No matter where you are, you ’re still a doctor

I grabbed a few beach pillows, put on my old worn-out blue beach button down, poured myself a glass of whiskey and walked down to the beach from our villa to watch the sunset. My four friends and I were ten days deep into a two-week vacation. We had already toured Seoul, South Korea for three days, Tokyo, Japan for four days and Hong Kong for three days. So, I welcomed the two days of rest and relaxation that accompanied the beach resort of Vinpearl in Nha Trang, Vietnam. I remember laying down perched up on a pillow or two to support my head. The fine, white sand of Nha Trang starting to stick to my almost empty but still cold glass of whiskey. I was in my own little world. The sun was just about to slip behind Vietnam’s mountain range in the distance when I heard a commotion coming from our villa. I sipped the final remnants of Johnny Walker from my glass when my friend Demitri approached me with a worried look on his face. He knelt down onto one knee next to me and said, “I just puked blood.” I immediately gathered my pillows, stood up and lead Demitri to our beachfront villa. I brushed the sand off my shirt and pants and switched to doctor mode. Demitri was tremulous and hunched over due to his abdominal pain, and his physical symptoms were matched with the anxiety of being potentially sick in a foreign country. Back at our villa, I could see that my three other friends were almost as anxious as Demitri. “I got this guys,” I assured them, “can you grab us some...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Physician Emergency Medicine Source Type: blogs