Friday, September 05, 2003
Doctor's Blog
Stardate 09.04.03 22.18hrs
It is Q***t. Almost too Q***t.
Things have ground to a halt. The waiting room is empty. There are no Voices. (except the voices in my head, and you're just jealous because you can't hear them)
Suddenly I feel like I've been transported into a film remake of the Langoliers. There's a steady gnawing noise in the background of doors swinging open and closed. Oh wait that's me grinding my teeth. It's so quiet you could hear a three foot highlander blade drop. Sorry, shades of Scotland are rising from the putrid floor of the ventricles of my underused brain.
And of course there's the usual loony woman who has made three serial A&E admissions three nights in a row. The first night I saw her she had a new diagnosis of "leukaemia", made, according to her, by her doctor, who turned out to be a retired paediatrician. As blood tests and blood films were all normal, I saw no reason to admit her and sent her on her way.
Last night she had a "seizure". After twelve hours on the medical admissions unit she was discharged uneventfully by the medics, who noted dryly that she had a psychiatric history of pseudoseizures.
Today, apparently, she has "diabetes", with a completely normal HbA1c.
One wonders why she is bothering to come to A&E for attention. I suppose you take what you can get, and if it means a sympathetic ear...
Strangely enough when she saw me today she tried to bolt out of the A&E, trailing her catheter leg bag behind her on the floor rather pathetically, and looking like a disembowelled chimpanzee. I suppose her cerebral palsy doesn't help her cause.
What on Earth does an emergency doctor do when he has nothing to do? Help. I've never faced this situation before. It's not in the user's manual. Cheese not found error. Divide by cucumber overflow.
Stardate 09.04.03 22.18hrs
It is Q***t. Almost too Q***t.
Things have ground to a halt. The waiting room is empty. There are no Voices. (except the voices in my head, and you're just jealous because you can't hear them)
Suddenly I feel like I've been transported into a film remake of the Langoliers. There's a steady gnawing noise in the background of doors swinging open and closed. Oh wait that's me grinding my teeth. It's so quiet you could hear a three foot highlander blade drop. Sorry, shades of Scotland are rising from the putrid floor of the ventricles of my underused brain.
And of course there's the usual loony woman who has made three serial A&E admissions three nights in a row. The first night I saw her she had a new diagnosis of "leukaemia", made, according to her, by her doctor, who turned out to be a retired paediatrician. As blood tests and blood films were all normal, I saw no reason to admit her and sent her on her way.
Last night she had a "seizure". After twelve hours on the medical admissions unit she was discharged uneventfully by the medics, who noted dryly that she had a psychiatric history of pseudoseizures.
Today, apparently, she has "diabetes", with a completely normal HbA1c.
One wonders why she is bothering to come to A&E for attention. I suppose you take what you can get, and if it means a sympathetic ear...
Strangely enough when she saw me today she tried to bolt out of the A&E, trailing her catheter leg bag behind her on the floor rather pathetically, and looking like a disembowelled chimpanzee. I suppose her cerebral palsy doesn't help her cause.
What on Earth does an emergency doctor do when he has nothing to do? Help. I've never faced this situation before. It's not in the user's manual. Cheese not found error. Divide by cucumber overflow.
