Comments on: ER Dad

By: Mary Titus, Orange California

Mary Titus, Orange California — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 05:18:43 +0000

Love this story. Wish I could have been there ( seriously ). I would have made a great assitant. Be honest, didn’t you have fun doing this? I really should have ventured further into medicine. I am certified as a medical assistant but never tried to go for any other advanced degree. A couple of years ago my husband suffered a deep gash just above the elbow. When the doctor came to see him in ER, they were short of help. I offered to assist the doc with my husband’s care and I had a blast.

I used to keep “stuff” in my car just in case a woman went into labor at the park or in the grocery store . I know it sounds silly but I was ready for an emergency delivery. You have a cute son BTW.

Happy New Year,
Mary T.

Hi Mary–

I did actually kind of enjoy it. I wish I had had better equipment, however. MD and I have decided to go ahead and put an entire suture kit together so we’ll have it should the occasion arise again, which, of course, means that the occasion will never arrive.

Cheers–

MRE

By: Marilyn Leahy

Marilyn Leahy — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 04:17:34 +0000

Such resourcefulness would be very valuable out here in the remote wilds of Alaska. If you want to return to practice I can give you some references. One doctor friend of mine even amputated his own frozen toes, tho to be sure his wife, also a doctor, tells it differently. No doubt the disagreement was due to the dual administration of anesthetic: topical and single malt. Which did Scott receive?

Scott’s not much for the single malt, so we went with the local.

Cheers–

MRE

By: lark

lark — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 01:39:11 +0000

Can you use unwaxed dental floss if you don’t have any sutures? LOL, j/k…. you go

I’m not sure I would try it.

Cheers–

MRE

By: Esther

Esther — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:58:25 +0000

Ha, I also laughed at the thought of MD conducting a meeting in the next room while you were stitching up your son in the kitchen. At what point did you decide that it would make for a great blog post? Did he mind you taking the pictures very much?

Hmm… Well, that explains why my sister was so good at splitting her scalp open on a number of occasions when she fell off of whatever she was climbing. Luckily, we lived right by the medical clinic and I still have the image in my head of my mom on the phone reporting that my sister was on the way and my dad hurrying across the street with her in his arms as the white-clad nurse swung the side door of the clinic open.

He didn’t mind the photos. He’s a regular reader and a frequent commenter on this blog, so he was glad to be a part of it (or so he told me).

Cheers–

MRE

By: Blair

Blair — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:39:26 +0000

Ig lives another day!! Happended upon your website looking up Dan the Man. Hope all is well. 3 sons of my own now, but no doctoring skills. Tell MD hi.

Indeed he does. Good to hear from you, Se�or Rojo. I kind of keep up with you guys through Ted. I miss the parent’s weekends at W&L. Say Hi to Julie and Wally for me and to Katherine and the Rojos peque�os.

Cheers–

By: Cindy Moore

Cindy Moore — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:16:51 +0000

Needle nose pliers? You mean you don’t have any kellys? I clipped, um acquired my first set as a freshman in nursing school. After 30 yrs I have a few. LOL

Glad to hear your son will be ok. He does NOT look happy! Who’s taking the pictures? If you’re stitching and MD’s in a meeting?

Nope, no kellys, no needle holders, and not even a hemostat. The worst part was having to use tweezers instead of pickups. MD ran in from time to time to monitor the progress and took photos while she was there. I took the photos of the finished job.

MRE

By: Simone

Simone — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 20:58:31 +0000

“I anesthetized him pretty well because MD was conducting a meeting in the other room, and we wanted to keep the screams to a minimum.” Haha, so funny, although I don’t know whether that was intentional I hope he gets well soon!
And your son is really handsome, how old is he? That scar will only make him look more interesting

Greetings from Germany,
Simone

Hi Simone–

Scott is 30. He can pass off this scar (which, if I did my job right, won’t be that noticeable) as the result of a saber duel I suppose.

Cheers–

MRE

By: Nita

Nita — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 19:09:16 +0000

Great stitching. I have some clothes that need altering – are you available???

Seriously, I don’t envy doctors who get calls wanting telephone diagnoses, or who are asked to diagnose via a blog or website. I’m not sure I’d trust a diagnosis from a doctor who didn’t see me in person. Stick to your guns, doc, and ignore the requests for free medical advice. Let them go see their family doctor.

Hi Nita–

Thanks for the understanding. It’s not that I hate to give ‘free’ medical advice – afterall, the advice I give almost daily on this blog is free – it’s that I don’t want to give erroneous medical advice based on not having adequate information.

Cheers–

MRE

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 17:00:02 +0000

That reminds me of my childhood. My dad was a physician and I seemed to need quite a lot of head stitches. The ones that I remember most were the ‘shovel incident’ and the ‘shovel incident’. I never got the cool white head bandage though.

Scott got the “cool white head bandage” only because we didn’t have any tape at hand.

Cheers–

MRE

By: Teresa

Teresa — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 04:43:04 +0000

I just want to say that I have found Vitamin E oil to be very helpful in reducing scarring, and bleeding/brusing. But, you must know that… Hope he heals fast..

I’ll get the sutures out in a few days, which will help with the scarring. And I will have him use vitamin E – it’s an old standby of mine.

Cheers–

MRE