It's funny because although I didn't know anything about Dr. Obeime, he's known about me since the day I was born. My parents migrated from Nigeria to America around the same time he did and they happen to meet in Indiana and become friends (Indiana had a lot of corn but not alot of Nigerians at the time so it was easier then to keep in contact. Now we have more corn and more Nigerians). So when Dr. Bryant set up me shadowing Dr. Obeime for the day, it was like a "family reunion" as well as a shadowing day for me which was nice.
Instead of telling you his whole life story (which would take up this whole page) I'll give you a short summary. Born in Nigeria, Dr. Obeime came to America on scholarship and is currently licensed as a dermatologist and optometrist (yes, he has a MD in TWO specialities) and also has a Masters in Public Affairs (which he completed while in optometry school). Did I mention that he is currently the president of Indiana's Dermatology Association and is the co-founder (with his lovely wife, no seriously she's gorgeous and she's also a doctor) of a non-profit organization called Mercy Foundation that works to provide medical resources to clinics in Nigeria? Periodically a team will go to Nigeria to distribute the medical supplies. By the way, did I mention that they have three children close to my age?
In a word: DANG!!! I felt like an underachiever after learning about his education background. Not really. For me it just lets me knows that I have someone to look up to and it's also a reminder for me to find my own way to leave a mark in the future as a doctor. I think I'm up for the challenge! :) When I asked him about medical school, one thing he said was that "you don't have to be smart to survive medical school, you have to be focused". Words I'll definitely keep in mind.
Dr. Obeime still practices both in fields of medicine but as the page title shows, I was shadowing him on one of his Dermatology days. The day started off with me assisting him in minor surgery. Seriously. A patient came in with a peculiar mole on his back and I got to assist Dr. Obeime by cutting the ends of the stitches he made after extracting the patient's tissue (a sample) for pathology analysis. After I finished, he went over my work further trimming down the stitches saying, "although your cuts were good, one thing you learn in medicine is that if you can do better, you do so" . Afterward I saw another patient with ecemza who also had a daughter who also had skin problem. One interesting comment the mother made was that she was using a lotion company because on it said that it was dermatology approved. Then Dr. Obeime commented that it depends on what the lotion is approved for. Just another reminder to read the fine line of any claims (especially medical ones) made on products. I wonder if drug companies are out to cause confusion among doctors and patients with these type of claims. It's seriously misleading and since these companies advertise their products to patients (majority not trained in understanding a medication or treatment's proper usage) I think it causes more harm than good.
Since this page is getting long and I still have more pages to write, I'll wrap up my entry (at least try). After this patient we saw another one (actually I wasn't allowed to shadow this patient) whose patients (10-12 years old) wanted her to undergo a procedure for removing her arm hairs (not kidding) so Dr. Obeime had to talk to both the patient and the parents and after both conversations decided that the girl didn't need the procedure. People never cease to amaze me. The next patient had odd bumps on her head which they cut out. One of the last patients I observed had a skin disease, fungus related, (in all honesty I forget what it's caused). Dr. Obeime was able to diagnose this himself using a microscope he had in his office (Finally, I see the point of my biology professors making me have to use my less- than- perfect eyesight to look into microscopes and making me hope and pray that I'm actually looking at I'm suppose to be looking at--the mystery's solved!).
At the end of the day, I got to see another aspect of medicine, that I had only heard of and the experience was positive. It was actually a more interesting field than I anticipated it to be. Other than observing different diagnoses, I got to see the level of doctor-patient interaction I had yet to experience, it was different --a good different. From my brief observations, it seems that his field allows for more casual and personal doctor-patient relationship. I see the importance of this since his job requires helping heal the skin as well as build back up his patient's self-confidence in their appearance as well as his skills. The patients, unlike the ones in the outpatient clinics, also tend to come from a higher socioeconomic status. Dr. Obeime didn't exactly tell me this but some of these patients did have the "American cultural markers" of being higher class (ie living in Carmel, Indiana; husband a doctor, etc.). So I think this also adds to the difference in environment that I sensed. It was nice. Another important observation I made is the doctor-doctor assistant relationship that he has created in his practice as well. What's cool about his relationship with his staff is that he teaches and asks questions of them so that they know more about the skin diseases they are helping him treat, which I just think is well, cool. All in all, I had a great experience and am officially more informed about dermatology and the roles dermatologists play in patient care.
I wonder if he'll pay me for my services?
