Days 14-15, and a fic promise

[bironic]

Just back from the hepatologist's office, where my doctor sent me to follow up on some scans I had last year. (I'm fine; we're just, er, making sure that's true.) Her office is on the main campus of the huge teaching hospital three-quarters of my family used to work for, though not always in, and I love going there. I'm sure that says a lot about

Comments

[topaz_eyes]

I want a sex scene that uses the terms "anal crypt" and "squamocolumnular junction."

Ah, fond memories of my histology course in university. I was the only person in my program who got to take it. (I was in a coop program--the course was one of the few that fit into my schedule.) There were a few toxicology students, and the rest were pre-veterinary students. That was one of the few courses where I actually woke up at 4 am to study. :-)

[bironic]

:D I understand! That stuff is incredibly interesting. I never took med/pre-med classes at school and have had to make do with a pathology textbook and medical encyclopedias and House fic instead.

[purridot]

I know nothing about hospitals. I think I may have been in one once in my life. I would be happy if it stayed that way!

I'm sure that says a lot about how I was never very sick growing up, nor was my family, that I would enjoy a hospital, but I do.

I love going to the dentist -- to the point where I almost don't get why people don't like going. I think it is like having a spa treatment. My best friend's dad was my dentist as I was growing up so to me it's a relaxing treat to go. Apparently when I was little I used to fall asleep in the chair. And afterwards, my mother would buy me a Nancy Drew book for being so good. OMG, I see it all so clearly :D

The only bad thing is the fluoride treatment (yuck). I'd rather have a root canal than a fluoride treatment. (My dentist says I am the only patient he ever had who *suggested* a root canal).

[purridot]

Oops -- theme was supposed to be The time I went to work with my parent.

My dad's a lawyer, and when I was young I spent a lot of time being "babysat" there. Part of the "babysitting" included having me type up clients' wills and such.*

*This would be about age 12 -- before that, I mostly made dollhouses out of office supplies.

[bironic]

The theme is whatever you want it to be. :) I just didn't want people to think they needed to post about some horrible time they'd had at a hospital.

That's cool, getting to transcribe wills and other documents. I've never read a will. Are they interesting or boring? Do you get a sense of the people behind them?

Your dentist story is adorable. How cute would it have been if your dentist had snapped a photo of you sleeping in the chair and put it up in the office to assure other patients? (Unless they'd've thought you'd been sedated.... Hm.)

Have you had a root canal? I haven't, but my mom has, and they don't look fun at all. At least, not the way they were performed 10 years ago, which I know has changed since. Don't like the taste of the fluoride?

[purridot]

I always thought that if I ever became a lawyer, estate law would be the most interesting (and Nancy Drew-like -- she was always looking for wills).

I find wills sort of comforting. I like loose ends being neatly tied up. One thing I remember from the first time I had to type up a will was to never finish a sentence on one page -- it must always run over onto the next page, to make it difficult for someone to "insert an extra page", if you know what I mean. ;-)

I think I've had two root canals in total (I don't remember any details, I was asleep!) Before I left my soul-sucking last job with its dental plan, I had ALL my childhood fillings replaced. Took 2 days (not appointments -- *days* :D

[roga]

All the times I've ever been in a hospital, in order:

1. Obviously, birth. My grandmother had broken her arm (diving into a pool or something) and couldn't get to my mother fast enough, and so the first person to visit my mother in the hospital was my grandmother's friend, the then-Prime Minister's wife.

2. San Francisco - my youngest sister was born. I don't remember anything but the video footage, which shows me by her crib, asking my parents, "What, she already has a watch? Why don't I get a watch?" Clearly the concept of hospital bracelets was beyond my grasp

[bironic]

Yay, I'm not the only one! :)

1. Sorry to hear about your grandmother's arm (many many many years later...), but I am charmed by the story of who came to visit in her place. It's like being blessed at your birth; like having royalty personally attend your mother's bedside. I mean, not like royalty at all, but for some reason my mind's going there, and it's charming. Yes.

2. and 4. - Hee!

3. That sounds so sad and sweet. I'm glad he went peacefully and that you were there to see him before he died, and that on top of it he softened up towards the end.

My grandfather was always a very hard, not very affectionate man, but here he surprised me, and I'm so glad I went.My mom's father died when I was in middle school. We were never close; he hadn't lived near us until his last few years -- long story, but the short version is he ended up in an adult home nearby, and my mom, who'd never gotten along with him, took care of him in his last days. He had always been very stoic and stingy with both money and affection. But before he died --

[phinnia]

We grew up in a small town with one hospital. I remember looking through the hospital window at my niece just after she was born (who is five years younger than I am

[bironic]

LOL. That's a great image. I didn't know they could do that -- give the patients / residents alcohol like that, I mean.

The ceramic heads do sound scary. Stuff becomes scarier at night anyway.

May I ask what you needed orthopedic surgery for?

[phinnia]

I think they can with permission of their families? As long as the patients don't get violent or bother other residents. :-)
The orthopedic surgery was for my spastic diplegia (I was born prematurely): they basically went in and physically stretched several tendons in the backs of my legs because they were far too tight. (These days they can do some of that with medication and botox therapy: the botox basically makes the muscles more rigid, which in the case of over-active deep muscles, means they behave closer to normal. :-D) I spent six weeks in a double leg cast with a three foot bar between the ankles, and six weeks in a double leg cast without the bar between the ankles. It was somewhat less than fun. :)

[bironic]

Oh, interesting. I have been wondering since you mentioned that you couldn't walk on your own for a while when you were a child.

And hooray for another non-cosmetic use for Botox.

I had to wear a special pair of orthopedic shoes when I was a toddler to correct/prevent pigeon toes; they were little outwardly turned white shoes like rigid boots, with a flat metal brace between the soles at the ball of the foot. I think it was utterly unnecessary. If anything, my feet point outward nowadays.

[mer_duff]

My first memory of being admitted to hospital memory was when I had knee surgery at age 14. The surgeon had told me that if it was a minor tear, I'd wake up with a light cast. The bigger the cast, the more serious the injury. When I woke up in recovery, the first thing I did was feel the cast - which was very big indeed. I think they kept me in hospital for two days. What I remember most is refusing to take painkillers unless ordered to, because I was convinced I would get addicted - which makes me uniquely not-qualified to write House

[bironic]

Ha! You made him forget a whole language with your gallivanting about on an injured knee. (Did you make it through the trip all right?)

What I remember most is refusing to take painkillers unless ordered to, because I was convinced I would get addicted - which makes me uniquely not-qualified to write House...

But it does set you up nicely to write Wilson's moral superiority if you're so inclined.

[thewlisian_afer]

But it does set you up nicely to write Wilson's moral superiority if you're so inclined.

ahahahaha I find this especially amusing because I am so inclined, and I also refused painkillers when I was in the hospital. (Though, I wasn't very worried about addiction. It's just that brain surgery doesn't really hurt much.)

[mer_duff]

Ah, Wilson's moral superiority - one of the things I like least about him (and myself), which is probably why I water it down a bit too much.

That was the last major injury on the trip, I think (me - both knees skiing and then the cartilage, K - a broken finger and bruises from a moped accident). We were in Pamplona for the running of the bulls when it came time to remove the stitches, and we didn't want to bother anyone at a clinic, as they were probably otherwise occupied, so I made K cut them out with her Swiss Army knife.