Doing it for the kids

Woah, this thing still exists? Who knew.

So I"ve started working again. Which is fun, scary and more than a little frustrating, because now I"m working in paediatric emergency.

Fun because kids are so gosh darned cute.
For example, I had a 4 year old boy present with "excessive blinking". Now, taking a look at him, I saw nothing wrong, but decided that a visual acuity would be a good start.
I asked him if he knew his ABCs.
He excitedly replied, "Yes! I do!"
So over I took him to the Snellen chart, and stood him 6 metres away, covering one eye and asked him to read from the top.
He stood there happily and called out loudly "A, B, C, D, E, F..."
I laughed and had to keep myself from hugging him.
So darned cute.

Scary because kids are kids.
How do you assess cranial nerves in a 17 month old with blunt traumatic head injury with loss of consciousness?
How do you get a 28 month old to sit still enough to attempt to remove lice from eyelashes?
How do you convince a 16 year old boy that the dental abscess is probably a little bit more important than the play time he"s missing out on his Xbox?

Frustrating because parents.
Oh my goodness parents.

So yeah, fun times :)

On benders

Patient presents to ED fearful of his life following "assault" by a prostitute.

Background: Patient was sad and bored and went on a 2 week binge during which he partook* of alcohol, illicit drugs and prostitutes of over $6000 worth.

What a dude.




*isn"t that an awesome word?