Monday, July 7, 2008

Back for more



Okay, so let's talk about people and their stupidity. Sure, I'm all for having a good time and going out for fun with some friends. I've definitely seen some of the benefits of not getting wasted around people I know and even those I don't know (you decide which is worse)




Exhibit A: Last June 2007, a 21 year old female on the back of her boyfriend's motorcycle. The boyfriend is driving drunk when at 65mph he collides with a tree sending the girlfriend over the top and into said tree. Guess which one of these was wearing a helmet. If you guessed neither, you get a gold star. The girlfriend messes up her face so badly they end up taking out most of her teeth in the upper jaw and almost the whole lower jaw (including the bone). She goes to the OR for surgery when as they begin they have to cancel it due to the inordinate amount of lice crawling from her scalp into the sterile field. Yucky! So, it is now 1 year later and she ended up shaving her head for surgery and all is well. She is at the clinic for a follow-up when I get to examine her healing site. What do I see crawl up from under her blouse to her neck and back down? A baby cockroach. I have seen it all folks. What's worse is she asks me if I am single. I reach for the other pair of gloves....






Exhibit B: It is 1:00 a.m. and this dude stumbles in (drunk) to the ER. He claims there is some discomfort next to his nose and he wants it looked at. He doesn't remember what happened to him (ah, the wonderful effects of alcohol) but he's pretty sure it's not good. They take him in to be x-rayed (sic)...


So for those who watch ER or Gray's anatomy regularly I don't have to belabor this explanation. But for the few of you who have never had to interpret CT scans allow me. Imagine taking a slice parallel to the floor right through your head. The top of this picture is the nose. The bottom is your brain. Get the picture? Yes, that is in fact a knife sticking into the guy's face, going through the sinus into the skull. It was broken off at the handle and annoying this guy when he looked in the mirror. So he walks in and we take him to the OR. We pull the knife out and miraculously the knife never touched a major artery or nerve. So... he is going to leave the hospital with nothing but a band-aid over his nose. The guy who shoved this into his face is going to be really upset when he sees him again.


So the moral of the story is... it doesn't matter who you drink with, enemy or lover, you're going to end up on my blog.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh. My. Gosh. Sick. And. Crazy. More stories! More stories!

La Rira said...

I don't know how that is possible? How does she not know she is infested with bugs!

Danielle said...

So maybe the people who write for CSI, etc. get their material from actual real life? Gross. You must have a strong stomach. I would have been running outta there.
What's the deal with taking pictures? Do you just ask them and they say, "sure, go ahead and photograph my ear"? Just curious...

Alessandro said...

Since the Hospital is part of the UT Southwestern teaching "thingy" the residents like to call it "MRB" maximum resident benefit. Meaning, any experience that will educate the residents, the better. So, unless they have a strict preference against pictures, they pretty much all consent to them. I've always asked beforehand anyway, none of them have ever seemed to mind.