On Becoming a Doctor by Heller Tania

Author:Heller, Tania [Heller, Tania]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781402247606
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“It’s a Miracle”

There are a couple of treatments that can appear miraculous to patients and their families. One of these is the use of oral prednisone (steroids) for the treatment of asthma and allergic reactions such as poison ivy. An example of a second follows.

In my first year of practice, a three-year-old boy named Sammy was carried into our clinic by his father, who was sobbing. “I think I’ve broken his arm,” Mr. Roberts cried. Sammy, who was also crying now, was holding a teddy bear in his right arm, but his left arm was hanging limply by his side. “He won’t move it at all,” continued his father.

“What happened?” I asked, trying to calm them both, albeit unsuccessfully. Mr. Roberts went on to explain how Sammy had run into the road after a ball and how he had grabbed his son’s arm to pull him to safety. Thankfully, his son had been rescued from the street, but he had not moved his left arm since that time.

I recalled reading about “nursemaid’s elbow” many times before, and I remembered our emergency room attending teaching us to “…extend the arm, supinate (rotate forearm so palm faces up), then flex. You will hear a click.” I had visualized this scenario many times but had not had the opportunity to perform this maneuver, that is until now. “Did your son fall or sustain any other injury to his arm?” I asked Mr. Roberts.

“No, he didn’t fall or hit his arm against anything.”

“Let’s just see,” I said. “It’s probably not broken. We call this a nursemaid’s elbow.”

Then, I took Sammy’s arm in mine, holding his left elbow with my left hand and his hand in my right. I gently extended his arm (nothing happened), then supinated it (the crying worsened, and for a split second I wondered if I was doing the right thing), and then I flexed his arm until his hand almost touched his shoulder. All of a sudden, I felt and heard the click! I waited and watched. The crying stopped. Sammy climbed out of his dad’s arms and just stood there. I waited a little longer, then took a brightly colored sticker, and offered it to him. To my delight, he dropped his teddy bear and took the sticker with his right hand. I held out a second sticker, and this time, smiling, he reached up with his left hand and took the sticker. All his father could say as he left the clinic room was, “It’s a miracle!” What a gratifying feeling that was.

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