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Delirium and Catatonia: Medical Emergencies
It was a very busy day on the consultation psychiatry service today. Besides that, I gave a lecture about delirium and dementia to the medical students. The talk is similar to the one below: As a reminder, Dr. Wes Ely, MD will be in Iowa City at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics to…
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Patience is a Virtue Redux
This transition to retirement has me looking back at times to an earlier transition in my life—college. I wrote a blog post 8 years or so ago about a few of my experiences at Huston-Tillotson College (now Huston-Tillotson University, a private, historically African American school) in Austin, Texas. We called it H-T for short. The…
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Meaning and Purpose in Retirement
As you know, I’m back in the saddle at work, according to the terms of my phased retirement contract. When I’m off service, I feel less pressured. However, when I’m on service, I’m like a fireman, thriving on pressure. I’ve done Consultation-Liaison (C-L) Psychiatry for so many years that, when I stop to think about…
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Start My Engine!
Good Gahd Amighty, it was busy today! I really had to start my engine. It felt like I logged a lot more than 2.6 miles and 21 floors on the step counter. It’s days like this one that I’m not going to miss when I retire. I don’t think I could exercise enough to withstand…
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Remembering My Calling
Back when I had the blog The Practical C-L Psychiatrist, I wrote a post about the Martin Luther King Jr. Day observation in 2015. It was published in the Iowa City Press-Citizen on January 19, 2015 under the title “Remembering our calling: MLK Day 2015.” I have a small legacy as a teacher. As I…
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Darn Weird Socks
Today, a colleague and I compared socks. I noticed he was wearing a pair of Go Iowa Hawkeye-type socks. They looked pretty good—and then I showed him my brand-new Taco Avocado Alien socks. He was pretty impressed. They are the Darn Weird socks of America. On the other hand, around 3 years ago, I found…
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Anecdotal Garrulity
I’ve noticed that I’m getting more garrulous as I age. In fact, I call this anecdotal garrulity and I always warn my trainees that I’m about to tell them yet another war story which usually involves some activities or processes in my job as a Consultation-Liaison (C-L) Psychiatrist that nobody knows about anymore–but should. My…
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Wes Ely to Visit University of Iowa in April
Retirement takes a back seat today for this announcement: Dr. Wes Ely, Critical Care Specialist and one of the foremost experts in intensive care unit (ICU) delirium at Vanderbilt University will be speaking at The Newman Center in Iowa City on April 11, 2019 at 7:00 PM, “Maximizing Dignity at End of Life: Insights from…
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Retiring Takes Practice
Retiring takes practice, like a great many skills. I know it’s puzzling to think of retiring as a skill. Skill building feels awkward at first and with time, managing the transition slowly feels more natural. At least that’s what I hope about this retirement thing. I remember way back in the day of the dinosaurs…
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Back on the Wards
I was back on the wards today. It was pretty busy in the hospital over the weekend as usual. Mondays are almost always days when psychiatry consultations are pretty heavy, and Fridays are about the same. I got 2.3 miles and 17 floors on the step counter today. I’m trying out adjusting my exercise and…
Go Retire Psychiatrist 