Origin of Osteopathy

Well, orientation is Monday thru Friday and then the fun begins as I set sail on my medical journey the next Monday, July 28, at the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. I was just flipping through a few pages of one of my many obese textbooks and reading about the origins and principles of osteopathy. I am thinking that most people have a pretty good understanding of physicians and what they do, but I am willing to bet that most don't have much knowlege about the brand of medicine known as osteopathy. So I just decided that over the next four years I will occasionally post something on the subject that I have recently learned, whether it be interesting or strange, or that I think will help others understand. And I hope that I have enough MD friends that will read and comment in order to discuss the similarities and dissimilarities of our medical education and philosophy of medicine hoping that in the meantime we all become better physicians.

With the intro aside, I want to define osteopathy in this first post with the help of Foundations for Osteopathic Medicine (second edition):

Andrew Taylor Still, M.D., D.O., the founder of osteopathic medicine and the term itself, began using osteopathy to describe his practice and philosophy in the 1880s. The words roots simply break down as 'osteon,' meaning bone, and 'pathos,' meaning to suffer. He reasoned that the skeletal system was his starting point to determine the cause of pathological conditions. He said that "bones can be used as levers to relieve pressure on nerves, veins and arteries."

However, "osteopathy is not only a neuromusculoskeletal-oriented dignostic and treatment system, it is also a comprehensive and scientifically based school of medicine that emabraces a philosophy," which according to A.T. Still is "a scientific knowledge of anatomy and physiology in the hands of a person of intelligence and skill, who can apply that knowledge to the use of man when sick or wounded by strains, shocks, falls, or mechanical derangement or injury of any kind to the body," and "the object of Osteopathy is to improve upon the present systems of surgery, midwifery, and treatment of general diseases." (Remember he wrote this in the late 1800s)

Also an important emphasis made in Osteopathic Medicine is found in the following quote from Still: "To find health should be the object of the doctor. Anyone can find disease." And in finding health the Doctor of Osteopathy is taught the importance of the full scope of health including mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of life alongside the pathophysiologic issues.

I will try to keep these shorter in the future and hope they don't bore anyone outside the medical field.

-CB

Happy Birthday Ames!

I want to wish a very Happy Birthday to my sweet Amy. Our friendship began on the very first day that I moved into the dorm at Baylor when we were right across the hall from each other. That high-maintenance California girl with 4 inch heels, mini skirt, and glitter on her eyes turned out to be a huge blessing in my life. Love you girl, hope your day is wonderful!

Another old one from the memory books....

It's Official!

Today I received my official license as an RN in the State of Texas. I took my boards on July 1st and 5 hours later, I passed!! Of course, I had to sit around and wait in anxiety for a few days before I got the passing results, but now I'm a Registered Nurse! Once you graduate, you are a GN (Graduate Nurse) and can work a certain amount of time on that permit before you take your boards and convert over to RN. My cousin Elizabeth also came into town to visit and was able to help me celebrate with a Pomegranate Mojito, yum.


Work has been going good, just hard adjusting back and forth from nights to days. I really like the people I work with and the kids are so precious and have been a lot of fun. Overall, I've learned just how resilient kids are. They can have so much going on and don't complain at all like we adults do. It makes me reconsider many things that I whine about. Newly on my mind is my patient from this past week. I was lucky to have her 2 nights in a row and she is the cutest little 6 year old ever! Sadly, she had to be in the hospital on the 4th of July, but was able to go out and see the fireworks. She has been newly diagnosed with a brain tumor and went in for her surgery on Monday. I go back to work tomorrow and can't wait to check on her, but please remember her and her family in your prayers if you think about it. She sang songs for us and pranced out of her room at 5:30am to come over to give me a hug. Just melts your heart and hurts it at the same time when you know what she's going through and the road will just get longer in the days to come. I know God has placed me on this floor for a reason, so I hope I can bring joy and comfort to my patients for at least the 12 hours at a time that I have them. It's just hard not to bring it home and think about them, but I do feel called to pray for them and know that the Lord brings them to mind for this purpose. Anyhow, just wanted to announce that I am official!

Futbol

Colby joined a men's indoor soccer league and I had a fun time watching him play in his first game. When we lived in San Antonio, Colby played soccer every Saturday with many different friends, so he's been itching to be able to play again. I've even gone with him out to the park to kick the ball around and I'm terrible at trying to get the ball away from him b/c he's so fast. It makes me wonder how I ever played soccer. Either that or I'm just really out of shape. I felt like such a soccer mom out there with the camera, but he was so stinkin cute that I just had to take a few to share. :)

Alan and Sara's Wedding

We went to Andrews this weekend to go to Alan (Colby's good friend from HS) and Sara's wedding. We got to carpool with another couple, Dustin and Beccah, and it was so much fun to catch up with them. Beccah is beginning her 4th year of medical school...whoo whoo! We're proud of you girl! We hope Colby will be there one day as well. Of course we also enjoyed spending time with Colby's family and overall it was a great weekend!

A Night in Uptown Dallas

Friday was so much fun as Colby and I headed to Dallas to spend a night with some of our Baylor friends. We had dinner with Celeste and Mace, Amy and Shelton, and Jessi and Jeff at the S & D Oyster Bar in Uptown and then headed over to the Gingerman Pub to say goodbye to Brooke and Mikey P who are moving down to Rockport. The Uptown area was really a hot spot and there were so many people out and about walking around. It was such a fun time to get to spend time with good friends. We hope to get to meet some fun Fort Worth friends to go out and see the sights here!

Happy Birthday Gracie!!!

Today is one of my best friend and college roommate's birthday!! We love you Gracie! Happy 25th! We wish we were with you to celebrate!

Here's an old one from Freshman year! :)