MTF isn't "male to female" in the ED

It's "metabolize to freedom," meaning let the excessively inebriated sleep it off.

Day 1 in emergency was as expected: action packed. The early morning included some unexpected learning about mathematical functions and linguistic theory from some cuckoo-headed attending, attempting to penetrate my "false consciousness" and convince me that all medical records should be written accordingn to a strict template. I picked up my first Spanish-speaking patient, a beautiful 84-year-old woman from El Salvador. Say a few words in semi-competent espanol, and people are your new best friends, I swear.

I was surprised to hear "Dr. Brown to the clerks desk" on the overhead paging system and suddenly realizing they were talking to me. (Of course, it was because I hadn't written down which leg I wanted them to x-ray. Riiiiiiiiight.)

I was moved by a little boy I met whose dad was being treated. The kid had spent the first year of his life hospitalized at Parnassus for hypoplastic left heart syndrome. (He was born essentially without half of his heart.) Couldn't tell to look at him today.

I'm not sure I was inspired today. Maybe, to repeat, by the magic that happens when a provider can speak the language of the patient.