As a layman, can you see the difference between this two xrays? If you can, anybody can be teachable to know medicine and what doctors know routinely.
What prods me to teach non-doctors what we routinely know is the fact that most people play doctor in their lives almost everyday. They suggest medicines for illnesses even though their personal experience of the drug does not apply to everybody. They insist that the the medicines they are taking is good for others as it is with them. They self medicate and think they know better than their doctors. They take herbal drugs and those tablets with a caption: NO THERAPEUTIC CLAIMS. HAHAHAHAHA.
This is an xray of a patient , 28 yr old, who was complaining of chest pain and back pains. NO difficulty of breathing. No shortness of breath ( This is different if you know medicine). He was up and about doing his routine chores even play basketball but was urged by his mother to see me because he was getting thinner and was losing weight ( again this is different if you know medicine).
On auscultation ( using the stethoscope which people think is passe because there is x-ray) I heard a big difference of the entry of the sound between the two lungs on inspiration. On his left lung there was a sharp flow of air ( bronchophony) while on his right lung the flow of air was muffled; a sign that there is an obstruction of the flow of air on the right. If I were a lazy doctor, I would send him to the radiology department without auscultation and wait for the result to come out in the afternoon. But I did auscultation. So, I send him to the operating room pronto and did a CHEST TUBE THORACOSTOMY in an hour's time. This is an insertion of a tube direct inside the lungs to drain the water . The white part of the right lung of the above x-ray is water. I saved the patient 4 days of hospitalization and medicines not counting his downtime all because I did auscultation and was not found wanting in my practice.
Now, I am trying to teach people this way. The fact is, you may have heard or seen on tv why a disease is like this and why a disease is like that and the medications that they take. But this does not amount to anything. Each person is unique and drugs and medicine has to be instituted by a doctor.
Kudo's again Doc! This is why we all love you.
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