Tales from the Emergency Room by FAAAAI MD William E. Hermance Read Free Book Online Page B

the desk. Several people called to see how things were coming along. About 1:00 AM, November 1, Peggy delivered our son weighing 9 pounds, 11 ounces and perfectly healthy. I called a buddy of mine, a classmate who, I knew would still be up, with the news, checked on my wife and son and went home to wash up. Eventually, I went to George’s apartment where we ate toast and blueberry jam and I tried to relax.
    In those days, new mothers and babies were kept in the hospital for a few days, five in Peggy’s case, so, between my hospital duties and visiting my wife and son, I rarely went home. Since it was November in Rochester we had lots of snow by the time Billy and Peggy came home and we were able to start to adjust to a whole new life.
    Shut up, Hilara
    My mother, Hilara, came to help out with the new baby. She was stunned that we carried on around the baby in our usual way, talking, not whispering, walking around, not tiptoeing, having some music playing, fixing meals with the usual noise. This was not what she had done with her only child.
    My father, George, arrived a few days later while Billy was having a nap. He tiptoed into the bedroom, whispering all the time, to see his new grandson. My mother said quite authoritatively, “It’s perfectly all right to make all the noise you want around the baby, George.” He looked over his shoulder and replied, “Shut up, Hilara.” This caused Peggy and me to burst out laughing because we knew that this would happen. As old school as they were about babies, they both eventually came around to being at ease with Billy. My father soon thought nothing of lifting him out of his crib so that Billy could continue his naps on his grandpa’s chest. Billy became his “Honey-man” since one could not possibly call a boy simply “Honey”.
    A $25.00 Check
    From the time I started college up until I got married, my father sent $25.00 each week for my living expenses. While he loved Peggy, he was not happy that we had gotten married while I was still in medical school. For some reason, he continued to pay for my books. But there were no more $25.00 checks, or tuition payments for that matter. Not too bad while Peggy was working, but we eventually did have to have a loan to finish school. About one week after Billy was born there arrived in the mail a check from my father for $25.00 and the checks continued every week until I graduated. The man was not about to be blamed for anything that Billy might lack. He never mentioned the checks to me and I never mentioned them to him. They did make life a bit easier for us.
    A Big Baby
    There were several new babies in our class. Billy was by far the biggest one. When the dean’s wife threw her annual lawn party, someone put an empty beer can in Billy’s hands to the amusement of the guests. I’m not sure his mother was amused, but she understood the joke!
    Rabbi Hyman
    My cousin Henry Hyman was chronically ill for several years. He would frequently find himself in Strong Memorial Hospital. One day a stranger appeared in his room and announced that he had come to see who the other Henry Hyman was. The stranger turned out to be a Rabbi and my cousin and he had a light-hearted conversation about the coincidence of their names.
    The Aorta
    Once again I am in the emergency room but this time I am still in medical school. I was in my junior year and I was actually on my way home after a day on the wards when I was, for all intents and purposes, snatched up and deposited in the main ER operating room. With only a little time to scrub, I was helped into a gown and gloved and masked. There were three others at the table, two residents and an attending surgeon. I was told to stand next to the attending and that I was in charge of “proximal control”. What this might be I had no idea. When I looked about I was now surrounded by tables full of sterile equipment. I was thoroughly trapped! The patient, by now already anesthetized had just arrived in the