I reduced a guy's hernia yesterday. It'll pop back out. He needs surgery for it, but it's not an emergency. But yesterday he felt so much better after I'd reduced it that he couldn't stop thanking me. First he shook my hand. Then he changed his mind and kissed it instead! Fortunately I think he was just genuinely grateful, rather than creepy, like the guy who guessed my age right on last week.
Actually, yesterday and today have been hernia days. In clinic yesterday it seemed like every patient I saw had one. I was on call last night, and there was the guy I just mentioned and then another guy who actually did need an emergency operation in the middle of the night for his hernia. And then today the surgeon I usually operate with on Tuesdays (only today I didn't because I'm still laying low with my wrist) was doing 5 hernia repairs in a row.
I used to say medicine isn't like on TV, with a theme for every episode, etc, but the last 30 hours I spent at the hospital definitely had a hernia flavour!
I also spoke Chinese yesterday. Saw a patient in clinic (with a hernia) who only spoke Mandarin. (Actually, there was another guy with a hernia who only spoke Cantonese yesterday too - I'm telling you, there was a theme!) His daughter was with him to translate, but it was nice to be able to communicate directly with him, even if only with a few words here and there. They were thrilled that I could speak and understand a bit of their language, and commented that next time they wouldn't need to bring an interpreter, an idea which I promptly corrected! It was fun, though. It's the 2nd time in this rotation that I've used my Chinese. The other time was with a guy in the hospital who didn't speak a word of English. We'd go and see him every morning during rounds, and at first I was too shy to let on that I spoke some of his language. But I realized pretty soon that it was silly not to, so I started speaking to him in Chinese, much to the surprise of my other (Caucasian and Middle Eastern) residents who were also there with me. The patient didn't seem to think it was unusual, though.
I've had to pull out my French on several occasions, too. It's fun when it works out, and the patients are happy. There are, of course, many more languages that I don't know, and I've had to resort to gestures a fair bit, too. A bit of cross-cultural medicine right here in Hamilton!
