First of all I turned 24 which is an age I never thought I would actually be and made me think of all the things I thought that I would have done by this age (definitely something to reflect on later). 24. . . Freaky deaky!
Second I found a board patient for my clinical board exam in April (such a relief and she is PERFECT). I won't even try to explain what you look for in a board patient because no one will know what I'm talking about. You have to spend hours upon hours in a dental office doing calculus detection to understand. In this case a phobia overcome.
Third (and this is where it gets really juicy) I have my anesthesia board exam in less than 2 weeks. After some stress endured by a fellow student over board patients for our exam I gracefully (and don't forget that) volunteered Joseph to be my patient. The anesthesia board exam is quite simple. You give 2 shots in 2 different spots in the mouth while some examiners watch your form and skill. Simple enough right? I thought so. . . .well I called Joseph to ask if he would be so kind as to be my patient (keep in mind he had volunteered a few days before) well he said yes. Now looking back I don't know if he was really willing or was just trying to be kind seeing that it was my day of birth, but he came early to pick me up so I could practice on him.
He joked around with some fellow students and instructors in the waiting room while I set up the chair. Then he came back and I placed topical anesthetic in the appropriate spots. Now I need to make a disclaimer here. . . I am a great anesthetist! I am gentle and kind and I do a good job. Back to the story. After a few minutes I removed the topical and picked up my syringe. Shot #1 - success!! Second practice of shot #1 - success. Now on to shot #2 - first attempt - I hit bone. As I'm explaining this to my instructor Joseph claims to have been imagining people grinding piano keys out of bones (weird, but ok). I pulled the needle out to try again. . . second insertion was a success until Joseph blurts out that he is about to BLACK OUT. I quickly removed the needle and watched as he seized and blacked out. Everyone started to panic. People were yelling for the doctor, someone ran to grab the oxygen tank, and everyone backed away. . . but me, I quietly mumbled to myself, "Oh, he does this when he passes out." And this is true. Remember when Joseph got his tonsils out and passed out after the IV? Well I certainly do. He came to seconds later and regained the color in his face. He was fine!! But is Joseph really that afraid of needles? Does he have a real live phobia? Maybe so, but if he does why did he say he'd be my patient?
He won't be my patient, don't you worry. In fact I will never give him a shot again. . . even if he needs it.
3 comments:
Before you even got to the punchline, I thought, "He passed out." I know this about my brother but that doesn't stop me from feeling very, very sorry for the situation. But I'm still laughing (sorry, Joseph) at you mumbling that he does this all the time. Hilarious...in a very solemn kind of way.
Ha! Sorry to laugh, Jen, but when he was a little, little kid, I was babysitting him and he fell and bit through his tongue badly -- and when I say badly, I mean badly. He passed out then too. He does do this all the time.
Newel and I were in the theater once to see a movie and I stepped out to get a popcorn for us. I passed out while standing in line and went through all the movie lobby scare. When it wore off and I assured folks I was fine and didn't need an ambulance, I got the popcorn and went back into the movie. All Newel could say was "what took you so long"
It runs in the family and takes in-law reality to help us snap out of it!
Oh my GOSH I have been laughing about this for days now. What cracks me up about these comments is, before I even read them I was telling Jess this story and he said, "He passed OUT?" And I said, "Yeah, he does that." And he said "Who just DOES that?"
Ha. I can't jump on the bandwagon, never having passed out like several of my freakish siblings, but oooooooooh, can I ever sympathize with the phobia over needles. Okay, I need to go sit down. Typing the word "needles" makes me feel a little woozy.
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