It began one night at work. The ER is not an easy place to work, most people will grant. The stress is obvious, the sad cases too, but what really got me was the patients, the ones who had nothing wrong with them, or who just wanted drugs.
Most of my patients are the scum of the earth. Half the infections I see are due to failed personal hygiene. We've got people coming in with boils because they won't bathe or take a shower. Take a shower, for Christ's sake! And don't get me started on the things people insert, or where, for sexual pleasure.
Then one night a lady came in complaining that she had a lemon seed stuck in her throat. I examined her thoroughly, but could locate no blockage. I had her drink about a gallon of water, but still she swore the lemon seed was there. Even the CT scan we did upstairs revealed nothing.
I slipped the seed in my pocket and stepped outside. The night air felt different somehow.
Copyright © by Matthew Hammond July 2005, January 2010