Learned Some, Ate More

in new orleans last week for a PA conference. and for food. lots and lots of food.

the conference was great- really good lectures from knowledgeable speakers on a variety of subjects. there's always reviews on hypertension and diabetes management, which is helpful. and this conference, though general medicine, was also very gyn-centric, which was great.

the BHE and i lived in a small town in the south for a while and i worked in a hospital there while we did. we quickly learned that the stereotypes of southerners as idiot rednecks is totally crazy. most of the people we knew were brilliant, creative, well-spoken and sophisticated. in the hospital where i worked, the standard of care was up to par with any other hospital i've seen and the staff was very well educated and trained. the only differences in care i could perceive is that people down south are just more polite/friendlier (they really are) and there's a lot more God infused into conversation- even patient/physician dialogue.

so all that being said, it was no surprise to me that the MD's who spoke at the conference (all louisiana physicians) were top notch speakers and i got a lot out of their talks. i do love the local colloquialisms, though. one urologist kept making me smile when he referred to urinary incontinence as "losing water."

and new orleans is one of my all time favorite cities on the planet. we went to a (very muddy) jazz fest on saturday and saw "simon and garfunkel" and "better than ezra" and a couple local bands. totally fun.

and we ate po boys (shrimp, crawfish) and boiled crawfish, fried green tomatoes, beignets, and chargrilled oysters, to name a few. num.

i have been SO BAD in not posting lately. stay tuned for a conversation on mexican folk medicine. i did an internship way back when with migrant farm workers (most of them mexican) and learned a lot about traditional treatments. so crazy cool...and i think you might find it interesting, too. so stay tuned.