[Verse 1]
Open the chart like a cartographer's scroll,
The problem list maps every fragment and whole,
Diagnoses stacked in their hierarchical throne,
Each entry a clue to the patient you've known.
TSH whispers of thyroid's slow drag,
When mood sinks like mercury, pull out that flag,
B12 depleted leaves cognition in debt,
A deficiency masking the sadness you've met.
[Chorus]
Thyroid, B12, glucose, sodium, hemoglobin,
Read every value before you begin,
Sodium dropping can mimic despair,
Hemoglobin low steals the vigor from there,
Chart first, then counsel — the body confesses
What history misses and language suppresses,
Thyroid, B12, glucose, sodium, hem —
Read the blood before you read the stem.
[Verse 2]
Glucose unsteady will counterfeit grief,
A diabetic dip wearing sorrow's motif,
Hyponatremia clouds the old mind,
Lethargy labeled as "patient declined."
So before you conclude it is purely despair,
Interrogate numbers with clinical care,
The labs are your witnesses, cold and precise,
They'll testify free of opinion and vice.
[Chorus]
Thyroid, B12, glucose, sodium, hemoglobin,
Read every value before you begin,
Sodium dropping can mimic despair,
Hemoglobin low steals the vigor from there,
Chart first, then counsel — the body confesses
What history misses and language suppresses,
Thyroid, B12, glucose, sodium, hem —
Read the blood before you read the stem.
[Verse 3]
Now write to the physician, trim every phrase,
No paragraph spirals through conceptual haze,
Behavior observed — say the frequency, time,
"Refused meals four mornings" sings better than rhyme,
Action requested, explicitly named,
"Please reassess Sertraline" — no ambiguity claimed,
Concise and specific, your letter must sing,
A surgeon respects an efficient offering.
[Bridge]
IMPACT and PROSPECT have shown us the score —
Collaborative models reduce suffering more,
Care managers stationed where primary meets need,
Depression screened early, addressed with due speed,
The psychiatrist, counselor, internist entwined,
A triad of disciplines, purposely aligned,
No silo contains what the elder requires,
Integrated care is the frame that inspires.
[Chorus]
Thyroid, B12, glucose, sodium, hemoglobin,
Read every value before you begin,
Sodium dropping can mimic despair,
Hemoglobin low steals the vigor from there,
Chart first, then counsel — the body confesses
What history misses and language suppresses,
Thyroid, B12, glucose, sodium, hem —
Read the blood before you read the stem.
[Outro]
So enter the room with the chart in your hand,
The laboratory, the letter, the collaborative plan,
The elder before you deserves the full lens —
Where medicine, mind, and coordination convenes.