Christmas in July
Of course, medicine is a serious business, and nothing is more serious than someone scoping your colon (ok, some things are more serious, but I challenge you to find a person who thinks colon scoping is not in some way very at least a little serious). So, the average layperson may be under the impression that scoping takes place among tense and deeply concentrated staff, with conversations limited primarily to colons and scoping.
Au contraire!
Well, first of all, a little known fact, that most people would probably be mortified to find out, is that when people are just starting to fall asleep during conscious sedation, they say the darnest things. Just the other day, a really pleasant patient, who had already assumed position for his procedure, said, "How about that economy, eh? The country is in the shitter." When we found out that another guy takes Paxil, and asked if he was anxious, he answered, "Well, I teach school, so yes." It's quite endearing, it makes me personally, really develop warm feelings toward these patients.
Then, it should be noted also that the atmosphere in the procedure room is often far from tense. On Friday, for example, we had Abba quietly playing on the boombox, and the endoscopy tech was dancing in place a little between washes and biopsies. When we got sick of Abba, the nurse browsed the CD collection, and out bellowed Christmas music. Incidentally, there was a patient there, starting to fall asleep from sedation, who woke up, and looked around wonderously. We had to calm him down and assure him that yes, it's Christmas music, he is not dreaming it. I wonder, when he wakes up, will he have Jingle Bell Rock stuck in his head?
Listen. If you're scoping all day, and if you consider all that this involves, you gotta have comic relief.
Au contraire!
Well, first of all, a little known fact, that most people would probably be mortified to find out, is that when people are just starting to fall asleep during conscious sedation, they say the darnest things. Just the other day, a really pleasant patient, who had already assumed position for his procedure, said, "How about that economy, eh? The country is in the shitter." When we found out that another guy takes Paxil, and asked if he was anxious, he answered, "Well, I teach school, so yes." It's quite endearing, it makes me personally, really develop warm feelings toward these patients.
Then, it should be noted also that the atmosphere in the procedure room is often far from tense. On Friday, for example, we had Abba quietly playing on the boombox, and the endoscopy tech was dancing in place a little between washes and biopsies. When we got sick of Abba, the nurse browsed the CD collection, and out bellowed Christmas music. Incidentally, there was a patient there, starting to fall asleep from sedation, who woke up, and looked around wonderously. We had to calm him down and assure him that yes, it's Christmas music, he is not dreaming it. I wonder, when he wakes up, will he have Jingle Bell Rock stuck in his head?
Listen. If you're scoping all day, and if you consider all that this involves, you gotta have comic relief.
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