oh, the places you'll go!

maybe it's the festive holiday air, or the cold is keeping people indoors, but whatever the reason, i've seen a lot of sexually transmitted diseases in the ED over the past few weeks.

the two most memorable were a woman in her 20's who had gonorrhea. i delivered her diagnosis, provided some anticipatory guidance, and then went to get her discharge instructions. she had asked me for a phone so that she could call to get a ride home. when i returned to the room, she was on said phone, yelling at her boyfried: "you're damn right it'f fucking over! you fucking cheated on me and now i have a fucking disease in my vagina. i hate you!" i stood there awkwardly for a few seconds, and i didn't step-in to remind her that the disease was affecting her cervix, not her vagina, and then i muttered "i can see you're busy, i'll be back in a few minutes."

the other notable encounter was a mother-daughter pain who both had their first outbreak of genital herpes. i had seen them both, not knowing they were related (different last names) and remarked to the attending that it was funny that both the patient in room 2 and 3 had herpes. the attending had seen room 2--the mother-- (although she hadn't done a pelvic) and had been told that her daughter was in the next room with similar complaints. we could only wonder at the array of possibilities that could account for such a situation; i felt both amazement and revulsion.