One of the few memories I take with me (for better or worse) as my Internal med rotation comes to a close is the story of Mrs. ___.
Mrs. ___, a 68 yo F. patient of mine a few weeks ago during my inpatient IM rotation is in the hospital for worsening SOB (that's Shortness Of Breath ;-)).
She claims that she was a stripper during her heyday and insists on sleeping buck-nekked underneath her covers hoping that her other "cute" doctor would examine her thoroughly!
Sure enough, after the morning labs came out, my attending sends me and another intern to her room to do a rectal exam on her (to check for occult blood).
Needless to say, it was quite disturbing for me...and my intern.
And the kicker was, after I finished the exam, she proceeded to thank me for it...and with a smile!
Never really thought that rectal exams warranted a thank you. What disturbs me is that I don't know if Mrs. ___ was being appreciative or inappropriate or both.
Sorry if this post sounds uncouth. Still, the humor of this situation wasn't lost to either my attending, her resident or my other fellow students. They just love bringing it up from time to time.
Hey, I didn't exactly say that this memory was all rainbows and bubblegums.
And on that note, I take my leave and wish all my colleagues taking the IM SHELF exam tomorrow the best of luck.
Song of the day: "Healing Hands" - Citizen Cope
5 comments:
If I wasn't coughing I would be laughing, not at you, but these patients. Medicine shows you the gong show side of life - trust me there is an upside - you'll never be short of drinking/dinner party conversations when you hang out with those in a similar field.
Let's see a short summary - I've been bitten, kicked, had to sit on many little children - and had rug burn as a result, witness all sorts of private acts made public when I was doing research on a dementia ward, dealt with 6 years of working at a walk in clinic - god the stories.
In this case it's a combination of making you feel uncomfortable and being likely just herself - trashy, loud and a conversation started.
I guess I should explain that I work in a pediatric ophthalmology practice - I don't sit on children just because
It was amusing for a time, having a mental picture of you running around and randomly sitting on children...then you had to clarify it. I just thought kids in your area are freakishly "strong like bulls" and the only way to control them is to actually sit on them ;-)
Well they are freakishly strong, I suggest before you laugh too loud do a rotation in pediatric ophthalmology if you ever have the chance - it's clean - blocked tear ducts, refracts and strabismus patients for the most part - it's dilating those sweet precious children that is the pain in the ass. They are ultimately the perfect form of birth control for the single 20 something woman who at times thinks she's ready to settle down.
I used to work in a Triage ER as a clerk. During summers, many parents would come in with their little ones and they would be crying up a storm, all cut up and banged up because they were horsing around or some other thing that kids tend to do in the summer.
Naturally most of them needed some mending with needle and thread.
On a given night, I'd leave the ER feeling like I've worked out my arms and back to the max, because of just trying to keep these tykes steady for the doctor. And this is even with using the papoose on them.
It's no fun dealing with screaming kids in pain. Sometimes, the parents can be worse. I feel bad for the dads sometimes when they want to hold their child while the doctor works on them, but at the site of the blood and the sutures, they get all wobbly kneed and next thing you know, the smelling salts are out.
If I'm lucky enough to get into a peds optho rotation, you'll be the first to know.
You are very right about the parents... well children so much fun. Ms. J loves that I can't stand them screaming but they follow me around everywhere - WF, movie theatres, buses, Starbucks - they find me - I am sure there is some kind of warrant out for me in the children circles of this area.
Post a Comment