Another gross medical story
If you find medical stories gross, please feel free not to read the rest of this post.
I really don’t like doing pelvic exams. Thus, I was excited going into this year since I don’t rotate on ob/gyn and thought I wouldn’t have to do any more pelvic exams. Alas, I forgot about my 2 months on ER, where I ended up doing more pelvic exams than I did in all of medical school. So that brings me to my story.
It was 6:35am at the end of a typical ER nightshift, when I looked in the chart rack and saw that there was a 20 year old young lady with pelvic pain and discharge who had been waiting over 10 hours to see a doctor. I thought it would be an easy STD case, so I picked up the chart. In talking to the patient, she mentioned that incidentally she had not had a period in over 2.5 months, which was unusual for her. Her pregnancy test was negative, so I wasn’t too worried. Then we went to do the pelvic exam, and her cervix looked normal. But as I pulled back the speculum, I saw something white in the top corner of my view. I calmly turned to the nurse and asked her to retrieve some forceps or tongs. She gave me a puzzled look, but when she returned with them, I proceeded to pull out a tampon that had apparently been in there for the past 2.5 months.
The patient looked up and asked, “what is that?”
When I said it was a tampon, she said, “But I don’t use tampons. I saw something once about someone who got sick and died from leaving a tampon in too long, so I don’t use them.”
“Well, I don’t know what to say because this is definitely a tampon,” I replied.
I don’t know whether it is worse that she had it in there for so long or that she didn’t know how it got there. I mean, who’s putting things in there that she doesn’t know about? I’m glad for the patient that we found it, but I’m even more glad that I shouldn’t have to do any more pelvic exams for the rest of my career.
I really don’t like doing pelvic exams. Thus, I was excited going into this year since I don’t rotate on ob/gyn and thought I wouldn’t have to do any more pelvic exams. Alas, I forgot about my 2 months on ER, where I ended up doing more pelvic exams than I did in all of medical school. So that brings me to my story.
It was 6:35am at the end of a typical ER nightshift, when I looked in the chart rack and saw that there was a 20 year old young lady with pelvic pain and discharge who had been waiting over 10 hours to see a doctor. I thought it would be an easy STD case, so I picked up the chart. In talking to the patient, she mentioned that incidentally she had not had a period in over 2.5 months, which was unusual for her. Her pregnancy test was negative, so I wasn’t too worried. Then we went to do the pelvic exam, and her cervix looked normal. But as I pulled back the speculum, I saw something white in the top corner of my view. I calmly turned to the nurse and asked her to retrieve some forceps or tongs. She gave me a puzzled look, but when she returned with them, I proceeded to pull out a tampon that had apparently been in there for the past 2.5 months.
The patient looked up and asked, “what is that?”
When I said it was a tampon, she said, “But I don’t use tampons. I saw something once about someone who got sick and died from leaving a tampon in too long, so I don’t use them.”
“Well, I don’t know what to say because this is definitely a tampon,” I replied.
I don’t know whether it is worse that she had it in there for so long or that she didn’t know how it got there. I mean, who’s putting things in there that she doesn’t know about? I’m glad for the patient that we found it, but I’m even more glad that I shouldn’t have to do any more pelvic exams for the rest of my career.
posted by Victor | 1:24 PM
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