December 6th, 2009 by GruntDoc in Better Health Network, Humor, True Stories
Tags: Coffee, Electricity, Emergency Medicine, Power Outage
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I like living on the edge of built-up civilization, but it means our little development has one electric line coming in.
Today it wanted some time off, fortunately only 4 hours. Didn’t get that cold inside, but having an all electric house has some drawbacks in that circumstance.
My wife figured out the electric-less coffee, thankfully.

*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
December 5th, 2009 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Humor, True Stories
Tags: Cardiac Electrophysiology, Cardiology, Defibrillator, Hugh Hefner, ICD, Playboy Bunny, Tattoo
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Well, at least it’s one way to make a former tattoo three-dimensional:

Just putting the sexy back… 🙂
-Wes
Photo used with patient permission.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
December 5th, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Humor, True Stories
Tags: Blogger's Block, Cat, Feline, Messy Desk, Ona, Personal
2 Comments »
Trying to get some early morning writing in… but having a hard time reaching the keyboard with both hands.
This is a new, feline form of blogger’s block! (I’m sure Kerri @sixuntilme knows what I’m talking about).
Happy weekend…
Dr. Val
December 4th, 2009 by Edwin Leap, M.D. in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: Children, Emergency Medicine, Fever, Joy, Pediatrics, Sutures
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The past few days have shown me some small pleasures of my practice. I spent about 20 minutes sewing together the hand and forehead of a sweet elderly lady who fell down while being evacuated from a nursing home fire. Her skin, like tissue, came together in fragile folds; my hands moved easily with the needle and thread thanks to so many years of practice, so many hundreds of feet of sutures placed. Although I must admit that my cataract-stricken right eye left my depth perception imperfect in a way that bonded me to her. (Sitting here, with no reading glasses, I can close my left eye and all I see is a hint of lines on the page, but no letters.)
My sweet little lady smiled at me, nervously, tentatively, but was comforted at the prospect of going back to her bed. Her son eased her fear with jokes, then took her home. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at edwinleap.com*
December 2nd, 2009 by Dr. Val Jones in Humor, True Stories
Tags: Aortic Dissection, Cardiology, Chest Pain, Emergency Medicine, Father In Law, Geriatrics, Heart Attack, MI, Personal
2 Comments »
My father in law is 83 years old. He has high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and occasional “senior moments.” He rarely complains about anything, and spends most of his time doing household chores, playing with grand kids, and watching TV. So it was with some degree of concern that I raised my head from my morning cereal when George announced at the breakfast table that he was having chest pain.
I looked at him with narrowed, clinical eyes and began asking the usual rule out MI type questions – did it feel like pressure? Where was the pain exactly? When did it start? Does anything make it better or worse? Does it radiate down your arm or up your jaw? Have you ever had this pain before? How severe is it on a scale of 1-10? Read more »