...medical that is
Published on February 19, 2007 By DrDonald In Just Hanging Out
Regular kids eat regular meals. Being a doctor, my kids eat meals peppered and spiced pungently and profusely. The bitterness, the sweetness. They're old enough to hear it all, now. But once in a while I hear, "Not at dinner dad." "Can't it wait." "Pulleeasse." Dinner is for sharing and mom's no help. She's a nurse. Oblivious, we don't even know we're doing it.

OK, so maybe they didn't need to know about that lady I'd see every couple of years. She'd complain of navel discomfort. I'd take a pair of tweezers and pull a out a core of lint that was 3/8" wide by about three inches long. A visual artist, she'd often have visions that no psychiatrist had ever been able to explain. I've never seen her art, but I often imagine it.

Then there was Road Kill, also a regular at the local soup kitchen. He'd gotten his name because he used to wear...yep that's right.

The lady with about a month of vaginal discharge due to a tampon, forgotten and lost, also didn't avoid mention. The gangrenous toes, The pelvic floor cramping treated with botox so the newlywed could have intercourse with her husband. The proper way to remove an ingrown toenail by spreading iris scissors repeatedly under it. The alcoholic with the right middle lobe pneumonia from breathing in his own vomit. The process of disimpacting someone with intractable constipation. The IV addict with abscesses over his arms. The way to blow a foreign body out a child's nose by doing a "kiss-off". The guy with the untreated dental abscess that had gotten a bone infection and had to have part of his jaw replaced. It goes on.

Against all odds, recently, my son met a girl in his careers class whose mother is also a doctor at a local walk-in clinic. The first thing he asked her was "Does your mother gross you out about work at the dinner table?" As she nodded, he chuckled, "Yeah, my dad too."

Comments (Page 2)
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on Feb 21, 2007
I love the dark stuff too. CSI, Clive Barker, Robin Cook, Alan Moore and Steven King


Oh, I'm pleased to see Alan Moore in this list, mate. You must be liking 'From Hell' then? Did you know he also did 'V For Vendetta'? Now there is an excellent read.

I haven't read any Robin Cook for ages, but Clive Barker and Steven King are regulars in my house. Have you ever read any Peter Straub? Now there is some dense, dark reading. I put him well above King and Barker.
on Feb 21, 2007
I'll try Straub. I think my wife reads him. She's even more twisted than I am, but, then again, look at who she married! Yep, I've seen "V for Vendetta" (the movie) and I have "Judgement Day" the graphic novel. Yes, I like "From Hell" so far. Also trying to fit in Gaiman's "Fragile Things" and one of his later Sandman graphic novels.
on Feb 21, 2007
Oh yeah, how could I have forgotten about Neil Gaiman! I'm sure you'll enjoy 'Fragile Things'. As for Straub, might I recommend you try his earlier novels first, if your wife has them; 'Ghost Story', 'Koko' or 'Floating Dragon'.

I too have seen (and enjoyed) 'V For Vendetta', however it cut a lot of the detail out to fit it into a reasonable-length movie. And I must admit Hugo didn't exactly stretch himself in the acting stacks. He was almost playing the 'Smith' character from the Matrix movies.

She's even more twisted than I am, but, then again, look at who she married


Hmm, you're wife and mine alike... Oh well, at least they know what they've got.

on Feb 22, 2007
Thanks Maso. I'll put those on my list.
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