Thursday, January 24, 2013

Broken Dreams...

The ER doc and I were suturing this patient while her husband stood in the room and watched. His facial expressions were priceless to watch during our conversation. The laceration repair was pretty lengthy and the patient was gorked out on pain medications.

Dr:  Thanks for coming in and helping. I started this thing half blind, but I don't think it's too bad of a job.

<Husband's eyebrows went high into his forehead>

Dr:  It seems like after I had lasik surgery, I can't see anything up close anymore.
Me:  Well, when I had it done, the surgeon told me that it wouldn't fix near vision. He told me it was just normal eye aging.
Dr:  "sighs".....My bad vision prevented me from my dream job of flying for the military. I love flying. So...I had to just become a private pilot. "sighs"....broken dreams, broken dreams.
Me: What branch?
Dr:  AirForce

I told him my story of trying to fly for the Navy and the alternate offer of Navigator. Then I told him about my private pilot adventure which didn't pan out. To this story he replied:

Dr: Wow, your story is sadder than mine. That sucks.......so many broken dreams in this room, so many broken dreams.

The patient's husband looked amazed with his mouth agape. I guess he didn't realize that even doctors and nurses could have had other plans for their future.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Neuro Assessment

I was performing a quick neuro assessment on a sweet LOL (little old lady):

Me: What day of the week is it?

LOL: Tuesday.

Me: Umm....I thought it was Monday.

LOL: No, it's Tuesday.

I check and it is indeed Tuesday.

Me: Who is the president?

LOL: Oh sweetie, I really don't want to talk politics right now......and you really should know the answers to these questions.