Tuesday, July 18, 2006

I knew as soon as I walked in the door...Plantar Fascitis

Get called for left foot pain. We find a three hundred pound man who says his whole left foot hurts -- so bad he can't walk on it. No trauma that he can think of. The foot is tender to touch and he can't really move it without pain, but the skin temp is good and he has distal pulses. Never happened before. He says he is on his feet all the time. I'm thinking a stress fracture or maybe some gout. At the hospital the triage nurse says, "I bet it's plantar fasciitis. She says she had it oonce and it comes from being on your feet all the time, walking on hard floors. "How about that," I say, "You learn something new everyday."

Two calls later, it's a five hundred pound woman with left foot pain. Hurts all over. No trauma. Tender to touch. "Ever had plantar fasciitis?" I ask. "No," she says. "I'm betting that's what you have," I say. "Its got to be plantar fasciitis." The cop on scene is looking at me like I am a medical wonderkund. My partner looks like he is about to pee his pants he is trying to keep from laughing.

We go to the same hospital. Same tirage nurse. I describe the symptoms. "No doubt plantar fasciitis," I say. She hits me with her clipboard.

Other than that. An uneventful day. Two nursing home pneumonias, a teenager vomiting, and two plantar fasciitises.