Week 3 - Huang

Hey, Upper East Siders! Gossip Charlie here... your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan's elite. Top story on my homepage: lung cancer. The world's most common cause of cancer-related death can be diagnosed by Dr. Matt Cham's hand... but at what price?

Spotted: cranky patient in left lateral decubitus position inside CT scanner. From previous PET scans, a growth on the patient's lung was discovered and is suspected to be cancerous. To perform the lung tumor biopsy, Dr. Cham had the patient CT-scanned with markers along the patient's back to indicate where the needle should be inserted. Based on these images, Dr. Cham inserted a needle into the patient's back at the proper marker and again scanned the patient to check if the needle was inserted properly and in the right position. Every time he scans, he must step out of the scanning room, so the imaging is not in real time. After adjustments, Dr. Cham pushed the needle further into the center of the tumor and suctioned out a sample. This sample was stained and imaged immediately inside the scanning room (something I was surprised to learn) and was determined to be cancerous (presence of large cancer cells surrounded by smaller neutrophils).

Although Dr. Cham assured us that the procedure is generally not painful and patients don't usually complain, this particular patient we observed was very... difficult to work with (a "1 out of 2000" case). She complained about feeling pain and being cold throughout, and although the doctors/nurses tried to calm her down in the scanning room, they joked around about her behavior outside. You know what they say about the Upper East Side... if you can't stand the heat, there's always a cold shower.

Other than being in the hospital, I've had a good time exploring NYC these last few weeks with fellow Immersion students. Love may fade with the season, but some friendships are year round. Like you and me! You know you love me.

xoxo,
Gossip Charlie

Patient Quote of the Week:
Patient: Ow! That hurt! Don't do that!