* * Anonymous Doc: "No, that's normal for me."

Sunday, January 20, 2013

"No, that's normal for me."

"So, did you have any fever?"

"Well, one time in the night I had low-grade fever, but I took Tylenol and it went away."

"What was the low-grade fever?"

"101.9."

"That's not so low."

"No, it's normal for me."

"It's not normal for anyone."

"I get it every night.  It's normal."

"Not normal.  We need to figure out if there's an infection, or what's causing the fever."

"I had blankets on me."

"That doesn't cause a fever."

"For me it does."

"Nope.  And it was still a fever, even if Tylenol lowers it."

"No, I think if it were a serious fever, one dose Tylenol wouldn't work."

"That's not true.  If Tylenol doesn't take your fever down, there's a serious problem.  But just because your fever goes down after taking it doesn't mean it's not a fever and we don't need to figure out what's causing it."

"No, doctor, like I said, this is normal for me.  I shouldn't have even said anything."

"It's important to tell a doctor when you have a fever."

"No, because now you think something is wrong."

"Something is probably wrong."

"No, I'll let you know if I get a fever over 103 that a bunch of Tylenol won't take care of."

"At that point, you shouldn't let me know-- you should let the morgue know."

"Now you're just being overdramatic."

"Yes, but you're being underdramatic.  Let's get some blood work done."

"No, I don't want to get blood work.  My last blood test showed my hemoglobin was six and a half, so I don't really want to give up any more blood."

4 comments:

  1. He got you with that last sentence, didn´t he... such a smart patient

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  2. This is so painful to read... heaven knows what hematopoietic malignancy is brewing there. Hope he came to his senses.

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  3. I'm not medical, so I can only guess that hemoglobin of six and a half is bad?

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  4. Normal is 12-16. (Or where I live, 120-160)

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