"Here, the house is full of nitrogen and oxygen."

This is my daughter's birthday gift wish list:

This bud's for you

Dr. Grumpy: "You been doing okay since I last saw you?"

Ms. Cerevisiae: "Um, I had a really bad yeast infection, you know, in my girl parts."

Dr. Grumpy: "How have your migraines been?"

Ms. Cerevisiae: "It was REALLY bad. I mean, it climbed from down there all the way up though the connection into my stomach, then to my ears, too."

Long pause.

Dr. Grumpy: "I've, uh, never heard of that."

Ms. Cerevisiae: "That's what all the other doctors tell me, too. Anyway, my migraines are better."

Weight loss

Seen at the Asian grocery:

Rubber sole

Mary: "Dr. Grumpy's office, this is Mary."

Mrs. Foote: "Hi, I was there about an hour ago, and I think the heel of my shoe fell off."

Mary: "I..."

Mrs. Foote: "Can you please look for it? I want it back."

Mary: "I don't see it in the lobby... Hang on..."


Mary knocks on my door


Mary: "Hey, sorry to interrupt you and Mr. Lumbar, but Mrs. Foote thinks she lost part of her shoe back here."

Dr. Grumpy: "Uh..."

Mr. Lumbar: (looks under his chair) "I think she did. Here."


(hands Mary a rubber shoe heel, Mary leaves)


Mary: "Hello, Mrs. Foote? I found your heel. Are you really coming back for this?"

Mrs. Foote: "Of course. How else am I supposed to walk home? Hey, do you have any super glue?"


I may have to start carrying super glue at the office. This was the second time a patient requested it.

Diet options

Recently I had to go to a research meeting.

While setting it up, they emailed me the following list of diets to choose from:

I wanted to do a mix & match, just to see what they brought me.

Huh?

I faxed in a script for Depakote 500mg yesterday, and a few minutes later received this back:

The strength seems to be stated pretty clearly. Can anyone in pharmacy explain this to me?

Memories...

What was your worst date?

I'm sure you remember it. If you don't, you haven't had it... yet.

We all have one. Where the person who seemed promising turned out to be a nightmare. Or a series of bizarrely improbable circumstances arose to make it a miserable time. Or some other chain of unpleasant events.

Somewhere out there is a woman for whom I was her worst date ever. I'm sure that even today, 25+ years later, she remembers it and tells others about the horrible time she had with me.

During my first year of residency I asked a nurse out, and we decided to go hiking. I chose a scenic trail outside town that went in and out of a forested area.

I picked her up in the early afternoon of a clear day, and off we went. It was nice drive to the trail head.

We'd hiked about 30-45 minutes when we came to a fork, and took the one to head back to the parking lot. Which led to another fork, and we again picked the one that should have taken us back to the car.

After another 30 minutes we realized we'd gotten completely lost, and had NFC where to go (back then, kids, people didn't have GPS phones).

Then it began raining. Heavily. Of course, the umbrella was back in the car.

We turned back, hoping to reach the parking lot at some point. Noticing the forest road about a 1/4 mile away, we walked through mud to get to it, figuring it was more likely to lead us in the right direction.

It wasn't. And it was still raining.

After a while we hitched a ride with the first passing car, which fortunately turned out to be a state parks ranger. He was on his way to close the parking lot we were in, since the rain was flooding the trails.

It was a long, quiet, dripping-wet ride back to her place. I tried to make conversation, but she just stared out the window. She didn't return my calls, either, when I tried to apologize.

And, realistically, I don't blame her.

But whenever someone tells me a story of their worst date ever, I remember that for a lady out there... I am that story.

The other end

Seen in charts:

 

- Thank you, T!

 

- Thank you, M!

Random weekend pictures

Okay, time to put up some pics you guys have sent in.



Here's a food stand in Israel, whose owner is trying to figure out why English speakers aren't lining up for his product:

Here we have a school district that's apparently given up on being excellent, or even pretty good:

Then there's this store. I'm not sure what an "aromas artisan" is, but after lunch at Taco Bell, Craig probably qualifies... and not in a good way.

This is about as use-specific as a soap can get:

This is an armored military vehicle developed by Venezuela in the 1930's, during border tensions with Columbia. Regrettably, Star Wars was still 40 years in the future, so no one recognized the Darth Vader chic.

Rules

Clerk: "Emergency room, this is Kim."

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

Clerk: "Please hold for Dr. Stat."

(15 seconds of ONJ's 1980 hit "Let's Get Physical")

Dr. Stat: "Dr. Grumpy? Hi, this is Suzy Stat over at Local ER. I'm a new doc here. Anyway, I have a guy who needs to establish with a neurologist, and I have you down as on call."

Dr. Grumpy: "I am, what's up?"

Dr. Stat: "Nothing big, he moved here and has a history of seizures. He hasn't had a chance to find a doc yet, and so came in here looking for a refill and referral name before he ran out."

Dr. Grumpy: "That's fine. Give him my info and a few days of meds and I'll get him in this week."

Dr. Stat: "Great. Where's your office? Isn't it south of here?"

Dr. Grumpy: "No, I'm in downtown Grumpyville."

Dr. Stat: "Oh... He lives on the south side and doesn't have a car. He needs a doc he can walk to."

Dr. Grumpy: "I..."

Dr. Stat: "Could you, like, rent an office on the south side to see him? He likely only needs to come in once a year or so."

Dr. Grumpy: "Uh, no. He can take a bus, or Lyft, or Uber, or whatever."

Dr. Stat: "But as the ER on-call doc you're obligated to see him."

Dr. Grumpy: "Correct, and I'm happy to do so this week. But I only have one office, and that's where he'll find me."

Dr. Stat: "Is that allowed?"

Dr. Grumpy: "Yes."

Dr. Stat: "They never teach you these things in training."

Music

Cleaning out a drawer, I found a late 80's list of songs my medical school roommate (Enzyme) and I wrote down for a year-end party. They summarized our thoughts at the time on med school.

So today I'm sharing them with you:


"Up All Night" - The Boomtown Rats

"Land of Confusion" - Genesis

"Come Monday" (There's a pathology test) - Jimmy Buffet

"Pressure" - Billy Joel

"Life is Shit" - The Dead Milkmen

"Why We Pray" - M.C. Hammer 

"Hell Hole" - Spinal Tap

"I Wanna be Sedated" - The Ramones

"Wipeout" - The Surfaris

"19th Nervous Breakdown" - The Rolling Stones

"One of These Days" (dedicated to a specific pathology professor) - Pink Floyd

"Help!" - The Beatles

Hot diggity dog

 

Last night I took the kids to a Grumpyville Puck-Offs hockey game. At some point Craig declared he was hungry, so we went to the snack bar.

We were almost up to the counter, and the guy in front of us ordered a chili-dog. He paid the counter lady, and a minute later she set it in front of him.

The guy didn't leave the counter. He picked up the entire chili-dog with both hands, and in one continuous movement shoved the entire thing into his mouth.

Then he pushed the empty paper plate back across the counter, mumbled "thank you," and left.

Craig suddenly wasn't that hungry.

Breaking news!

Keeping you up to date on the stories that shape your world, Dr. Grumpy's crack reporters bring you these news flashes:


DATELINE: CALIFORNIA

Alvin Neal attempted to rob a San Diego bank by handing the teller note saying it was a robbery, and to fork over some cash.

Unfortunately, Mr. Neal also attempted to keep other bank patrons from noticing what he was doing by acting like it was normal transaction. Which, apparently, included swiping his ATM card in the slot at the teller's window, immediately putting his name, address, and phone number on her screen.

He got out of the bank with $565 in cash, but didn't get very far.

Police who tracked him down using the data also noted he's a registered sex offender.



DATELINE: NEW YORK

Joseph Talbot was pulled over and arrested for driving while intoxicated.

He was quite upset that the news story and his mugshot in the local paper would ruin his reputation, so he refused to allow them to take his picture. This got him additional charges, and they took his picture anyway. He was released on bond.

Not wanting anyone to see his picture in the paper, Mr. Talbot came up with a novel solution: He followed the newspaper's delivery trucks all over town, buying up as many copies of the paper as he could find. One stand recognized him (from his picture in the paper, no less) and called the main office. Who sent out more papers, and also noted that the story was on their news website, too, making it damn near impossible for Mr. Talbot to purchase every single one.

And, as a result of his actions, got far more attention than he'd have gotten for a DWI in the first place.



DATELINE: FLORIDA

A man attempted to burglarize a store that specializes in selling (I swear!) surveillance cameras and other anti-theft gear.

His attempts to get into the Spy-Spot Investigations store was unsuccessful, and some nice shots of his face were taken.

The store's manager commented, “I don’t know why you would try to rob a spy store. The guy’s probably not the smartest criminal.”



DATELINE: PENNSYLVANIA

The federal government has filed suit against Lone Star Western Beef, Inc. for a lack of concern for its employees.

When a worker at their processing plant accidentally severed his thumb while preparing beef jerky, another employee immediately ran over to help staunch the bleeding and called 911 on her phone.

The owner of the plant quickly ran over and made her end the call, and subsequently fired her. The deeply concerned employer then picked up the thumb and had another worker drive Mr. Thumbless to an Urgent Care center instead of an ER. The Urgent Care center, not having anywhere near the surgical capabilities of a hospital-associated ER, was unable to re-attach the thumb.


DATELINE: STOKE-ON-TRENT, ENGLAND

Residents of an apartment building for senior citizens have been forbidden from drinking alcohol and singing karaoke in common areas following the combination leading to several incidences of "unacceptable behavior."

This comes on the heels of an altercation there last month between two retired women over a Christmas decoration.

One resident told reporters, "People in Alcatraz are treated better."

Hospital rounds

Dr. Grumpy: "When did this start?"

Mr. Son: "Around 2:30. She suddenly slumped over to her right, and couldn't talk."

Dr. Grumpy: "That's when you called 911?"

Mr. Son: "No, my wife and I helped her to a bench outside the store."

Dr. Grumpy: "When did you call paramedics?"

Mr. Son: "After I finished returning all the shitty Christmas gifts. You wouldn't believe how long the line was."