Post-Op Day 1:

Breakfast:

sugar packet
Margarine
Creamer, nondairy
DietKit, Blue, Pkt (Equal sweetener)

Juice, Orange, 4 oz
Cereal, Raisin Bran
Milk, ReFat, 8oz

Coffee

Scrambled Eggs, 2 ounce
Sausage Link, 1 ounce
Muffin, Banana Nut

I couldn't handle ANY of it. I wanted to retch. There was a friend who brought me a loaf of french bread and some butter from a bakery across the street. Real butter. I had bread, butter, and coffee black.


Lunch:

sugar packet
Margarine
Cracker, Saltine, pkt
DietKit, Blue, Pkt

Cookie, Oatmeal Raisin
Fruit, Seasonal 4 oz
Juice, Apple, 4oz

Broth, Chicken 4 oz

Chix, Teri, Rice bowl
Veg, Carrots, 1/2 cup

Nothing was fresh. Everything was processed. The soup was too salty, and the teriyaki bowl was definitely not made by anyone remotely Japanese. I couldn't eat it.


Dinner:

Sugar packet
Cracker, Saltine, Pkt
Creamer, NonDairy
DietKit, Blue, Pkt

Garden Salad, 1 cup
Fruit, Seasonal 4 ounce

Broth Vegetable, 4 oz
Coffee, 8 oz

Chix, Marsala, Reg 3 ounce
Veg, Asprgs, Cut and tips   1/2 cup
Rice, Steamed, Reg   1/2 cup


At last I found something that could agree with me. The salad and fruit was WONDERFUL! As was the asparagus and rice. It settled well with my system. I ate part of the chicken, but not all.

Can you imagine getting this type of food if you were a diabetic? Or kidney disease where everything tastes awful in the first place and they put a limit on sodium and potassium (no O.J., no potato, no pineapple juice, no chocolate, and no tomato anything)? Have you read the disclosure by a cardiac surgeon who says the cardiac diet (low in fat and cholesterol) is responsible for the rise in obesity and diabetes* (There is an even more surprising discovery that 'grounding', direct contact with Earth, can lower risk of blood clot and high blood pressure due to electronic grounding process **) How about the poor souls who are on Ensure, either as enteral feeds (tube feeding) or supplements? Where is the life force in any of that?

If we are going to get this health care thing in order, we are definitely going to have to start with the food. I wish Alice Waters would take up this cause. She brought it to the schools. Now the institutions need our help. All this Top Chef programming on television would be so much better if attention was directed towards helping those who need it most--the weak, the sick, the Dis-Eased.

I suggest we offer ethnic based choices. Our area in Southern California has Latino and Vietnamese influence. These patients should have options for their native foods. We also have health-conscious people, who would enjoy a Whole Foods type menu. I am surprised vegetarian and vegan was not an option. It is an option on a flight, just like Kosher meals are available upon advance request of the airline.

Similarly, I was at the local British/Indian Market. I was surprised at how small the produce section is. And how highly refined most of the food products are. A huge freezer aisle of Indian and British choices. Many other foods packaged, boxed, in cans. A lot of teas, jams, chutneys, biscuits, cookies, and snacks. And very large bags of white rice.

Even the restaurant at this Indian market,  with its vegan food options, had overcooked vegetables in sauces on a steam tray, and not many of them were fresh. The salad was particularly unpleasant. I had channa masala and palak paneer. I would have preferred raita over the salad. But naan is quite delicious, any way it comes.

Please note that is you are trying to heal, one of the best ways to go about this is by raising your vibration. Not just with your thoughts, but with your activities and food choices too. Even more, the vibration is increased by blessing and saying grace over the meal as one prepares to eat it.

People who are ill and in the hospital can't help but benefit from improvement in the status quo. Healers too. There are not much healthy options at the cafeteria for workers to eat when they are in the hospital. We need good food for good healing!


Namaste,

Reiki Doc

* = Dr. Dwight Lundell, Cardiac Surgeon Speaks Out View: Cardiac Surgeon-speaks-out-what-really-causes-heart-disease

** = More on Grounding speaking-grounding-gaia-look-concept…-“earthing”


Editor Update: I just saw this article TODAY--Sunday, June 1, 2014. It is dated October 2012. Enjoy! http://althealthworks.com/103/interview-million-dollar-organic-greenhouse-farmer-hopes-other-hospitals-follow-suit/