The (Mis)Adventures of Dr. D

Petite Pedia Plots 129 While holding clinic, a little girl (maybe around five or six years old) comes into the room and tells me, "Vaccine please!" - sort of like ordering food from a restaurant.  So I tell her, "Sure, but you have to wait for your turn." All throughtout my clinic, this girl would come and go and ask me for a vaccine in that same polite manner. At the end of my clinic, I asked my secretary where that girl was.   And my sec tells me that the girl is not our patient. She was someone else's. No wonder she was bravely asking for a shot! She knew I wasn't about to give it to her!

Petite Pedia Plots 128 Dad and Mom come into the clinic with a 6 month old baby in tow.  They're complaining about the baby's rashes on her cheeks and around the mouth. Mom says that baby likes to put things in her mouth including her whole fist. I explain to the parents that the rashes are most likely caused by the saliva of their baby.  Dad then exclaims, "Sobra nga mag drool, Dra! Parang si Mommy pagkagising lang - tulo laway!" Photo from www.wisegeek.com

Petite Pedia Plots 127 Part of the routine check-up for well babies is checking on their developmental milestones.  With this 6 month old baby, I asked the Dad if the baby liked looking at himself in the mirror.  Dad answered, "Oh yes!  I think he got that from his Mom.  Mom likes to spend hours looking at herself in the mirror!" Too much info, Dad! From www.openspacesfengshui.com

Petite Pedia Plots 126 Yesterday, I had a visit from 4 year old Prince Elsa.  Mom has been working extra hard at hiding his Barbie dolls and has been very succesful.  She says that when they go to the mall, he asks for toy cars.  (Yey!) His favorite shows are now oriented for both boys and girls.  (Good job, Mom!)  And in school, he has learned how to sing well.  Conversation goes as follows: Me: Wow! I heard you can sing well.   P.E.: Oh yes!!! Me: So what is your favorite song? P.E.: Fireworks by Katy Perry And he proceeds to give me a good rendition. 👏👏👏 Me: Who are your favorite singers aside from Katy? P.E.: Keshia, Ariana Grande and Britney Spears (!)   He shows me his Ipad and I see that it contains songs only by the 4 singers. And goes on to sing a medley of all their songs in a high voice complete with gyrations.  😂🤣😂🤣😆

Petite Pedia Post 125 I attended this newborn delivery recently.  Mom was in labor for 31 hours, the last 6-7 hours of which were very painful. Her original plan was water birth (hence, no anesthesia)  but ended up lying in bed since she was more comfortable in it.  Even if she wanted anesthesia, we couldn't since she was too far along. There were times when she was on the verge of giving up, but her very "supportive" family and friends would tell her , "Ginusto mo yan!"  The very excited and cooperative father-to-be was also stressed whenever he would see his pregnant partner in pain. His solution? He would disappear and eat several servings of food and come to sit beside his partner all recharged.  (He had 3 servings of dinner and breakfast.)  😂 At the end of the tiring and succesful lamaze delivery, the obstetrician probably saw how exhausted the Mom was. She ordered that Mom be given some water. Nurse handed it over to the new...

Petite Pedia Plots 124 I saw this 5 year old boy for the last time in the clinic.  They are migrating to Australia by next week.    They came over to say goodbye and get his last shot.  After the consult,  boy gives me this to "remember" him by.  I could see tears in his eyes and to be honest, I had something caught in my eyes too.  God bless and good luck to you and your family, dear little boy.   Tita Doctor will miss you. 

Teacher Tales 9 Just last year, I decided to take the plunge.  I started teaching in 2 schools (one was pre-dentistry/medicine and the other was medicine proper).  I had to drop the other school mid-way since I had conflicting schedules but it was a decision I had difficulty arriving at.  Teaching is a tiring profession - it eats up a lot of your spare time.  Nights would be spent planning the lesson, reading more about the topic, grading the exams or researching the newest games that can be incorporated into the lesson.  These plus the hours spent in the classroom itself made it a tedious job.  Some will end up hating it.   In my case, I loved it.  Interacting with teens who were willing to listen to what I had to say (well, most of the students, anyway) was priceless.   Being able to touch their lives, influencing them with my words and actions, helping shape them to be better persons and citizens of our country - is...