All the more curiouser
One of the many things I like about my job is that there's always something different going on.
I'm in the ER this month (15 shifts in five weeks...I practically have almost two weeks of vacation this month, except it's spread out over many, many days) and yesterday was a fairly busy day. There was your run-of-the-mill crap and then the interesting stuff.
An example of a conversation I had many times yesterday:
Concerned parent: My kid has fever/runny nose/cough/earache/etc.
Me, after examining kid: Your kid has a viral URI. Is your doctor's office not open today?
CP: Yes, it is, but I figured I'd wait less if I came in here.
Me: Interesting, because your pediatrician's office is across the street and since I work there, I know they take walk-ins during the afternoon.
CP: Oh, well, I figured I'd come here.
Me: *forehead bleeding from smashing it against clipboard*
I sewed some forehead lacs yesterday (not mine). And then, I diagnosed something I've never diagnosed before. A baby came in as sent by his pediatrician for "funny shaped head." His head circumference had been crossing percentiles on the growth curve and it was a little concerning. No shit, Sherlock. I made my diagnosis based on the story (it's always been that way, he's developing totally normally) did my exam and got a CT of his head to confirm it all.
He has craniosynostosis. His sagittal suture is almost completely fused.
I've taken care of kids with this after surgery in the hospital but I've never seen one pre-operatively, so to speak. Pretty cool, eh? He'll be fine once they fix his noggin.
I only had clinic today. All of my patients showed up - a frakking miracle. And of course, my two most complicated ones of the day were last. The second to last one is a teenage boy I'm treating for ADHD. However, a lot of stuff has come up in the six months since I've seen him - he's shoplifting, he's breaking things, he's torturing the cats.
Fanfuckingtastic.
I spent a great deal of time with him and his step-mom today and there's this whole social drama/mess undercurrent I wasn't even aware of. Oh, and the kid is refusing any kind of help whatsoever outside of medication (needs ADHD meds, will consider other meds, but flat out refuses to go see a counselor/therapist/whatever). I think that's what he needs more than anything but he's so reticent to the idea that even if he goes it probably won't work. Therefore, I'll be seeing him on an at least monthly basis. Hopefully he'll get so sick of me he'll want to talk to someone else. :) He trusts me and (sort of) listens to me but JFC, he's a teenage boy. I found myself getting incredibly frustrated but when I step back and look at it all, I think I made some inroads with him today.
Teaching day in the morning, then home for a nap because I start my first of four-in-a-row overnights in the ER tomorrow. Joy!
Moment of Burrito: "Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue." - Steve McCroskey, Airplane! (thanks fes42!)
I'm in the ER this month (15 shifts in five weeks...I practically have almost two weeks of vacation this month, except it's spread out over many, many days) and yesterday was a fairly busy day. There was your run-of-the-mill crap and then the interesting stuff.
An example of a conversation I had many times yesterday:
Concerned parent: My kid has fever/runny nose/cough/earache/etc.
Me, after examining kid: Your kid has a viral URI. Is your doctor's office not open today?
CP: Yes, it is, but I figured I'd wait less if I came in here.
Me: Interesting, because your pediatrician's office is across the street and since I work there, I know they take walk-ins during the afternoon.
CP: Oh, well, I figured I'd come here.
Me: *forehead bleeding from smashing it against clipboard*
I sewed some forehead lacs yesterday (not mine). And then, I diagnosed something I've never diagnosed before. A baby came in as sent by his pediatrician for "funny shaped head." His head circumference had been crossing percentiles on the growth curve and it was a little concerning. No shit, Sherlock. I made my diagnosis based on the story (it's always been that way, he's developing totally normally) did my exam and got a CT of his head to confirm it all.
He has craniosynostosis. His sagittal suture is almost completely fused.
I've taken care of kids with this after surgery in the hospital but I've never seen one pre-operatively, so to speak. Pretty cool, eh? He'll be fine once they fix his noggin.
I only had clinic today. All of my patients showed up - a frakking miracle. And of course, my two most complicated ones of the day were last. The second to last one is a teenage boy I'm treating for ADHD. However, a lot of stuff has come up in the six months since I've seen him - he's shoplifting, he's breaking things, he's torturing the cats.
Fanfuckingtastic.
I spent a great deal of time with him and his step-mom today and there's this whole social drama/mess undercurrent I wasn't even aware of. Oh, and the kid is refusing any kind of help whatsoever outside of medication (needs ADHD meds, will consider other meds, but flat out refuses to go see a counselor/therapist/whatever). I think that's what he needs more than anything but he's so reticent to the idea that even if he goes it probably won't work. Therefore, I'll be seeing him on an at least monthly basis. Hopefully he'll get so sick of me he'll want to talk to someone else. :) He trusts me and (sort of) listens to me but JFC, he's a teenage boy. I found myself getting incredibly frustrated but when I step back and look at it all, I think I made some inroads with him today.
Teaching day in the morning, then home for a nap because I start my first of four-in-a-row overnights in the ER tomorrow. Joy!
Moment of Burrito: "Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue." - Steve McCroskey, Airplane! (thanks fes42!)