Mary's desk, August 26, 2013

Mr. Stapes: "Hello?"

Mary: "Hi, Mr. Stapes. It's Mary at Dr. Grumpy's office."

Mr. Stapes: "Can you speak up?"

Mary: "HI, MR. STAPES. IT'S MARY, AT DR. GRUMPY'S OFFICE."

Mr. Stapes: "Oh, hi, Mary. Wasn't I just there a short while ago?"

Mary: "Yes. I'm calling because you left your hearing aids in Dr. Grumpy's exam room."

Mr. Stapes: "What?"

Mary: "YOU LEFT YOUR HEARING AIDS IN DR. GRUMPY'S EXAM ROOM."

Mr. Stapes: "I'm sorry, I have to hand the phone to my wife. I can't find my hearing aids."

Sunday night

 

My cell phone rings.

Dr. Grumpy: "This is Dr. Grumpy."

Dr. Nerve: "Hi, Ibee" (pant, pant, pant, loud thumping noise) "I'm just calling to give you the post-call check-out" (thump, thump, thump) "In room 752 is the guy you saw Friday..."

Dr. Grumpy: "Are you okay? What's all that noise?"

Dr. Nerve: "I'm running" (pant, pant, thump, thump, thump) "on my treadmill."

Dr. Grumpy: "Why don't you call me later? I can barely hear you."

Dr. Nerve: "No! (pant, thump) "I'm determined to get back in shape!" (pant, thump, pant, thump) "Anyway, the guy in 752, Mr. Smith, had another seizure last night..." (pant, pant, thump...)

Dr. Grumpy: "What did his MRI show?"

Dr. Nerve: (thump, pant) "Hang on, let me get the list. I set it next to..." (thump) "AAAAAAAHHH!" (crash, thud) "SHIT!!!

click

Found in a shopping cart at Local Grocery

Patient quote of the day

"Why do I have to let you know whenever I have a seizure? You're not my fucking mother."

More survey fun

I've put up some of the weird/stupid/random questions I've seen on surveys in the past. Apparently these aren't limited to North America.

A reader from the other side of the planet (Australia) sent this excerpt from one he recently took:

It's the 4th item down that grabs my attention.

Let's face it: everyone has their own degree of what is and isn't comfortable. But if I've reached a point in my life where I'm having an autopsy, I'm pretty sure I'm not going to care one way or the other.

Thank you, Caillin!

Oh, I'm sure they're used to your type

Dr. Grumpy: "This is Dr. Grumpy, returning a page."

Mr. Platelet: "Hi, I need you to call the pharmacist about my Plavix."

Dr. Grumpy: "What's wrong? I thought Annie called it in earlier today?"

Mr. Platelet: "Yeah, but they're trying to pull a fast one on me. They tried to give me something called Clopidogrel, and they're telling me it's the same. And I've never taken Clopidogrel!"

Dr. Grumpy: "It is the same. Clopidogrel is just the generic name."

Mr. Platelet: "It is?"

Dr. Grumpy: "Yeah."

Mr. Platelet: "Oh crap. Normally my wife picks it up for me, too. I've just never noticed."

Dr. Grumpy: "Same drug. Just go get it."

Mr. Platelet: "Um, can you call it in to another pharmacy for me? After the way I acted I'm too embarrassed to go back there now."

Pizzaball

The Grumpyville city summer sports leagues are always popular, with different divisions for all levels of talent.

Usually one of the best teams in town is 8 guys who all work at Local Pizza. The manager there is the husband of one of my patients. The Pizza Boys have a feared reputation in their division, as they've been friends since high school and play together year round. They've only rarely been defeated.

Until this month.

Mrs. Pizza came in for a routine visit, and I asked how her husband's team did this year.

She paused, then began laughing. Hysterically. When she finally calmed down she told me they'd lost EVERY. SINGLE. GAME. By huge margins, too.

I asked her how this could happen. Was one sick? Injured? Dead? These guys are good (at least by city league standards).

And she began laughing again.

Apparently, due to a busy day at the restaurant, they sent one guy's girlfriend to sign them up at the city park that runs the leagues.

She signed them up for division 5 (normally they play in division 3) by mistake.

Division 5 is guys who are either recently-retired from the NBA, or who came really close to getting into the pro leagues, but weren't quite good enough.

But they are, however, a helluva lot better than a bunch of guys who run a pizza joint.

I was laughing so hard it pretty much ended the visit.

Important details

Seen in a chart while on call this weekend:

FOR FUCK'S SAKE, NO!!!

Seen at Costco, in adjacent aisles, on August 18, 2013:

Once again, my pleas go unanswered.

"I love what you've done with the conning tower!"

While doing some reading about naval battles in the Mediterranean during WWII, I stumbled across this profile of a U-Boat commander.

It was the last line that gave me the giggles.

Patient quote of the day

"We've been trying to get pregnant for a year, but took a break last month to get married."

Downgraded? Wishful thinking? Fight in my lobby?

From the "Emergency contact" section of a patient information form a woman filled out yesterday:

Mary's desk

Mary: "Okay, so we'll see you next Tuesday at 8:15. Any questions?"

Mr. Letter: "I know your office complex pretty well, but where are you in relationship to the 1st floor post office?"

Mary: "There isn't a post office in our building."

Mr. Letter: "Yes there is. I was just in it last month to mail a package. It's on the west side of the first floor."

Mary: "Sir, I assure you, this is a medical building. There isn't a post office anywhere in here."

Mr. Letter: "They must have closed it. It's across from the elevator. How could you not see it?"

Mary: "We've been in this building for over 10 years, sir. There's no post office here. The nearest one is about 4 miles away."

Pause

Mr. Letter: "Are you sure Dr. Grumpy isn't in the building with the post office?"

Mary: "Yes sir. Do you want me to give you our address? You can see a map on our website..."

Mr. Letter: "Why don't you just cancel the appointment. I need to buy stamps and send a package to my cousin, so I'll just try to find a neurologist closer to a post office."

Negative answers FAIL

Dr. Grumpy: "Do you use caffeine?"

Mr. Negative: "No, except for 2 cups of regular coffee each day."

Dr. Grumpy: "Do you take any medications?"

Mr. Negative: "Nope. Only Coumadin and Metformin."

Dr. Grumpy: "Are you allergic to any medications?"

Mr. Negative: "None, just Penicillin."