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Saturday, July 22, 2006

Breakfast


I currently have a medical student rotating through on my service. He's in his third year and completing his core clerkships. This means he'll be spending a month at a time through various "core" medical fields, including surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics, pediatrics, and the such.

As often is the case with most smart people, he's a bit eccentric. Over this past week, I've been fascinated by discovering one strange quirk after another. The strangest one being that he doesn't eat "sweets".

I really have a hard time believing someone when they tell me that they don't like sweet tasting foods. Sure, a sugary steak doesn't sound too appetizing, but who doesn't like a slice of cake and ice cream? What kid doesn't like dessert? Even me, as lactose intolerant as I am, will have a small bit of ice cream here and there. To hell with the gas!

Anyway, after a rough call night and morning rounds filled with one aggravation after another, we headed down to the cafeteria for a quick bite and coffee in order to get our second wind. I offered to buy him a donut this morning (since I was having one) and he declined, instead reaching for a biscuit, touting his adversion to desserts.

OK, first of all, donuts are not dessert. Secondly, who turns down a free donut? Even if you're on some sort of a diet, turning down a donut is as ludicrous as paying retail.