When it comes to the EMT stuff, I was always an Airway, Bleeding, A-B-C kind of guy. Just keep ‘em alive until you get them to the hospital. I just don’t have the inherent skills to get very deep into medical procedures.
One of my shortcomings is diagnosis. Try as I may, I’m just not very good at it. Oh, I can tell a broken bone ok. But when it comes to asking 20 questions to narrow down why you have trouble breathing while your eyelid is twitching, or something, it’s not my gig. That’s why I never had any desire to go on to paramedic school.
But no matter how good you are at diagnosis, I’ll bet you never would have spotted this one when even skilled physicians were surprised when they got inside this man and found out what was really bothering him. It happened recently in Russia when a young man complained about chest pains. The surgeon was certain he had a tumor in his lung and they scheduled surgery to remove it. But they ended up taking something else out, instead. Take a look at this video and see what you think:
Keep in mind that this story comes out of Russia and historically they have been a bit loose with the truth for the past 100 yrs. or so. But you still have to wonder, Did he or didn’t he? Personally, I’m a little dubious of the accuracy of the story. But again, if someone tells me “It hurts right here,” I can’t tell you why.
But I can tell you that we need some coffee, pronto. So get started on the equipment check and I’ll go start the pot.
