Why I Don't Camp: Not a Story for the Faint of Heart
My last patient of the day yesterday came in with a tissue held up against his ear. When I had him remove the tissue, I could see that there was a small amount of blood on the tissue and on his ear. He told me that he had been camping 2 days ago, and that a fly had flown into his ear. It had taken him about 30 minutes to get the fly out, and ever since, his ear had been hurting, bleeding a little, and he could hear bubbling inside. He was afraid it was infected.
I looked in his ear, and there was some blood, and then there were these little round shiny things, and in my head I said, "I think those are..." and then one crawled right across my field of vision, "...maggots!" Yes, I am telling you the truth. The guy's ear was full of maggots.
I told him I would need to get an attending physician, and quickly exited the room. Of course, there was not an attending to be found right at that moment, but there was a med student and a fellow resident standing at the nurses station, so I told them, "My patient has maggots in his ear." You should have seen the explosion of ENVY! "Why don't we ever get cool cases like that?" That's right. They were jealous that I got to see the maggot ear while they just had boring patients with high cholesterol and diabetes. "Some people have all the luck."
When my supervisor appeared and I told him the story, I can't even tell you how excited he was to see this guy with me. One of the MA's volunteered excitedly to come in with us too. It was crazy.
We actually tried multiple things to get these buggers out of his ear. Alligator forceps didn't work, because I couldn't get a clear field of vision. Flushing got one out, but there were many more. (The one that came out with flushing was saved on a paper towel by my supervisor, and when it was thrown away, he DUG THROUGH THE GARBAGE to retrieve it, so that he could take it around and show it to everyone in the office). We finally got the rest (9 more, which makes 10 total) out of his ear by suctioning them out, and I sent the guy home with antibiotic ear drops and an oral antibiotic as well.
Now, I have to admit, this didn't really gross me out. I actually thought it was kinda cool myself, but the reactions of the guys were just hilarious to me. It was like they were all 12 years old again. "BUGS! COOL!"
Just when you thought family medicine was boring!
Cheers!
posted by Allie at 8:54 AM
7 Comments:
That is awesome! Why didn't that guy come into the ER! Yesterday i discovered some diabetic foot ulcer on a patient that were oh so ripe and juicy I gagged for 5 full minutes. I had to turn away so the patient couldn't see my face and I actually moved over to a trash can because I was sure I was going to blow chunks! Thats the only thing that gets me... the smell of diabetic foot ulcers (great for the diet though).
SSFB
That is so gross!! I would freak out! Did the guy take it all okay? What did he say when you told him you had to get maggots out of his ear?!? Gross gross gross! I still think I would freak out with Kjersti's spider ear story though. I HATE spiders!
Grossssssssssss! Gross gross!
Did you give him the Patient of the Month award? I feel so sorry for the patient and hope he didn't see how excited all the doctors were. I would have totally freaked out if it had been me. I bet he was glad he decided to put his macho-ness aside and see a doctor.
Dude, I have to admit that I think I would feel better by the doctors being 'excited' as opposed to 'freaked out.' Wow. SO GROSS!
I cannot believe you enjoyed that one! I am disgusted! But I guess that is why you like medicine and sick people while I stay with clean paper and nasty literature!!!
cheers!
I think I just threw up a little in my mouth. I'm okay, though.
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