Poker Night At UCLA

Shortly after I walked into Cathy's room this afternoon she began to have 'issues'. Besides an elevated blood pressure and pulse, she became very short of breath. After a thorough suctioning of her lungs, a dosage of a sedative, and a shot of grape juice, Cathy returned to 'normal'. It appears that this incident may have been triggered by low blood sugars.

For the past four years, whenever Cathy has been hospitalized she would acquire a form of 'transient diabetes' caused by the steroids they give her. Counter balancing the high blood sugars caused by the steroids is an event that occurs every four hours, around the clock. Until yesterday, this hospital visit had not been any different. Yesterday Cathy began experiencing low blood sugars. Something has shifted in her metabolism to cause her body to react differently to the steroids and insulin she is receiving. [Now what? More over-steering?] The attending physician on the medical team stopped by for a brief moment this evening. He did not appear to concerned. (These attending physicians would all make pretty good poker players. They have no tells. It is easy to read concern, and sometimes panic, in the residents. The fellows are a bit harder to read. It must be a prerequisite to becoming an attending - the poker face.)