bah-ston

We had a patient the other day who suffered a stroke and then abruptly began to hemorrhage, creating a subdural hemorrhage. Those are bad and will generally kill you unless it is caught in time. This patient's case was complicated, though, and they quickly took a turn for the worst. The family was called in, the patient given a morphine drip to keep pain at bay, and spiritual counselors called in. Her surname was stereotypically eastern European, perhaps Jewish, perhaps not. We all thought she was Jewish. Anyway, we're standing at the nurse's station talking over her pain regimen when two rabbis and a priest walk onto the floor looking for our patient. It was really all we could do to keep ourselves from laughing hysterically. I said to a nurse, "two rabbis and a priest walk onto the neuro-oncology floor and here I am without a punchline."

It was a good day.

(By the way, 2/3 of the time spent at hospitals is spent at the nurse's station. True story. 1/6 of the time is spent walking and 1/6 of the time is spent in patient rooms.)