I Prefer Vomiting and Diarrhea

Two women at the Holiday Inn were ill. The mother suffered low abdominal pain with vomiting and diarrhea. It seemed like the usual stomach flu. I assured her it wouldn’t last long and gave medication.

Her adult daughter also complained of low abdominal pain but without other symptoms. Viral gastroenteritis can occur without vomiting or diarrhea, but I feel reassured when they’re present. It’s a good rule that when two members of a family are ill at the same time, it’s the same illness, but no rule is absolute.

The problem is that isolated low abdominal pain in a young woman can indicate an urgent problem such as ectopic pregnancy or twisted ovary. This seemed unlikely, but I couldn’t rule it out. If she weren’t better in a few hours, I explained, she must go to the local emergency room. She did not object.

When I phoned a few hours later, the mother’s symptoms had vanished, and the daughter told me she felt a little better. Patient tend to tell doctors what they believe we want to hear, so “…a little better,” does not reassure me. Pressed, she admitted that she wasn’t feeling better. When urged to go to the emergency room, she worried about her lack of insurance and the late hour but promised to give it serious consideration.

I passed a restless night. When I phoned the next morning, she had recovered.

Dodging Another Bullet

People don’t like to disturb doctors, so a woman with abdominal pain suffered through the night before calling at 6 a.m. I was about eat breakfast, but I would have changed into my suit and arrived in half an hour if she hadn’t told me that the pain was diminishing.

I told her I’d be there in an hour. After breakfast, I drove to the Airport Marriott and knocked. No one answered. I knocked several more times and then confirmed that this was the correct room. I was about to call Security when the door swung open. No one was there.

Looking down, I saw a woman lying flat on her face. She had crawled across the room to open the door. I dragged her to the bed and called the paramedics who took her to the hospital where she underwent emergency surgery for a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. If I’d dawdled over breakfast, she might have bled to death.