Wednesday, May 05, 2010

Number 3

So I saw my third patient from my alma mater. Not a referral from them, rather the 3rd patient whom I saw when I was a fellow who found out I'm in practice here now and wanted to see me here instead because this was closer to his home.
When I saw my patient list for the day and the comment "Dr V's old patient from XY" I wasn't too sure- I didn't recognize the name and the presenting complaint of 'hypogonadism' didn't look like it was a big enough deal for a patient to transfer care here.
Sure enough when I happened to walk past the waiting room to grab a quick coffee, I saw him checking in and instantly recognized him. I was blurry on the details, but I remembered enough that I saw him in my final months there for secondary hypogonadism from a pituitary macroadenoma and that we were prepping him up for transphenoidal surgery when I left. I also (strangely enough) remembered details about his history- he wasn't sexually active and did not believe in masturbating (something you ought to ask when evaluating a patient for low testosterone).
Anyway, it was in a way fun, catching up with him and having him update me on the happenings in his condition since I last saw him (which was 2 years ago).