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Just amazed my medical assistant.....
Mar. 30th, 2007 06:20 pmI have this lady in my practice who I've known easily a dozen years. Like her tremendously. We've actually had dinner on more than one occasion. Anyway she was in for her annual gyn exam as the last patient of the afternoon. Walked in to see her and noted my medical assistant had laid out only the standard supplies, not fully what was needed for her. I raised one eyebrow and looked over at her.
"You didn't tell her, did you?"
She just smiled sweetly and shook her head no. Then with a wicked smile she added, "just put another set out and see if she notices."
"Oh, you are evil!" I laughed.
My new medical assistant is good, funny and smart. She joined us, and as I started the exam, she looked quizzically at the supplies and asked who put more stuff out.
"I did."
"But why?"
"Because he'll need them both," my patient chimed in.
Natalie had this wonderful WTF look on her face, right eyebrow arched and raised.
"I need two pap set-ups because she has two cervices"
"What?"
"She doesn't have one cervix, she has two."
"What?!?"
With pretty obvious amusement, my patient smiled and said, "You heard him right dear; I have two cervixes. And two of everything else down there as well."
I shot her a look.
"Don't scare the girl! You only have one vulva."
"You have two? How the hell did that happen?" And with that we all started laughing.
"The uterus is a fused organ. A female fetus start of with two separate structures that ultimately fuse, leaving a single vagina, cervix and uterus with two separate tubes leading out to the ovaries, one on either side. Sometimes the fusion fails to happen fully, and sometimes even at all. Think of this a the gynecologic equivalent of a cleft lip."
"How do you know which side is which?"
"Good question! when I get the speculum in, I run a small swab down the vaginal sidewalls to see which side of the vaginal septum we're on" Then I showed her. "See, we're on the right", as the Q-tip disappeared into what looked like a ripple in the vaginal wall, that was actually the entrance to her left vagina.
Afterwards she dutifully packed up the spcimens to be sent, full paper work with each, one labeled left cervix and the other right. As I left the lab I heard her murmuring to herself, "Now, I really have seen everything."
"You didn't tell her, did you?"
She just smiled sweetly and shook her head no. Then with a wicked smile she added, "just put another set out and see if she notices."
"Oh, you are evil!" I laughed.
My new medical assistant is good, funny and smart. She joined us, and as I started the exam, she looked quizzically at the supplies and asked who put more stuff out.
"I did."
"But why?"
"Because he'll need them both," my patient chimed in.
Natalie had this wonderful WTF look on her face, right eyebrow arched and raised.
"I need two pap set-ups because she has two cervices"
"What?"
"She doesn't have one cervix, she has two."
"What?!?"
With pretty obvious amusement, my patient smiled and said, "You heard him right dear; I have two cervixes. And two of everything else down there as well."
I shot her a look.
"Don't scare the girl! You only have one vulva."
"You have two? How the hell did that happen?" And with that we all started laughing.
"The uterus is a fused organ. A female fetus start of with two separate structures that ultimately fuse, leaving a single vagina, cervix and uterus with two separate tubes leading out to the ovaries, one on either side. Sometimes the fusion fails to happen fully, and sometimes even at all. Think of this a the gynecologic equivalent of a cleft lip."
"How do you know which side is which?"
"Good question! when I get the speculum in, I run a small swab down the vaginal sidewalls to see which side of the vaginal septum we're on" Then I showed her. "See, we're on the right", as the Q-tip disappeared into what looked like a ripple in the vaginal wall, that was actually the entrance to her left vagina.
Afterwards she dutifully packed up the spcimens to be sent, full paper work with each, one labeled left cervix and the other right. As I left the lab I heard her murmuring to herself, "Now, I really have seen everything."
