A FART IS A FART - NOTHING LESS AND NOTHING MORE
I have practiced medicine long enough to call a fart a fart. This may not seem like a milestone
worth noting to some people, but it carries a certain significance for me. For years I’ve heard myself asking
patients: “ have you passed gas”, “have you broken wind”, or have you passed any
flatus since your surgery”? And if the patient was elderly and hard of hearing - I could hear myself saying "HAVE YOU BROKEN WIND" loud enough to be heard in the next room. In my office, a patient sitting on the exam table would tell me about their gas
problem, and I would have to discern, is this belching, or farting. Asking if they passed gas or broke wind
sounded so ridiculous to my ears, and I’m sure most patients felt the same
way. Compounding
this “situation” has been my firm conviction that as a society, we are all
farting more. So, one day I
decided to take matters into my own hands, figuratively of course, and when
someone complained to me about their gas problem I simply asked if they meant
belching or farting. Their brief
look of confusion and pleasant surprise was quickly replaced by relief,
realizing they would not have to use or hear those other ridiculous phrases.
Note - my blog posts are usually accompanied by an appropriate illustration, but I could not find anything in my files to fit the bill this time.
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