Monday, July 13, 2015

Fifteen miles into a long run, I arrived at the Rose Bowl stadium to complete two laps tagging along several of the Pasadena Pacers runners. Halfway into the first lap a chubby looking man passes me and yells, "Weak sauce!" He then turns around and says, "Remember me Doc?!"

This man was once my patient 18 months ago in the cardiac care unit. I was the senior resident who treated him while he was hospitalized with a nasty anterior MI that required two drug eluding stents. Adding insult to injury, the hospital course was complicated by an ischemic stroke. I was shocked seeing him now... he'd gone from morbid obesity to 'chubby status,' having lost well over 100 pounds in the span of 1.5 years. He flexed his right arm and made a waveform with his hands to demonstrate how the deficits from his lacunar stroke had resolved.

He gave me a hug, thanked me. He said I looked gaunt... We had a good laugh and talked for another half mile. We even ran together for a bit. I gave him a tap in the back and sprinted away, "Hey! you don't look like Peter Griffith anymore!"

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