Thursday, March 20, 2014

Foot, meet mouth

My 2:00 patient yesterday was obviously blind. She had the long white cane, and a guide dog. Mary filled out forms for her. She held onto my arm as I led her back to my office.


Dr. Grumpy: "So what can I do for you?"

Mrs. Two: "I was at the emergency room this weekend. I had a seizure on Sunday, and bit my tongue."

Dr. Grumpy: "Good heavens. Have you ever had a seizure before?"

Mrs. Two: "No. They told me I had another one in the ER after I got there."

Dr. Grumpy: "Where did the first one happen?"

Mrs. Two: "I was in the car."

Dr. Grumpy: "Were you driving?"

Pause.

Dr. Grumpy: "That was a really stupid question, wasn't it?"


She cracked up. It was a few minutes before we could start again.
at

20 comments:

  1. ER's MomMarch 20, 2014 at 4:44 AM

    Awesome. Sometimes we have a script that we use in medicine and this was obviously one of yours.

    Looks like she took it well.

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  2. Matt TurnockMarch 20, 2014 at 7:02 AM

    don't get it...why couldn't she be driving?

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  3. peaceMarch 20, 2014 at 7:54 AM

    Easy Dr.G. You are human after all. Plus we are programmed to look for certain things(ask certain questions) in each scenario. That was your hardware taking over for a moment. LOL
    Cool title by the way.

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  4. skidmarkMarch 20, 2014 at 8:06 AM

    Considering they have Braille on the drive-up ATMs it is not really such a stupid question, now is it?

    stay safe.

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  5. KimMarch 20, 2014 at 8:53 AM

    Ha. Reminds me of the other day when I was grocery shopping. The cashier said 'Please shop with us again soon!' and I said 'Thanks, you too.'.

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  6. brentMarch 20, 2014 at 9:41 AM

    The story would have had an awesome ending if she had replied-"no, the dog was driving."

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  7. Dies IraeMarch 20, 2014 at 11:09 AM

    You know, we attorneys actually get paid to ask questions like that.

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  8. JonoMarch 20, 2014 at 11:38 AM

    She certainly could get a Florida drivers license.

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  9. Ronald SteuryMarch 20, 2014 at 11:57 AM

    Reminds me of a few weeks ago when I was doing the mono-filament foot exam on a blind diabetic patient and blurted out "OK, now close your eyes and say 'Now' when you feel this." As I blushed at my stupidity, he smiled.

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  10. PackerMarch 20, 2014 at 3:00 PM

    I hope to be able to laugh again tomorrow, today is too soon.

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  11. Mary-IVTMarch 20, 2014 at 7:03 PM

    Thanks for sharing. It's good to have a laugh at our moments of brain lapses. And nice to know that many patients have a sense of humor too.

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  12. Mary-IVTMarch 20, 2014 at 7:06 PM

    Thanks for sharing. All of us have had this moments of brain lapse. Also nice to hear when patients share in the humor of the moment.

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  13. Steeny LouMarch 20, 2014 at 7:24 PM

    Love it, Doc!

    Kim's comment made me laugh...

    "Ha. Reminds me of the other day when I was grocery shopping. The cashier said 'Please shop with us again soon!' and I said 'Thanks, you too.'."

    THAT reminds me of when I was at the grocery store with my 20-year-old daughter recently. The cashier, one we'd never seen before, said, "Thank you. Bye!"

    My daughter said, "I love you!" And then she shook her head as we were walking out the door, saying, "What did I just say?"

    I couldn't stop laughing for weeks.

    But, yeah, around here we say "I love you" all the time when a family member is going out the door, so ... habit.

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  14. Annie LawMarch 20, 2014 at 9:05 PM

    In reply to Matt Turnock,

    She couldn't be driving without a seeing-eye dog sitting beside her.

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  15. AnonymousMarch 24, 2014 at 2:51 AM

    Cows! Cows! Cows!

    - Gene Wilder to a blind Richard Pyor in "See No Evil, Hear No Evil"

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  16. WeeBoyMarch 29, 2014 at 4:24 AM

    My mum has regular fights with the self-checkout at the supermarket.

    Self-chek: Please take your items.
    Mum: I am! give me a minute!

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  17. foffmomMarch 29, 2014 at 1:29 PM

    OK, so you feel better.
    Patient goes to a new psychiatrist. Patient has anxiety issues and social phobia, uses a therapy dog and has best friend come with her to this stressful appointment with a new doctor.
    New psychiatrist walks in, sees dog and friend and asks "So can you see me at all?!" Patient had totally normal vision, and I suspect an eye roll clued him in!

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  18. LinMay 12, 2014 at 10:49 PM

    Don't feel bad, one time I was talking to a friend of mine who is blind online. She was saying how nasty the weather was near her that day, and I said how beautiful it was where I am. And offered to show her a picture...

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  19. AnonymousMay 14, 2014 at 4:41 PM

    Lin,
    is your friend able to see when not on line?

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  20. LinMay 15, 2014 at 7:23 PM

    My friend is unable to see, whether online or not ;) She's been blind since birth.

    Being blind will definitely prevent you from driving, but not from using a computer. There are braille keyboards if needed but she just has the order memorized in her head. She uses a program called JAWS which reads out everything for her. Unfortunately, you can't read out a photo! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JAWS_%28screen_reader%29

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So wadda you think?