Sunday, February 21, 2010

Can you find what's wrong with this picture?

A month or so ago, Annie swallowed a safety pin. The pin Brad is holding in his hand in this picture is the same pin that you see in the x-ray. It went clear through her digestive system and came out in her pooh. Lucky for us, the doctor told us we had to dig through her pooh until the pin "passed". It was a gruesome couple of days.

Until we got this x-ray back, I wasn't even sure she really had swallowed the pin. Earlier in the day, she tried to eat it and I took it away from her. I thought I put it on top of a table, but then a minute later she choked on something and I couldn't find the pin anywhere, so I thought she might have reached it somehow. Just to be safe, I took her to the doctor. He used a metal detector on her and sure enough, it went crazy around her mid-section. He suggested an x-ray to make sure that what she'd eaten really was a pin and that the pin was closed.

As soon as the x-ray was taken, the lab technician said, "Oh, yep. It's definitely a pin." I thought she was being a little presumptuous saying that - I was fairly certain that techs are not supposed to tell you anything. They are supposed to let the radiologists do that. I asked her (not really thinking that she would know for sure) if she could tell if it were closed. She said it was definitely closed. Again, I thought she was being far too definite for her level of expertise. Then she gave me the printouts and I laughed. If all cases were this easy, even I could be a radiologist.

*Side note: Lots of people want to go to medical school to become radiologists. It's on the ROAD to happiness in med school. ROAD stands for radiology, ophthalmology, anesthesiology, and dermatology. These are all specialties in medicine that have easier residencies and great salaries at the end. I don't know if Brad will choose any of these (currently he's into the idea of radiation oncology), but I think I would shoot myself in the face if I had to become a radiologist. I'm SO grateful there are people out there who want to do that, but I am far too social for a career like that, no matter what the pay is. On this visit to the hospital, I saw a radiologist at work and I realized I would die. They sit in a dark room, read x-rays, and dictate all day. Wow. I'm glad they get paid a lot.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

YIKES....poor Annie. Silly little girl...i'm glad it passed without any problems. I know finding it porbably was not fun for yall, but i'm glad she is ok. We love your updates...keep them coming. Love to you 3 wonderful people. xoxo

Brad said...

Let the record show that I wanted to keep the safety pin for Annie to remember, but I was vetoed by MaryAnne. At least we have a picture of it.