And When I Get That Feeling....

This week in GI, I am doing consults. It is a nice change of pace from the non-stop onslaught of colonoscopies and esophagogastroduodenoscopies. Basically, whenever one of the managing medical teams decides that their patient has a problem that may benefit from the GI service they request a consult. It is the medical world's equivalent to "Hey take a look at this and tell me what you think". There is a fair amount of consults that come into the GI service everyday so they are only too happy to let the medical students "help them out". Anyway, during a lull in the consult action I was asked to head back to the endoscopy suite to lend a hand. I was soon joined by another medical student and after taking some H&Ps we were observing a fairly routine colonoscopy.

The endoscopy suite resembles a small operating room. There is a large video monitor on the wall, a stretcher in the middle of the room, the endoscopy machine is stacked neatly on the counter, and a full array of tools, wires, hoses, and scopes are hanging neatly on the wall. The thing that makes the endoscopy room a bit different is once the procedure begins the lights are all turned down really low. I made a joke my first day there that at least they provided a little mood lighting before impaling you with large medical instruments.

Having music playing in the operating room is a fairly common thing. Many surgeons have their "pet music" that they need playing in the background while they snip and hack through tissue practice their healing arts. The endo suite is no different. Most of the doctors there are content to leave the radio on; tuned to some "office-appropriate" adult contemporary station.

The low lights, the music playing in the background, and my somewhat twisted sense of humor came together in a perfect storm today that almost had me laughing out loud.

In the middle of a procedure that involves passing anywhere between 4 and 6 feet of unfriendly colonoscope into your "Holyiest of Holyies", I happen to catch the song that was playing on the radio. I tried to stifle a giggle as I looked over at the other student and told her to listen. As luck would have it, Marvin Gaye was crooning on about his need for Sexual Healing.

And then came this lyric:

"You're my medicine. Open up and let me in.
Darling you're so great, I can't wait for you to operate.
I can't wait for you to operate. Baby, I can't wait for you to operate."


I guess you had to be there.....