Scan Man’s Conversations With Patients.
Published by Vijay September 17th, 2007 in Humour, Life in India, MedicineOne thing that a radiologist misses is the regular human interaction that is part and parcel of a clinician’s job.
Since I do ultrasound scans, I get to interact with patients for at least the few minutes that it takes me to perform the scan. I usually ask them a few relevant clinical questions or make some general small talk to make them comfortable. I find it especially useful when I scan women.
Some of these conversations turn out to be educative and/or entertaining.
Here is an example that occurred today.
The patient was a 30-something young man who had been sent by a lady gynecologist for an ultrasound scan of the scrotum as part of infertility evaluation. I presume the wife was being evaluated and investigated by the gynecologist herself.
I was asking him general background questions like how long he has been married, how long they have been trying to have a child, have they been evaluated or treated anywhere else, etc., as my assistant was getting him in position for the scan.
A visual inspection of the genitalia showed only one testicle (the right). I palpated and confirmed that there was only one testis. There was no palpable swelling in the left inguinal region, a common site for an undescended testis.
The ultrasound scan showed a normal right testis in the right side of the scrotum. The left testis was not seen in the scrotum or inguinal region. I did a scan of the abdomen to search for an intraabdominal testis, but could not find anything that looked like a testis in the pelvis and the paraaortic region.
I was talking to the patient (in Tamil) as I was doing the scan. Here is the translated version of the conversation…
Me: Have you been examined by a doctor before this?
Patient: No.
Me: Do you remember being examined by a doctor or getting a similar scan done sometime in your childhood?
Patient: No.
Me: Do you know that you have only one testicle?
Patient: Is that so?
Me: Do you know that men generally have two testicles?
Patient: mm… err… No.
I’m beyond surprised now. More like shocked.
Since he is a very well-dressed and presentable young man, I can’t resist one further question.
Me: What is your educational qualification?
Patient: I’m doing my second year MBA.
I couldn’t trust myself to speak any longer. I just indicated to my assistant that the scan was over and she could get the patient off the couch.
I remembered the plaque that Suresh has on his office desk. It’s apparently an in-house joke at the place where Raghu, a close friend got his MBA. Suresh got his MBA at CSU.
Indeed.
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10 Responses to “Scan Man’s Conversations With Patients.”
- 1 Pingback on Sep 22nd, 2007 at 12:10 am
Vijay, I run into people who have high school educations who think that men have one less rib than women (the Bible reference to Eve being made from the rib of Adam).
Nice post!
And post graduates who believe that the Adam’s bridge was built by superhuman monkeys !
That aside, I am not surprised. The sex education in our schools is dismal. I remember my biology teacher (a nun, actually) skim through the chapter on “human reproduction” with a flaming face and embarrassed stutter. I came to know of facts of life only in college. A rather dangerous situation to be in. Not only am I a not surprised that the guy didn’t know, but it seems perfectly possible that the wife did not know either ! What sacrilege would it have been if she had known the male anatomy before marriage. So, what she knows she knows from her husband.
Well, maybe I’m a bit easier to shock - although I didn’t think I was, but personally, I’m amazed that he had no idea that men have two testicles. How can you get all the way to adulthood and not know that?
Ah well … !
I guess it’s a good thing to never assume that everyone has a handle on the basics …
Speechless
Men have two testicles? How did I ever get to be a 55 year old married woman, with two grown son’s, and have no idea about this? Thanks for educating me Vijay!…HA!
Err… he had not watched porn AT ALL?
Navin,
Normal men who watch porn, have other things of interest to see, rather than count the number of testicles hanging down a man’s body.
It seems you could do with watching a bit of porn yourself: how on earth can you count a man’s testicles when he is at it?
You HAVE to tell me this!
if they are trying to fall pregnant, i wonder if the gynae could save a lot of money and effort to first just check they are doing the deed correctly. it strikes me they are not too bright, mba or not.
Ramona, Moof, CA & Cathy: I think Lakshmi’s comment should explain a bit.
Welcome Bongi. You should ask me about the number of times that I’ve had a difficulty in doing transvaginal ultrasound scans for infertile women. If they make such a fuss about the probe, they probably aren’t ‘doing the deed correctly‘ either.
Rambodoc, you probably haven’t considered that Navin might be interested in things that don’t interest you
Added to all this is common misconceptions about anatomy or anatomical terms. How many times have I had to tell a man that the kidneys are not the ones hanging between his legs! I’m sure Rambodoc will agree.