Model Patient?

So I spent the afternoon of Tuesday, June 8th serving as a model patient for first year UCSF medical students practicing their different kinds of examinations. I was hooked up with this because a friend of mine from bookclub (a shout out to H. Carrie C. from H. Ernest Chen) runs a part of the medical education component of the UCSF medical school. I am usually put in either the full physical examination or a more basic musco-skeletal exam. One of the reasons Carrie asks me to do it is because I have such interesting findings that the first year students have never come upon. Usually, the potential doctors start at the top of the head and work down. As we all know, above the knees I am perfectly normal. However, once they get below the knee, things start going HAYWIRE. When they test my reflexes, nothing happens. The students always hit my knees looking for a my leg to move. They keep hitting for a while until the observing physician tells them that I don't have reflexes. As the exam continues, the observant students notice the big scar on my side and by asking me about are able to start deciphering what is going on. Because of the surgery on my back, I have neurological deficiencies in my lower extremities, one of them being my reflexes (I think). The more curious finding that comes for the students is when they do a test on my feet, called the Bubinsky (sp?). By running their finger along the bottom of my foot, my toes should curl under, but mine don't. This is also a function of the lingering neurological deficiencies as a result of my accident. Overall, it's an interesting experience.

So many of you are probably wondering why I have a picture of a robot at the top of this post. After my work at the UCSF clinic, I spent a couple hours exploring SF before I was to meet Helena, her husband David and Andrea (my prom date), all friends of mine from high school, for dinner. I was wandering in Pacific Heights looking at all the big mansions and I'm kind of just looking around and I notice their robot structure in the front yard of one of the LARGE homes on Broadway. I think this is a symbol of my upcoming trip this summer. I hope to take the time to observe and see things that the usually driven Ernie tends to miss. This is going to a summer of taking my time and seeing what I will usually miss.