The patient
was a Brazilian two-year old who may or may not have had ear pain. Infants love
everyone, and older toddlers are usually frightened enough to hold still, but
from one to three years of age, children who don’t like doctors are
uncontrollable. Taking a temperature in the armpit required the parents to hold
her down. I dreaded the ear exam.
There was a
knock on the door, and an elderly gentleman entered. This was the child’s
grandfather, I learned as we shook hands, and he was a pediatrician.
Immediately I held out my otoscope which he accepted with thanks.
The entire
family piled on; the child screamed and fought as the grandfather looked in
her ears and forced open her mouth to examine her throat. He spoke little
English but made it clear that nothing abnormal had turned up. He delivered an
elaborate explanation to the family in Portuguese. I handed over a bottle of
Tylenol, and everyone was happy.
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