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Monday, May 21, 2012

The Things We Find in Our Patient's Ears

Going through 10 hours of orientation to the five-week Family Medicine Clerkship today reminded me of a patient I saw while I was on Peds...

She was about 12, and she had come in for her annual physical. Being the med student, I was the first of three people on the medical team to see her. After a clear H&P, I started on her physical exam. I began by looking into her ears...but when I peered down her left auditory canal, all I could see was fuzz. "Weird," I thought, "I don't really know what an ear drum is supposed to look like, but something tells me its not supposed to be fuzzy..." So I fetched the resident, who noticed something strange as well. After looking in her ear, she left the room, grabbed a long pair of tweezers and a flashlight, and returned. After fishing in her ear to retrieve the fuzzy mass, I pulled out a massive, waxy Q-tip head.

The girl didn't even know anything was in there.

I wonder what treasures I will discover in the next 5 weeks on Family Medicine! ;)

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