One of my consults this weekend was an unfortunate fellow in ICU who'd recently had heart surgery. For whatever reason they'd decided to leave his chest cavity open for a few days, in case they had to go back in urgently.
So I went in the room. As expected, the guy was sedated and intubated. I checked his pupils and reflexes, the usual neurology stuff.
Being curious, I couldn't help looking into his partially open chest cavity, where, under surgical-sterile plastic sheeting, I could see his heart beating.
A nurse in the room came over and offered me a Junior Mint.
13 comments:
Being on the socialist side of the pond I had to seek help from Wikipedia on this one - “ Junior Mints are featured heavily in the Seinfeld episode "The Junior Mint”, in which, while observing a surgical procedure, Jerry pushes Kramer’s hand away, causing a Junior Mint to fall into the patient. Later, the Junior Mint is implied to have cured the patient's infection”. That reminded me of the old story of cardiac surgeon who dropped a contact lens into the wound whilst operating.
Thanks for explaining. I had no idea why the nurse would have walked over and handed him a Junior Mint. I've seen some Seinfeld episodes, but obviously not this one.
One can only hope the consult wasn't for altered mental status...
A Saran wrap cover would sure as shootin' make a re-entry pretty quick!
It's very small! It's a *junior* mint!
Mr Bean had the same problem when he dropped a sweet in the patient's cavity. I cant remember if he put it back in his mouth when retrieved
In the category of things you never consider, our daughter an ICU Nurse Practitioner referred to that as bedside chest cracking and upon hearing of the situation I could only think to myself. WTF
"For Halloween, we put a bunch of those mini-boxes of Junior Mints in there, so trick-or-treaters could just reach in and help themselves."
This almost made me snort Diet Coke on my keyboard. Thanks for the giggle Dr G!
Correction; I should have said “on the eastern side of the pond” for clarity…
Sad, those who didn't get it.
I just want to say that I've been reading your blog for YEARS. You are the reason we decided to try going on cruises. I've read about your children growing up, your amazing wife, your wonderful staff, and some days this blog is the bright spot in a world that feels very gray. Thank you for all you do!
Oh hayyyyyyyyy! You're still here! :) Amazing!
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