forgetting my heart
When I was in college I spent a semester living in Germany and traveling around Europe. I started taking German in 9th grade, but 7 years later when I went to Germany, I still struggled with basic conversation. Many of my classmates grew up in German speaking families and they had a distinct advantage being bilingual. By the time I came back home though, I was fluent enough that I could carry on all my daily activities, eating, shopping, traveling, finances, etc in German. I was really proud of that accomplishment. When I returned though, i experienced something unusual that I haven’t heard other people talk about...
Source: Mr. Hassle's Long Underpants - October 30, 2022 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Doc Shazam Tags: Tales grief Source Type: blogs

Swimming Through Change
What do you love about swimming? For me, I’ve just always loved being in the water and playing games with my friends. Starting from when I was 7 or 8 years old, I walked to our neighborhood pool, met my friends, and we played cards during adult swim, and sharks & minnows when there were enough of us there, and I swam on the swim team until I was 15 years old.  The swimming pool was the fabric of my summer existence. During & after high school, other priorities came up, other sports, other interests, academics and eventually a job.  My first job out of college was with Voyageur Outward Bound School where we ...
Source: Mr. Hassle's Long Underpants - December 2, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Doc Shazam Tags: Life Triathlon Training Source Type: blogs

Life At the Foot of Squirrel Hill
Where else can you find a Kosher Dunkin Donuts? I live just at the bottom of Squirrel Hill. Saturday mornings my partner Michael and his 13 year old daughter have a routine of going to the (Kosher) Dunkin Donuts for breakfast then going to the climbing gym together. Normally I go with them, but I worked yesterday and today. We got the bronze alert of a system wide disaster so I know about the shooting before most of the city. However when I texted my partner…he already knew…the Dunkin Donuts is just 2 blocks from the Tree of Life Synagogue. My mothers caretaker drove past the synagogue just 30 minutes before th...
Source: Mr. Hassle's Long Underpants - October 29, 2018 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Doc Shazam Tags: Clinical Source Type: blogs

Instinct is Learned
Mr. Reynolds is a vivid 83 year old who lived alone at home. He walks everyday int he morning first thing before he has a small cup of coffee. His kids bought him an ipad and he uses it to browse the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Pittsburgh Post Gazette while eating breakfast. Every morning it’s the same breakfast…toast with honey and a small cup of yogurt. Then he’s ready to start the day, just when the rest of his neighbors are waking up. Today however, he ate hist toast and his stomach grumbled, louder than usual.  He thought to himself that he’d better get to the bathroom qu...
Source: Mr. Hassle's Long Underpants - November 10, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Doc Shazam Tags: Clinical Source Type: blogs