Dash 22

The consult came in around 3:30 on a Friday.  The surgeon wasn't on call but his partner was tied up and he, the surgeon, felt obligated to see the new patient before it got too late.  To do otherwise is known as a "dick move" in the world of small private surgical practice.  The computer record outlined the picture of a man in his late seventies with an unremarkable medical history.  He only took something for gout and various other over the counter vitamins.  He took something called Life-X 3000.  The consult request was "evaluate for gallbladder disease".  The patient had been admitted three days prior.  That was interesting.  The admitting diagnosis was "diarrhea".  The surgeon perused the completed  blood work and imaging.  Mildly elevated liver function tests.  White blood count (WBC) over 20,000.  The CT report had the surgeon logging out of the terminal and brisk walking to the other side of the hospital--- severe cholecystitis, possible malignancy vs liver abscess.  On the way to the patient's room the surgeon calls the OR desk to get an idea of how the board looks.  This is the witching hour in the OR, when staff go home and the number of available OR suites whittles down to the bare minimum.  This as a case that needed to go quick.  He had seen this all before.  Elderly male with leukocytosis and nasty gallbladder on US ...
Source: Buckeye Surgeon - Category: Surgeons Authors: Source Type: blogs