LIBR 246-04/13 Web 2.0 (Spring 2010)

I'm so sorry you (and your wife) have had such a terrible week. I hope your wife's doctors can figure out what's going on with her and that she's feeling better soon. I know how frustrating it can be when your spouse is sick and no one can figure out what's wrong with them -- you just want to take the doctors and shake them sometimes. From my own experience with my husband, my one piece of advice is that if your wife's current doctor can't find the answer, ask for a referral to another doctor (perhaps at a University hospital if she's not already at one -- they are usually much more 'up' on the current diagnostic techniques and treatments). I've seen doctors just shrug their shoulders and give up on a patient when they've run through all the tests they can think of, and your best bet at that point is to move on to someone else.

You are so right that what medical librarians do can mean the difference between life and death or between finding answers and not finding them. Anything they can do to help specialists keep up with the current literature in the profession is critically important, so medical librarians especially should be aware of RSS and how it can help with current awareness services.

I'm really amazed that you were able to complete your work this week! If something this serious is going on, just know that you can always contact me and turn things in a little late if you have to. I'm always willing to make exceptions for emergencies -- life happens!

Daivd, I am so, so sorry to hear about your wife. I do hope that as I'm writing this they've figured out what is going on with her and have managed to make he comfortable. I'll be sending you my best wishes and prayers for her recovery and return home.

Vicki

I am also hoping for the best for your wife.

I too am sorry to hear that you are dealing with such a medical emergency. Struggling to get a diagnosis is always such an emotional journey for both the patient and their loved ones.

I think this article was quite eye opening as to how much a patron can benefit from us spending a few extra minutes of our time to get them to really understand how much information they can get through newer technologies. This is the key to combining a patron's need for instant access with a professional librarian's guidance. If we embrace web technology in this manner, I think we prove that we are still very much an important part of information science. If we grow with the times, we shan't be seen as obsolete.

Thank you for your advice, Meredith, and thank you all for your kind words. My wife is feeling much better. Her blood pressure is under control and the headache and nausea have abated.

Her physicians still don't have a diagnosis and apparently that is unusual in cases of renal failure. Usually a cause becomes evident pretty quickly.

So far I have no reason to doubt the competence of my wife's physicians. I'd prefer they took their time coming up with the correct diagnosis rather than jumping to an easy conclusion.

One of the problems they're having to deal with is that the dyes that are injected for a full-body MRI are very hard on the kidneys, so they are without that diagnostic tool.

But they do have other diagnostic procedures that aren't as quick and easy as an MRI. We'll just have to wait and see.

I really appreciate everyone's concern.

They gave my wife a full x-ray skeletal survey yesterday--looking for bone marrow abnormalities. This morning they biopsied one of her kidneys. I suspect we'll know a lot more once we get the results of those procedures.

Vicki, I think Lupus is being considered as one of the possibilities. I'll take you up on your kind offer if that turns out to be the diagnosis.