Valentine's Organ Donation Spiel

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I'm reminded of an experience from medical school. And usually forget the actual business of getting a card or chocolates or flowers which I should probably be working more on.

Anyhoo, I had the unique and coincidental privilege of working on the transplant surgery service for a stint covering Valentine's Day. I assisted with harvesting organs at all hours of the day all around South Texas and transplanting them and saw a tremendous amount of good done and lives changed as well as some of the most ethereal circumstances with the lives lost in the process. This did include, oddly enough, taking a limo from San Antonio to Austin on Valentine's Day to procure a heart and bring it back for a heart transplant. Why a limo? We usually took a plane but it was a short enough distance they decided to drive it. I have no clue why a limo was the option though. But it was pretty nice Valentine's Day for a penniless medical student with no girlfriend at the time.

Short point is that if it's not against your beliefs, signing up to be an organ donor can be an amazing a life-changing experience for someone so I encourage everyone to sign up if they are able.

Here is more information on signing up to be an organ donor

On a related note, I also got turned on to the National Marrow Donor Program a few years ago when our neighbor's infant needed a bone marrow transplant for leukemia. This is a similarly life-changing gift for those in need and as opposed to being an organ donor, you get to go on living a healthy life with only minor procedures needed for donation if you are a match.

And here is how to learn more and sign up for the National Marrow Donor Program

Multivitamins

If you can get the lid off, you probably don't need them When I ask people if they are taking any vitamins, herbs or supplements, many people will say they are taking a multivitamin. When I ask them why they take it, I get a quizzical look most of the time. I think this is something that resonates from childhood and parental advice of the idea that we need vitamins to help our body develop. I'm not pediatrician so I can't speak to the effects on the developing child, but I will say that most non-pregnant adults without major medical conditions do not need extra vitamins. You'll be impressed by these labels promising 120%, 300%, 1200% of your daily dose of vitamin whatever it is, but the truth is that for most of these vitamins, if you take more than your daily dose your body needs, the rest just ends up in your urine. You are literally peeing money away in this case. There's been a new trendy vitamin every decade or so for the last 40-50 years; First it...

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