A NEEDLE PULLING THREAD

• I have read on Reader’s Digest about a guy with the surname Baker who owns a bakery. There were also other examples of individuals around the world with surnames related to their careers. In my very own hospital, there is a senior surgeon with the family name “Jahit”.

• When a doctor becomes a surgeon, he or she is no longer called “Doctor” but “Mister” or “Miss”. The fiance of my colleague WL (who is in the Surgical Masters Programme at one of the local universities), would be completing his surgical training soon. “When is your fiance becoming a Mister?” I asked WL & her reply was “He has always been a Mister all his life & was never a Miss.”

• One of the Oncology Medical Officers, MM, wanted to perform a Per Rectal (PR) Examination on a patient with symptoms of prostatism, to feel for the size & consistency of the prostate gland. After positioning the patient, she realised that the patient doesn’t have an anus. He had actually undergone an operation (abdominal-perineal resection) for rectal cancer, where the rectum & anal canal were removed. This reminds me of the advice given to us in medical college by one of our clinical professors (from “Tales Out of Medical School”). “There are only two instances where you can’t perform a PR. Number one, you don’t have an index finger, and number two, the patient has no asshole.” I guess MM had a hands on experience on lesson number two.