the weather outside is frightful...

not long ago, a string of storms passed through the area and deposited a thick layer of snow on the ground. with snow, comes the need to move or remove it in order to facilitate travel by foot or car. there are many devices available for performing these tasks--brooms, shovels, snow plows, snow blowers, snow throwers. the act of snow-relocation can be irritating and time consuming, but as well as deadly or disfiguring.

these things were not on my mind as i made my way to work through the mostly unplowed streets of my cozy village. perhaps it is due to budget cuts in city government, or maybe they wanted it to look festive for the holiday season. whatever the reason, the lack of this service caused a significant extension in my travel time, and adding a bit to my daily rage quota.

i purchased a cup of coffee, ate liberally from the sample muffin basket and felt my anger melt away. i was prepared to see a few cases of snow-shoveling-induced chest pain a phenomena with which many are familiar: a sedentary or older person, generally a male, goes out to clear their driveway, not realizing that their heart is not up to the task of delivering blood to those working muscles. The result of this is often chest pain, which prompts a visit to the ER. In addition, people also fall down with astonishing regularity. I heard a story of a woman who fell while getting into her car; she fell into traffic and was nearly run over.

car accidents are, not surprisingly, a frequent motivation to see emergency medical care. what did puzzle me was the number of people i saw on the day of this storm who were on their way to the emergency department (herein, "ED") for other reasons, whilst en route they were involved in a wreck. what i found so astonishing were the reasons they decided that they needed to be seen in the ED on that day. it's not infrequent that someone's presenting complaint is "abdominal pain for 3 months." i always ask "why did you come today?" and not infrequently get answers ranging from sensible ("my pain got worse"), to a trifle bizarre, to completely insane (my neighbor got shot and his girlfriend was driving here to visit him, so i figured i would come to get this checked out since i could get a ride). but why, on a day when there is a snow emergency, schools are closed, roads are unplowed, does one decide that they need to seek care for something that has been going on for months? i don't think i'll ever know the answer.

i was particularly impressed by one gentleman, who despite the 8cm laceration on his forehead and what sounded like the near-total destruction of his father's car--which he was not allowed to be drive but that had been left at home since his father had opted to take the bus to work in lieu of driving given the weather--was most concerned with a "bump" on his penis that he noticed about 5 weeks ago that he was worried was a genital wart (it wasn't). furthermore, he had an appointment to see his own doctor in 3 days, but apparently, after 5 weeks, it couldn't wait another 3 days.

finally, there are the snow blower related injuries. these are primarily finger amputations or maimings. occasionally a foot gets injured: "i was afraid my fingers would get hurt if i stuck them in, so i used my foot." wait--let me see if i understand--you were concerned about sticking your fingers into a machine with moving metal parts (no one ever seems to turn the machine off, although one guy told me he turned down the throttle) so you decided that your foot was a better option? one country-fried rube even suggested that i didn't know what i was doing when i was testing to see if the digital block i had performed (numbing the entire finger from the base rather than just the area of the wound) had had sufficient time to take effect. before i begin sewing someone's skin, i test to see if they are appropriately anesthetized. what raises my ire is not having aspersions cast about my knowledge or competence per se, but rather that in this case, it was coming from someone who didn't have enough sense not to stick his hand into a machine with rotating metal parts.

i love when it snows!