Nephrology... "when good beans go bad"

Alright so Nephrology is over and yes of course after every module I explain how this module was the hardest one so far... I don't want to make a habit of doing that, however... the kidneys are SO complex. If anything this module has given me respect for those nephrologists out there who do this everyday. Acid/base balance is NOT easy, and neither is all the conditions that have almost the same symptoms. The exam seemed to have the same symptoms for almost every case! 

Lets see... Patient presents with: Flank pain, dysuria, hematuria, proteinurea, oliguria, azotemia. What is the most-likely diagnosis? 

Ok so it wasn't that way for every question, but it really seamed that way. Acute Kidney Injury (aka failure) can manifest itself quickly and in so many ways, even in patients who are being seen for a different condition involving another organ system! 

Here is a pretty interesting disease we learned about... Polycystic Kidney Disease. If this dosen't get your attention than nothing will! 

Polycystic Kidney Disease

The next module is Cardiology, and although it is easily one of my favorite topics of medicine, it scares the crap out of me! ECG is something that takes a lot of patience and practice to learn, and its really not easy. Plus all the thousands of diseases of the heart and what is affected by it just seems overwhelming! Oh and to add to the intensity, instead of the usual 2 week module this one is 3 weeks (one week in our module system is seriously like a normal semester's worth of information!) It's like getting butterflies before going on a crazy-huge roller coaster... here goes nothing!