A Doc's Life - Memorable Moments I

Scenario: 7 year old boy, admitted to the Emergency Department of a small suburban now-defunct Hospital on a sweltering Saturday afternoon.

This little chap had the misfortune of catching his unprotected foreskin in the zipper of his shorts. Now, I don't know why, but in the local situation, many parents do not seem to see the wisdom of having their young sons put on underwear thereby exposing their nether regions to the hungry teeth of zippers.

Anyway, usually, with such patients (& I had seen a few, young & not so young), I'd apply some topical LA (for what it's worth :), probably more for its psychological benefits than anything else) wait 1 minuntes, then yank the zipper loose and "Voila", the member is free with nothing more than a mild abrasion. The patients would then be sent home with some topical antibiotics without further ado.

In this case, however, and exceptional large piece of foreskin had been caught by the zipper (sorry guys, I can imagine the winces and thighs clenching together) and the aforesaid method did not work. I must admit that this patient was extremely brave and did not cry a tear.

Undaunted, I asked the nurse for a pair of forceps, hoping that I would be able to pull off some of the zipper's teeth, hence freeing the patient's organ. Now, this was a particular busy Saturday afternoon, with many patients and staff outside the treatment area (separated by a curtain). There I was, sweating buckets, trying my damnedest to loosen the darn zipper, and the boy yelling at me,"Don't touch my penis!!!" repeatedly, and me responding," I am NOT touching your penis!". I wonder what the other patients must have been thinking...

Unfortunately, my attempts proved unfruitful, and the boy had to be admitted to the Surgical Department, where, apparently, even under GA, the surgeons were unable to remove the foreskin from the zipper. The patient ended up with a circumcision.