After sitting at the airport for a few hours yesterday, Dr. H. came home and canceled his trip. No, his flight was not canceled, he just felt too sick to go. He hobbled in the door, looking like he was about to pass out any minute. He was alternating feeling feverish with chills. That's how I felt last weekend, when I was supposed to be finishing getting my classes ready after all this. My first day of classes went fine, albeit in a feverish haze. Dr. H, however, seems to be getting hit worse.
A few hours after he arrived home, I used my mom-thermometer (aka hand). The calibration chart I almost never actually use because I like the more objective instrumental readings looks something like this:
| Hand: Maybe feverish - maybe not | Thermometer: not |
| Hand: Probably feverish | Thermometer: 99-100 F |
| Hand: Definitely feverish | Thermometer: 100-101 F |
| Hand: Wow, really feverish | Thermometer: 101-102 F |
| Hand: OMG! | Thermometer: > 102 F |
A quick touch (I could hardly touch him, he was so hot) and we were clearly in the OMG range. Thermometer says: 103.7 F. Many discussions of the emergency room ensued (because of some accompanying symptoms as well). Eventually we settled on acetaminophen + urgent care the next day.
The PA was stunned he did not have pneumonia. But you know, it could always be on its way.
1 Comment:
I hope Dr. H. gets well soon.
My "mom thermometer" passed down from generations is my lips gently pressed to the patient's forehead. Much more sensitive than hand, and finely calibrated. It's so automatic for me, that I have planted "kisses" on many undergraduate and graduate students' foreheads when they complain about not feeling well. If I feel a fever, I send them home.
I do try to remember to ask for permission first. My postdoc explicitly had to tell me "please don't do that."
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