More "fun" times at the doctor's office

Yesterday we did a minor procedure on a 17 year old boy named Luis. He was our last patient of the day, so when we were done with him, he came and sat in the lobby to wait for his mom to pick him up. Dr H went to his office, and I sat at my reception desk working on some things. Everyone else had gone home for the day, so it was just Luis and me up front.

After a while he came over to my counter and ask if I had any suggestions on what he should take for the pain. I told him that Motrin or Tylenol should work just fine and that we normally don't have to prescribe anything. He kind of nodded slowly, but then said that his feet were already starting to bother him. Since there's really no way the local anesthesia could wear off that fast, I started to get suspicious that maybe he was just after drugs or something (unfortunately, when you work at a doctor's office you deal with a lot of druggies). So I told him again that we don't prescribe anything for it and that as soon as he got home he could take some Motrin to ease the pain. He nodded kind of slowly and started to lean heavily on the counter.

And then he collapsed.

I heard a sickening "thud" as he fell out of my view and hit the floor. He was pretty big for a 17yo so there was a lot of weight to go down! It was one of those moments you see in a movie - I sat there stunned for half a second while I processed what had happened, then I jumped up and leaned over my tall reception counter to peer down at him. Then I ran around the desk and was like, "hey! are you okay??" His eyes were open but kind of glazed and he didn't respond, and even though I was obviously flustered, somehow I managed to think clearly enough to drag a chair over to him from the lobby and prop his feet up on it. Then I ran to Dr H's office and even though he was on the phone, I just said "Um. . .I need your help - Luis just like totally passed out on me." I felt like I must have looked kind of crazy, because the words came out in a half panicked/half nervous laughter kind of way. He immediately hung up and and started hurrying toward the lobby and said something like "we need to get his feet up" which, thankfully, I was able to say I had already done. By the time we got to the lobby, the kid was coming around so Dr H just squatted down to tell him that it was a normal reaction and that we just needed to get some blood back to his head. Twenty minutes later the kid was fine and stood up and went home, but geez. I had a headache for hours just from that "thud" echoing through my skull.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Things are never boring when you work for a doctor.