The week's highlights

Dance with me~

I was seeing a 78 year old man for a follow up visit. At his last visit, he said he was lonely and depressed. He wouldn't take any medication for depression, though.

"Well, you know, I wouldn't be so damned depressed all the time if I would get off my ass. They have these dances for the seniors, and my daughters think I should go. I'm not a very good dancer, but my daughter said maybe I could go up to one of the ladies at those dances and tell them a line. My daughter said I could say, I'm not a very good dancer, but maybe you could help me. So...what do you think?"

"I think it's a good line. I'd dance with you."

"Really?"

"Sure."

"Well then. I guess maybe that'll work. I'm going to go try it out with the ladies."


An encouraging word~

I was feeling particularly stupid all morning. I said lemniscus when I meant meniscus and bouton when I meant Bouchard. I was starting to wonder why the hell they let idiots like me do medicine.

But then, when I asked a woman about her leg pain, she said, "Well, I don't know what's wrong, but I don't think it's a tumonor." And it suddendly hit me... that's why you're the patient, and I'm going to be the doctor. Because, I may occasionally use the wrong word, but you make 'em up as you go.


I didn't even know they made those~

I had already introduced myself and was in the middle of asking the 82 year old gentleman questions about his blood pressure medication when he suddenly stopped me to ask, "What are you again?"

"I'm a medical student," I said.

"Oh, so you're going to be a nurse or something?"

"I'm actually going to be a doctor," I said.

"A lady doctor?" he asked.

"Yes," I said. "I'm going to be a lady doctor."

He thought about that for a moment, trying to wrap his head around this whole person who is both a woman and a doctor thing. "Huh," he finally said, "I think you're my very first lady doctor."

I sensed that I was still a bit of an enigma to him, but we continued on with his appointment--sorting out his medications and doing his physical. When we were finished, I shook his hand and said, "It was nice to meet you. And, I'm so glad to have been your very first lady doctor."

"Well, I'm glad, too," he said. "You were pretty good. I think I might see a lady doctor again."