A lesson in humor: If you can laugh, when you lose your nads...

[Emergency Laughter]

My dad had a great sense of humor. He showed me many times the value of being able to laugh at yourself and the world around you.

When he was diagnosed with late stage prostate cancer, one of the first procedures he had was a bilateral orchiectomy. I'll save you from looking it up, it's the surgical removal of both testicles. (because it feeds the cancer)

I was there when they wheeled my Dad out of the operating room after the procedure. He gave me a dopey, post general anesthesia grin and asked the surgical nurse, "Was it a boy or a girl?"

She laughed and said, "You had twins, honey."

He chuckled, "Yea, I bet they l looked a lot alike."

Now this is a man who didn't smoke...anything...never took anything stronger than an aspirin, didn't drink heavily, and minutes after having his first general anesthetic, he has the presence of mind to fire off a primo joke about just having his nuts lopped off.

That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is what's called, a sense of humor.

I miss you Dad.

[RuralKSEMS]

That, sir, is pretty f'n epic!

[Curiosity]

What a beautiful way of looking at life. Your father had the right idea in my opinion.

I think a healthy sense of humor goes a long way in our profession when used in the appropriate situation. I'll never forget this patient i had treated during my preceptorship. He had experienced a sudden onset of violent nausea and vomitting and his family was concerned and called us. Very nice man, smiling at us while laying on his floor white as a ghost. His assessment was normal minus the vomitting. He had this sorta mischevious look to him though. I cracked a few jokes with him, he responded with his own, it seemed to put his family at ease. I was told, after the call that it was inappropriate to joke with patients. A few weeks later, the service received a letter from this gentleman and his family thanking us for our caring nature and our sense of humor, that it really helped diffuse a tense situation and they were really glad we we around.

Now maybe I got lucky and happened to have read him properly, but if a bit of clean humor can help patients, I think it's a good way to go.

[scratrat]

That was HILARIOUS!

Kudos to him to have the courage to joke in that instance! Sounds like he's probably still laughing upstairs!

[DwayneEMTP]

That is a great story...it should have been in your book!

Stupid questions probably, but is there a reason that you posted that today, as opposed to yesterday or tomorrow?

[craig]

Some thing similar......

earlier this year when my dad was hospitalise for chest pain and breathing difficulties, it want his heart, but they found shadows in both his lungs......late stage lung cancer...and not much time,,so we spent as much time with him that we could in hospital.

My second eldest son who was about to turn 17, realised that he would never get to have a beer with his grandfather (as the drinking age in Aus is 18) so we smuggled a few bottles of beer into the hospital ward (palative oncology ward) so we could have a drink with him...

we all poured a glass eacha nd I gave my boy a glass of beer so he could have his fisrt (and ultimately his last ) beer with his Pop. I said a few words, and then let my emotional boy say a few. we then went to drink when my Dad asked if he had a right of reply.........thought never crossed my mind.....

well he want to say a few words, but openend with tis classic....."I hope this bloody beer wont kill me........."

he was a joker to the end as he passed away about 3 days later.......miss him....

[Emergency Laughter]

That is a great story...it should have been in your book!

Stupid questions probably, but is there a reason that you posted that today, as opposed to yesterday or tomorrow?

That's an interesting question Dwayne. No particular reason for when I posted it. I was working on the longer version for my next book, oh and I did pop myself in the right one the other day swinging a bunch of keys around in the air. I don't think about my Dad's testicles on a regular basis....yea it must of been that I was working on the longer version of it and I'm always on the lookout for something goof-ball (no pun intended) to post on emtcity. He would have turned 89 last Sept. 1st.

Some thing similar......

earlier this year when my dad was hospitalise for chest pain and breathing difficulties, it want his heart, but they found shadows in both his lungs......late stage lung cancer...and not much time,,so we spent as much time with him that we could in hospital.

My second eldest son who was about to turn 17, realised that he would never get to have a beer with his grandfather (as the drinking age in Aus is 18) so we smuggled a few bottles of beer into the hospital ward (palative oncology ward) so we could have a drink with him...

we all poured a glass eacha nd I gave my boy a glass of beer so he could have his fisrt (and ultimately his last ) beer with his Pop. I said a few words, and then let my emotional boy say a few. we then went to drink when my Dad asked if he had a right of reply.........thought never crossed my mind.....

well he want to say a few words, but openend with tis classic....."I hope this bloody beer wont kill me........."

he was a joker to the end as he passed away about 3 days later.......miss him....

Nice going man, I know how you feel. Your boy will never forget it.

That was HILARIOUS!

Kudos to him to have the courage to joke in that instance! Sounds like he's probably still laughing upstairs!

Thank you, I'm sure he is still laughing-especially looking down on my dumb ass.

What a beautiful way of looking at life. Your father had the right idea in my opinion.

I think a healthy sense of humor goes a long way in our profession when used in the appropriate situation. I'll never forget this patient i had treated during my preceptorship. He had experienced a sudden onset of violent nausea and vomitting and his family was concerned and called us. Very nice man, smiling at us while laying on his floor white as a ghost. His assessment was normal minus the vomitting. He had this sorta mischevious look to him though. I cracked a few jokes with him, he responded with his own, it seemed to put his family at ease. I was told, after the call that it was inappropriate to joke with patients. A few weeks later, the service received a letter from this gentleman and his family thanking us for our caring nature and our sense of humor, that it really helped diffuse a tense situation and they were really glad we we around.

Now maybe I got lucky and happened to have read him properly, but if a bit of clean humor can help patients, I think it's a good way to go.

Of course you read the situation right or you wouldn't have joked with your patient. Whoever told you it was inappropriate to joke with patients was WRONG and probably wouldn't know a sense of humor if it poked them in the eye. Humor is an extremely useful tool in medicine, you just have to use common sense and know when it's appropriate, which you obviously did extremely well. Patients and family members don't write letters about stuffy, uncompassionate ambulance crews that have sticks up their asses. GOOD JOB!

That, sir, is pretty f'n epic!

Thank you!

[Richard B the EMT]

My late father lost his leg to a combination of Diabetes and an infection from a nail through the bottom of his shoe. He did live for several more years, using a prosthetic leg.

He's the one told me about the guy with Gangrene, who needed his left leg amputated, but the doctor took off the wrong one. Keeping the man under anesthesia, they took off the correct leg.

The man sued for malpractice, but lost, as the courts determined he didn't have a leg to stand on.