Another Set of Patients in the Emergency Room

Other than the juniors from Metro Subic College (comprised of 14 students), the green and white clad of APCAS fourth year students were also there (they are 12). I was the leader last Thursday, but I was thankful that it the day was not that toxic, we only had a fewer than a dozen clients. The worse case was a guy who had a minor burn and a cardiac dysrhythmia because of an electrocution.

I was thinking for a larger wave of patient the next day, Friday the thirteenth, but the patients are as scarce as it was last Thursday. But anyway here’s another batch of some of the notable clients that we had;

• UnVoidable Man; the moment we enter the ER my CI immediately asked Niel and Angelo to catheter a guy. Alex, Hanzel and I decided to observe. The guy was lethargic. His eyes wobbled everywhere. According to his father, he was brought in the ER because he can’t void. I checked his blood Pressure and after three checkings I finally confirmed that I was not daydreaming when i first saw that the BP was 180 over 120. Even my CI got the same result. I was observing the man, while Angelo inserts the catheter, he looked rather demented. Then I asked Hanzel if he is “sinto-sintu”. He said yes. According to his father, when he was 11 years old he jumped in a river and bumped his head. He had a hydrocephalus and his parents, due to poverty, were not able to seek the necessary medical attention. He couldn’t talk anymore due to the accident. He only does some simple hand signals. When the catheter reached his bladder, a whopping 500 ml of urine immediately filled the empty urine bag. His urine has floating stuff in it. Imagine a pineapple juice with all the miniscule firous compounds in it, that is how it looked like. Alex said that these were purulence and i just can imagine how painful the guy felt. He kept on holding on his penis no matter how hard we try to stop him. Sometimes he stretches his arms on his head his fist balled tightly because of the pain. He is really pityful, he cant even scream.

• Lolo Alone; an asthmatic old man was ushered then left inside the ER. The doctor would want to confine him in the hospital but he didn’t have any penny to pay for his medications. It would be useless. I asked him if he has a wife and he said while he gasped for air that he left his wife at home because she is already blind. After he was donned with an oxygen inhalation and given a dose of nebulization, we asked him if he was alone and he said that he was unaccompanied. I asked him for his age and he wasn’t sure, he just told me his birth year, 1941. I did the mathematics and after three trials (grabe kahirap magsubtract!!) I finally got the right answer. Rose asked his birthday and he couldn’t recall. So she asked what month was he born and he still didn’t know. Rose had to enumerate all the months of the calendar just for him to tell us that his birthday is on April 21. The doctor bought the medication himself, and paid for his transportation back home.

• Yellow Kid; after our dinner a 2-year old boy was admitted in the ER. He was yellowish all over, his lips were violet, and he has clusters of pinkish spots all over his body. The spots were of different diameter and are elevated to less than a millimeter. I asked the father since when he became had the jaundice (the yellowish color) and he was baffled. He asked me if his child is yellow and I affirmed (heck, will I ever ask if he’s not?). I pointed at the yellow paper and told him that he’s a color is 25% less as yellow as the paper. He was astonished. The admitting diagnosis isTyphoid Fever.

Clients in the Emergency Room

Before we had our duty, the hospital’s supervisor toured our group and the third year interns from another college, Metro Subic College, (it is their first time) around the hospital. She showed us each ward (which we fourth years are already familiar) and each personnel. When we landed on this particular room, the Supervisor exclaimed to the girls, “Girls, this is Nurse RL. The best looking nurse in the whole hospital!”

The girls laughed excitedly and wriggled their way to the door to have a clearer view. Then the “exceptionally” handsome guy seemed to have observed that the girls can’t see him clearly, so he himself stood up from his chair and went to the giggling mob of girls, beside the supervisor, and smarmily said his hello.

The Supervisor proudly smiled then enthusiastically asked us, “Sinong kamukha nya?” (Who does he look like?). He smiled automatically as the woman mentioned the question. The whole group eyed the supervisor and the nurse blankly. And when the silence was already futile, the supervisor gave up and (I thought I heard some drums rolled) eagerly answered her own riddle, “Sino pa eh di si John Prats,?” (Who else but John Prats)

The whole crowd was forced to smile and nod in agreement. Aiza turned her head to me then murmured, “Sa anong anggulo?” (In what angle?) then smirked.

Potty Training

My professor considers that Toddlerhood as the time when a child learns to exercise his power… “the power of holding on and letting go”. At this age the toddler learns to control his anal sphincter. At this stage also, the child’s pleasure attention shifted from the mouth to the anus.

 

According to Sigmund Freud too rigid toilet training for toddlers results to a Anal retentive turn out to be perfectionist, excessively clean and organized and greedy. An Anal Expulsive, on the otherhand, is a person who was not toilet trained or who has parents that are very lenient. They are generally sloppy, disorganized, generous and rebellious.