A doctor's life: House calls

The location of the Strahle clinic in the campus of MVC can be depicted on the face of a clock with the clinic taking the middle position, the dormitories at positions 12:00 - 3:00, and faculty housing from positions 3:00 to 12:00. The doctor's residence was at position 9:00 and was just about a hundred meters from the clinic. Cases that needed confinement or minor surgery were brought to the clinic, but for most cases that were mild in nature I saw it more convenient to visit the patient in his/her room. There were many times when just conversing and assuring the patient and instituting home remedies had better results than medication.

I had a call one night from the dean of the Onyx boys' dormitory saying that there was a college freshman who had been sobbing for some time and was now in pain. Upon entering the room I noticed the boy on the bed and his roommates where around trying to massage him. They said that this kid was crying because he sorely missed his mama, but later his hands and feet contracted in a painful position - a typical sign of Respiratory Alkalosis, due to the imbalance of Carbon Dioxide and Oxygen in the blood caused by hyperventilation (breathing fast). This called for the "paper bag therapy" where a bag is placed over the mouth and nose so that the exhaled CO2 can be re-inhaled and in a while the alkalosis corrected. I asked them if they had a bag that I could use and one guy produced a plastic bag - the one used when you buy bread at the bakery. Without checking its contents I placed the bag over the boy's mouth and nose and in a while the hands and feet loosened up and relaxed. The patient apparently relieved smiled and we all had a good laugh when he started eating the bread that was in the bag all the while.

Another unusual call to the same dormitory presented a young basketball star who was sprawled on the cement floor, incoherent and apparently had one bottle too many. There was no doubt that he was in distress, but attempts to calm him down or help him feel better didn't work until I thought of summoning a lady that he was in love with. It was already late at night, but Mai-mai obligued and came, sat on the floor and cradled Balong's head on her lap while stroking his forehead. Miraculously, his thrashing and mumbling gave way to a smile on his face and we all heaved a collective sigh of relief.

Someone sick was not the only reason for a house call. Sometimes it was a cobra that wandered inside the house, because it was common knowledge that I was a snake catcher. I used to have a sizable collection of snakes in younger my years and even as a doctor the importance of snakes to maintain the ecological balance was reason enough to catch and release these wayward serpents. The need for suffering pets to be euthanized was also one reason for house calls, so was the vaccination of these pets against rabies. 

Being a doctor in a community out in the country has its uniqueness and I loved it.