I need a new explanation
Posted by GruntDoc on November 16th, 2009
Because mine no longer makes sense to people…
Many of the abscesses I drain require wound packing (I generally use 1/4” iodoform gauze, so these aren’t giant cavities), and during the procedure I tell the patient why I’m doing a wound packing, and what to expect.
When we’re done with the procedure, until yesterday I used to tell patients to remove their packing in 3 days “Like you’re starting a lawn mower, just get it out”. That’s when the nurse laughed, and said her mower is an electric start.
I asked the patient if they’d ever started a lawn mower, and the answer was no.
So, what shall I use as a universally understood analogous action to smoothly but quickly pull something? Zipper? I’m coming up blank…
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November 16th, 2009 at 4:05 am
Tell them it’s a “tug of war” game. Keep tugging to see who wins.
November 16th, 2009 at 6:59 am
Parachute Ripcord. Bonus points if they throw their arms out spread-eagle afterwards.
November 16th, 2009 at 7:45 am
Dental Floss. I know when I pull floss from the container, I do it fairly quickly. Analogy will not work with meth-mouths.
November 16th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Starting an outboard motor.
November 16th, 2009 at 10:05 am
Like you’re pulling the pin from a grenade.
November 16th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Hot wax, but only for those who are old enough. Band-aid works for all ages.
November 16th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Thank you for asking this! All physicians should think of these things.
I was discussing a medicine with one of my daughter’s specialists, and he asked something about a spoon. A spoon? Dude, children haven’t taken medicine from a spoon since Reagan was in office.
November 16th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Just like yanking a tampon!
November 16th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Like spinning up a gyroscope.
Too geeky?
November 16th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Reminds me of Gibson’s famous opening line in “Neuromancer: “The sky was the color of television tuned to a dead channel.”
Which meant gray when he wrote it, but now almost universally is read as bright monochrome blue.
Hm…as to the inquiry, how about pulling the opening strip on a Fed-Ex envelope or detergent box?
November 17th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Like ripping off that scab that’s hanging by a thread and you know it’s going to hurt like hell when you tear it?
November 17th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Like your setting the hook in a fish. Maybe too outdoorsy.
November 17th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Like you’re setting the hook in a fish. Maybe too outdoorsy.
November 17th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Is “just pull it out” so complicated that they need an analogy? Slowly, quickly, whatever, as long as they pull it out. I do tell them to get it wet first in the shower.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
do you warn them about that lovely noise it makes when you pull it out?
November 17th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Grab the end and pull. Continue to pull until there nothing left in the wound your you feel tugging in your rectum. For either, stop at that point.
November 18th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Just stop packing them!
November 18th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Like doing coitus interruptus really well.
November 18th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
I think a good analogy would be threading a shoe lace. Pull it out securely and quickly as if you were pulling a shoe lace thru an eyelet.
November 19th, 2009 at 1:42 am
Like pulling of a band-aid.
November 19th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
I like the dental floss, even if they don’t use it they have at least heard of it.
December 4th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
Every 3 days? Packing should be removed daily…and pull it out nice and steady, smooth and easy.
February 8th, 2010 at 9:27 am
pullin a snake out of your boot