Last night I woke up with an earache. That hasn't happened in a long time. Just when we thought we were all healthy, too. I feel fine except my ear hurts.
I went in to the PA who covers my regular doctor. It's always kind of weird being a patient when I'm used to being the one with the stethoscope. I was happy to see my blood pressure was low and my resting heart rate was 56. Guess the exercisin' is paying off :-)
The nursing student asked me to "describe the pain." This is the thing now - "pain as the fifth vital sign" - but all I could think of was "it's an ACHE" (as in EAR ACHE, duh, but I resisted making smart remarks). Both the nurse and the PA agreed - I have a rip-roarin' case of otitis. I wish I could see it myself. They need to make a little flexible scope for that. I would buy one.
Pain does funny things to people. The nurse asked me my allergies and I told her, but in the back of my mind it seemed like I was forgetting something. Oh well. Then when the PA handed me the prescription, I remembered. Oh yeah, I'm allergic to that too. Write me another one please. The guy probably wrote "patient is a poor historian" in his notes. Oh well, I deserve it. Next time I have a patient in pain (which happens every clinic), I should remember to go easy on him.
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