Patient came in today with bandage on hand.
History of spider bite poisoning.
Where was this spider? On allegheny and d street of course. Because there are so many trees and ample grass there. Right.
Patient reports six surgeries (likely i@d or wound debridement), skin graft, and another plastic surgery needed to repair skin defect.
Best part of the story or worst part of the story was due to diabetes and pcn allergy, the hospital brought out the leeches to help with drainage.
Where do they store the leeches at the hospital??
Unfortunately whenever she returns to the hospital all the staff recognize her and greet her as "the leech lady".
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Saturday, July 6, 2013
vignettes from day before vacay
always seems like the day before vacay is craaaazy. patients make us work hard to earn our time off. hah!
some memorable patient experiences... all in one day.
-J is a 75 y o man who loves the Lord. he did ministry in puerto rico and north philly most of his life, i think. his denture tooth chipped. i forgot to send it to the lab. genuinely forgot. not intentionally forgot like i sometimes have. sigh. getting better! anyway. i had to repair it myself the night before. it turned out all right! i gave it to him this morning. it took 2 minutes. he says, "that's it?" so i respond with "do you want me to pray with you?" his eyes lit up. i asked him what he wanted prayer for. he said, "the Lord knows what's on my heart!"
sure. but i don't! so, you might as well tell me. haha. i don't mean to probe. it just comes out. and people don't mean to tell me their business. they just do.
anyway, his prayer request was that he is deciding whether or not to travel to puerto rico. a friend or perhaps someone from his church offered to pay for his travel expenses. he knows he wants to go, but he is not sure whether or not it is for selfish reasons. if he goes he wants to go with the right heart. if he stays, he wants to have the right heart.
awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. this was really refreshing because most people have some kind of physical world crisis. someone just died. someone has cancer. someone's in jail. can't pay the bills. someone's father just left. ...etc... etc... just as important to our Father are our heart battles. coming from my church in michigan... i'm no stranger to heart battles. it seemed that's what we spent hours and hours praying for each week. ...how to align my will with God's Will. sometimes it seemed a little excessive. especially while the rest of the world is in crisis - hunger/famine, war, poverty, slavery, prostitution, persecution, disease and drought. not sure where that balance is, but i don't feel burdened by that, since God holds the world in His hands.
J was really thankful for time to pray together and was encouraged. of course that makes us all feel warm and fuzzy. there's a part of me that's like, "...i didn't have to spend 4 years and $160k to learn how to do that..." -__- but i suppose i wouldn't have met him in that moment, in that dental chair, if i hadn't invested that time/labour.
i guess it's sorta encouraging (?) to see a 75 y-o who is supposed to be more sanctified, but also more of a sinner.
-J was a new patient. goes to one of our partner churches. needed a few teeth removed. next door when waiting for her to come back from feeding her parking meter, i told tai that my neighbours were singing 'pon aceite' on the porch the night before. it was 10 p.m. and i didn't know what was going on. maybe some impromptu pentecostal sing-fest. so tai started humming 'pon aceite'. J came back and while i was trying to dig out #3 MB root tip she goes, "what are you humming?! is that 'pon aceite'?!!!!"
yes.
then. we sang.
we sang 'pon aceite', 'alabare', 'los que esperan', 'si tu vieras fe', 'has cambiado me lamento in baile', and 'bueno es alarbarte y cantar'.
it took 6 songs, and some surgical bur to get that bloody root tip out. had to elevate the crap out of that. J was super happy to sing songs she hadn't sang in a while, and was going to sing them all at church on sunday.
so weird. weird dental practice. weird.
-N came back to have her tooth removed. today she was wearing a sleeveless shirt. her R arm had a portrait of a young man, with RIP nick. end date was march '12. turns out her son was shot 3 times at an intersection near their home. her story is that he was 18, just walking home, random folks shot him. i would like to believe that is the story. i maybe believe it 75%. she has 5 other children. 1 older, 4 younger. it could have been random folks looking for someone else. or there could have been a side story of conflict and trouble. they didn't take his belongings or jewelry or money. they might have just been wanting to shoot someone.
her tooth would not get numb. finally got it out.
prayed for her and her family for the Lord to keep us all safe in the streets. and for healing of her poor mother's heart in mourning.
the only response in these situations is to give it up and pray.
-W brought in her son G, after calvin sorta threatened to call DHS if she didn't stop no-showing. i had seen G on my schedule, cancelled/no-showed/came and walked out several times. i had forgotten who he was until i saw W walk down the hallway looking for the bathroom. holy moly.
... rewind to last year. G is the one, i met him when he was 4. he told me he had 4 siblings. i asked if they were mostly older. W told me they were all younger. i paused. is she a baby machine? W told me that two were from the dad's mistress. and that she wanted all the kids to be friends. but, the mistress was causing too much drama. that's why they relocated from where they were to philly.
... meanwhile she told tai at the front desk that she had to get away from her hubs. she was pregnant and sleeping in the bed. she woke up to him banging the mistress in the same bed. wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf?! worst story evARRRRRRrrrrrrrrr!!!!
so of course, every time i see her now, i can't shake that story. i can't dissociate her with that.
only by God's grace and mercy alone is G the sweetest, wittiest 5 year-old boy in this hood.
sadly had to remove baby molar from G due to progressed caries. he was tough and brave and didn't even flinch. Lord have mercy on us all.
-K is a 13 year-old. i saw him walk to Ada's chair and noticed lots of markings on his L arm. when the cleaning was finished, i walked in for the exam. the tattoo was not temporary. it was definitely real.
"oh hey! lemme see your tattoo!"
"your mom let you get that?!"
"that's your nickname?!"
"did you design it yourself?!"
"are you gonna do your whole sleeve?!"
if you want answers. just ask like a valley girl. "what happened?!" it shows concern. it shows genuine interest. and it erases any suspicion of judgment or malice by sounding too ditzy to know how to use this information against them in the future.
K tells me he wants to do his whole arm, but he wants to wait until he is older.
the only response i could come up with off the top of my head was,
"yeah. it's good to wait until you're older. you never know how big your arm is gonna get, so some tattoos might not look right when the proportions are off." (or when you get hair on your arm?... who knows)
WHAT?!
it was the end of the day. i've never been in this situation before. i never got to practice responding to 13 year-olds with tattoos.
maybe what i should have said was, "THINK TWICE AND THREE TIMES AND A HUNDRED TIMES BEFORE YOU GET THIS PERMANENT ARTWORK ON YOUR BODY BECAUSE IT WILL COST THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TO REMOVE IT, AND IT MIGHT PREVENT YOU FROM GETTING A GOOD JOB IN THE FUTURE."
i don't mind tattoos. (except for the devil tattoo on M's face, and the "f--- life" on C's eyelids, and all the other vulgar tats that i see coming in periodically).
i have chosen not to get any because of possible travel to other countries where they are not as accepted/tolerated.
i appreciate a lot of tattoos if it is good artwork. i also think it is really cute when some boys wear earrings. or when the majority of hispanic girls have their earrings at 2 months old.
but to trust a young teen with a decision that has permanent consequences is maybe questionable. there is a reason why many things require 18 years of age/18 years of brain development.
some memorable patient experiences... all in one day.
-J is a 75 y o man who loves the Lord. he did ministry in puerto rico and north philly most of his life, i think. his denture tooth chipped. i forgot to send it to the lab. genuinely forgot. not intentionally forgot like i sometimes have. sigh. getting better! anyway. i had to repair it myself the night before. it turned out all right! i gave it to him this morning. it took 2 minutes. he says, "that's it?" so i respond with "do you want me to pray with you?" his eyes lit up. i asked him what he wanted prayer for. he said, "the Lord knows what's on my heart!"
sure. but i don't! so, you might as well tell me. haha. i don't mean to probe. it just comes out. and people don't mean to tell me their business. they just do.
anyway, his prayer request was that he is deciding whether or not to travel to puerto rico. a friend or perhaps someone from his church offered to pay for his travel expenses. he knows he wants to go, but he is not sure whether or not it is for selfish reasons. if he goes he wants to go with the right heart. if he stays, he wants to have the right heart.
awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. this was really refreshing because most people have some kind of physical world crisis. someone just died. someone has cancer. someone's in jail. can't pay the bills. someone's father just left. ...etc... etc... just as important to our Father are our heart battles. coming from my church in michigan... i'm no stranger to heart battles. it seemed that's what we spent hours and hours praying for each week. ...how to align my will with God's Will. sometimes it seemed a little excessive. especially while the rest of the world is in crisis - hunger/famine, war, poverty, slavery, prostitution, persecution, disease and drought. not sure where that balance is, but i don't feel burdened by that, since God holds the world in His hands.
J was really thankful for time to pray together and was encouraged. of course that makes us all feel warm and fuzzy. there's a part of me that's like, "...i didn't have to spend 4 years and $160k to learn how to do that..." -__- but i suppose i wouldn't have met him in that moment, in that dental chair, if i hadn't invested that time/labour.
i guess it's sorta encouraging (?) to see a 75 y-o who is supposed to be more sanctified, but also more of a sinner.
-J was a new patient. goes to one of our partner churches. needed a few teeth removed. next door when waiting for her to come back from feeding her parking meter, i told tai that my neighbours were singing 'pon aceite' on the porch the night before. it was 10 p.m. and i didn't know what was going on. maybe some impromptu pentecostal sing-fest. so tai started humming 'pon aceite'. J came back and while i was trying to dig out #3 MB root tip she goes, "what are you humming?! is that 'pon aceite'?!!!!"
yes.
then. we sang.
we sang 'pon aceite', 'alabare', 'los que esperan', 'si tu vieras fe', 'has cambiado me lamento in baile', and 'bueno es alarbarte y cantar'.
it took 6 songs, and some surgical bur to get that bloody root tip out. had to elevate the crap out of that. J was super happy to sing songs she hadn't sang in a while, and was going to sing them all at church on sunday.
so weird. weird dental practice. weird.
-N came back to have her tooth removed. today she was wearing a sleeveless shirt. her R arm had a portrait of a young man, with RIP nick. end date was march '12. turns out her son was shot 3 times at an intersection near their home. her story is that he was 18, just walking home, random folks shot him. i would like to believe that is the story. i maybe believe it 75%. she has 5 other children. 1 older, 4 younger. it could have been random folks looking for someone else. or there could have been a side story of conflict and trouble. they didn't take his belongings or jewelry or money. they might have just been wanting to shoot someone.
her tooth would not get numb. finally got it out.
prayed for her and her family for the Lord to keep us all safe in the streets. and for healing of her poor mother's heart in mourning.
the only response in these situations is to give it up and pray.
-W brought in her son G, after calvin sorta threatened to call DHS if she didn't stop no-showing. i had seen G on my schedule, cancelled/no-showed/came and walked out several times. i had forgotten who he was until i saw W walk down the hallway looking for the bathroom. holy moly.
... rewind to last year. G is the one, i met him when he was 4. he told me he had 4 siblings. i asked if they were mostly older. W told me they were all younger. i paused. is she a baby machine? W told me that two were from the dad's mistress. and that she wanted all the kids to be friends. but, the mistress was causing too much drama. that's why they relocated from where they were to philly.
... meanwhile she told tai at the front desk that she had to get away from her hubs. she was pregnant and sleeping in the bed. she woke up to him banging the mistress in the same bed. wtf wtf wtf wtf wtf?! worst story evARRRRRRrrrrrrrrr!!!!
so of course, every time i see her now, i can't shake that story. i can't dissociate her with that.
only by God's grace and mercy alone is G the sweetest, wittiest 5 year-old boy in this hood.
sadly had to remove baby molar from G due to progressed caries. he was tough and brave and didn't even flinch. Lord have mercy on us all.
-K is a 13 year-old. i saw him walk to Ada's chair and noticed lots of markings on his L arm. when the cleaning was finished, i walked in for the exam. the tattoo was not temporary. it was definitely real.
"oh hey! lemme see your tattoo!"
"your mom let you get that?!"
"that's your nickname?!"
"did you design it yourself?!"
"are you gonna do your whole sleeve?!"
if you want answers. just ask like a valley girl. "what happened?!" it shows concern. it shows genuine interest. and it erases any suspicion of judgment or malice by sounding too ditzy to know how to use this information against them in the future.
K tells me he wants to do his whole arm, but he wants to wait until he is older.
the only response i could come up with off the top of my head was,
"yeah. it's good to wait until you're older. you never know how big your arm is gonna get, so some tattoos might not look right when the proportions are off." (or when you get hair on your arm?... who knows)
WHAT?!
it was the end of the day. i've never been in this situation before. i never got to practice responding to 13 year-olds with tattoos.
maybe what i should have said was, "THINK TWICE AND THREE TIMES AND A HUNDRED TIMES BEFORE YOU GET THIS PERMANENT ARTWORK ON YOUR BODY BECAUSE IT WILL COST THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS TO REMOVE IT, AND IT MIGHT PREVENT YOU FROM GETTING A GOOD JOB IN THE FUTURE."
i don't mind tattoos. (except for the devil tattoo on M's face, and the "f--- life" on C's eyelids, and all the other vulgar tats that i see coming in periodically).
i have chosen not to get any because of possible travel to other countries where they are not as accepted/tolerated.
i appreciate a lot of tattoos if it is good artwork. i also think it is really cute when some boys wear earrings. or when the majority of hispanic girls have their earrings at 2 months old.
but to trust a young teen with a decision that has permanent consequences is maybe questionable. there is a reason why many things require 18 years of age/18 years of brain development.
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