It was a busy day, and I truly hope that it's over, at least as far as work goes. I would like to have some amusement though, my quota for the day has not used up by a long shot. A coupla months ago, I mentioned the lady who denied any allergies, then told me that she was allergic to x-ray dye as I was injecting that very substance into her veins. Well, I've learned from that experience... I don't trust anybody on that particular subject. So, I spent quite a bit of time in the ICU today helping get a patient ready to come down for a CT scan. As we were getting ready to push the bed out of the room, I noticed the sign at the head of the bed: "ALLERGIC TO IODINE!!!" it said, handwritten on a plain sheet of paper with a faded pink pen. So, we were stopped in our tracks. We did eventually do the patient without contrast, but nobody could give us any details about her alleged iodine allergy... she is on a vent, and her relatives that could be reached by phone had no clue about it. Of course, the merest hint of an allergic reaction is enough to scrub the use of contrast for me, anyway, and for most radiologists. Fatal reactions are rare, of course, but it does happen. Never happened to me or any of my patients, and if I continue being careful, it never will. But you know, there had to be a time when these patients didn't know that they were allergic to iodine. Some tech like me found out that they were allergic the hard way. Anyway, I didn't get called until about 08:30, but I spent the better part of twelve hours at the hospital today. One patient after another. Twice I got out to the parking lot before my pager went off... that's better'n getting halfway home, though. The only patient that was really interesting pathologically was the last one, a kid who'd been stabbed. The night tech that came on at 21:00 is pretty good at not calling me out, I hope that holds for tonight. I'm pretty sure that I'll be in there early in the AM....