White Cape

As primary care physicians, we spend a lot of time examining orifices. We venture where others are afraid, inspecting beefy red throats, peering up drippy nostrils, and probing along boggy prostates for lumps. Each day we don our protective white coats, denying Pasteur's basic principle of infectious particles, and charge ahead to stamp out disease. Although we live among the sick, we act as if we are immune. 

In our daily lives, however, physicians are wimps in the war against infectious disease. We are the first to flee any illness, no matter how small. A friend recently visited with sick children and, although we adore his girls, our stomachs dropped as he described the gory details of their recent illness: sleepless nights, baby vomit, and dozens of diaper changes in a single hour. “It’s just a gastroenteritis,” he reassured us. “Don’t worry, when I had it, it only lasted 48 hours.”

We were far from reassured. Immediately, we began scrubbing our hands, and silently reviewing the past hour of “innocent” playtime. Did we kiss them? Did we touch our mouths? Why weren’t we more careful? We spent the rest of the day hunkered down under a down comforter with tea, anticipating the worst.

Sure enough, a few days later, I was in the emergency room admitting when the virus hit. My patient, an elegant woman in her sixties, was in the middle of describing her struggle with breast cancer when I was suddenly consumed by my own wave of nausea. "Excuse me," I said, tearing open the curtain and running for the bathroom. I vomited three times, cleaned up the mess, washed my hands and face, and returned to her gurney.

“Is everything all right?” she asked, appearing startled by my sudden departure. “Do you need to help another patient?”

“No, it’s fine,” I replied. “Please continue.”

She did, and so did I. Like many interns before me, I downed a few Pepto Bismal and kept on chugging. Later that night, I admitted a 47 year-old man with dehydration from a viral gastroenteritis. I struggled to listen as he described his two-day bout in gripping detail, and I caught a glimpse of the next 48 hours awaiting me. 

Share your comments10:18:55 AM