Only in a Housecall

The other day I sat at my patient’s kitchen table and took his medical history. When it was time to examine him, we walked over to his living room in our stockinged feet. He sat down on the couch next to his sleeping dog, who didn’t seem to notice anything. I knelt down on the floor in front of him in order to be at eye level with him.

I palpated my patient’s neck and armpits, listened to his heart, lungs and carotid arteries. I checked his legs for edema and checked his pulse at the ankles. Then I said, “now I need to check your belly, where do you want to lie down?”

He looked over at his sleeping dog and then slowly got up from the couch and proceeded to lie down on the carpetless wood floor. He wasn’t the most agile 65-year old male, but he did it, and I probably did a better abdominal exam than if we had done it in his soft couch.