annie and i got up early for breakfast at the famed pasadena marston’s. when we arrived, they had not opened yet, but there was already a family waiting. right after us, came another couple, and a strange asian man on a cell phone. we were seated right away, and ordred two large glasses of fresh sqeezed orange juice. mmm. as we ate, the place filled quickly, and by the time annie and i left, there was a line waiting outside.

the food is good (although they burned the potatoes), and the portions are huge– we couldn’t finish half of our breakfasts. next time, we’ll try some of the pancakes that everyone else in the joint was ordering.

1. menu, 2. french toast rolled in corn flakes, 3. eggs benedict, 4. fresh squeezed OJ

it was a busy evening– little time to sit and chat… which is a good thing. less chance for me to fall asleep in the nurses station.

patients of note:

2 year old with viral gastritis: vomiting, fever, more vomiting, motrin, vomiting, tylenol suppository, screaming.

21 year old with clay shoveler’s fracture (spinous process fx) of C3 plus alveolar bone fracture (with a near loss of teeth) from her husband beating her, dragging her outside, beating more, dragging her inside, and beating her again.

75 year old with serious epistaxis, not on bloodthinners. i got to insert a “rapid rhino” (tampon-like apparatus with a syringe at the end to inject air) into her nose to stop the bleeding. (FYI: #1 cause of epistaxis is nose picking in kids and adults.)

MVA: rear ending that caused a car to roll over several times… three passengers walked away shaken, but thankfully undead.

MVA: drunken, belligerent driver with depression successfully pisses of entire nursing staff. broken clavicle… demanding pain medications and death.

woman freaked out while watching a scary movie at the nearby motel, jumped off bed, landed on outstretched palm. no scaphoid fracture seen, but she sprained her thumb… and took a shot of whiskey to try and dull the pain.

MRSA abscesses: 16 year old with one smack on the middle of the forhead (kept trying to pop it) and one on a 29 year old’s butt. puss-tastic.

40 something year old man with a nasty case of otitis externa.

thankfully, we didn’t have any arrests all night– my arms are still sore from lifting weights at the gym, and full extension at the elbow is difficult and quite painful. argh.

from a mcdonald’s big mac commercial:

now is a great time to sink your teeth into an old friend

updates from the ER:

- reduced a patellar dislocation yesterday on a young girl with MR and rheumatoid arthritis. afterwards, she tried to give the doc a hug, and then me… but we both ran away. far, far away.

- scrubbed in on a laparotomy with a super fun surgeon at 5am to repair a perforated ulcer.

- saw an LP done for the first time… and the next one i’m doing!

we get a call into the ER that a patient is coming in from our friendly neighborhood psych facility… because she has inserted 2 keys and a keychain up her butt. while we wait for the patient, the nurses speculate to whether we can just grab and pull the keys out without causing massive bleeding– someone suggests inserting a speculum (ouch), someone else suggests inserting a lock.

the patient arrives, and x-ray of the abdomen and pelvis show only one key, and it’s in the vagina. whew. the doc and i go into the room together to see if we can retrieve it.

doc: so, you’ve stuck a key in your vagina.

pt: [smiling] ooooooooh! BUSTED!

doc: ???

pt: if i take it out, can i go home?

doc: [in a strangely patronizing tone] yes, if you take it out, you can go home.

pt: ok! [proceeds to fish around under her blankets] i’m on my menstrual period.

the patient then pulls out a horribly bloody key, and tries to hand it to the doc, who steps away quickly. the patient’s caregiver quickly produces an emesis basin where the patient promptly drops the key.

the end.

william met me out in pasadena for lunchy…and we ended up trying this japanese-french fusion place. we ordered bento boxes– which were decidedly more japanese than french. the food was good, the decor strange and unfitting. we left stuffed… and sadly did not try the lavender creme brulee or any of the other cakes so proudly displayed up front.

1. Lobster Bisque, 2. Chawanmushi, 3. My special bento box, 4. Rice, 5. Soba, 6. William’s special bento box

some chick sprayed breast milk at me.

she missed, but still.