A funny thing happened on the ward.

Now I don't think I know anyone who enjoys going to hospital but there are some things that make the whole experience a bit more fun. I had such a moment recently.

The hospital I attend is Cork University Hospital so it's fair to assume there's going to be student doctors and nurses on every ward. I suffer from CIDP and that's pretty rare and because it is so rare I get my fair share of medical students that want to interview me or do a physical exam or whatever, any of which I have no problem with. One of the effects of my illness is that my reflex's don't really work, I think my doctor said they were about 10% of what they should be.

One day I was approached by two students who politely asked about my illness and if they could do a physical, to which I gladly agreed. They did all the usual stuff like 'squeeze my fingers' and 'lift this leg' 'lift that arm'. Last of all was the reflex test so I told them that mine were not what they should be. I lay back and the student hit just below my kneecap and nothing so he hit me again even harder to which his friend said 'can you get them?' With this the student said with a straight face 'hang on' and then blew on the end of his patella hammer and hit me even harder. Still nothing so he polished the end of the hammer on his white coat and hit me even harder. Then in shock he said 'I'm really sorry, did that hurt'. I was too busy laughing to care so I just said 'Did you really think that blowing and polishing the hammer was going to make a difference'

The student went red because he really didn't realise he had done that until it was pointed out to him. I've met that same student a lot in hospital and a lot more besides and every time I tell them to bring a patella hammer and every time I wait for one of them to do the magic blow on the end of it. Maybe one of them will find a cure for some awful illness or win a Nobel prize, if they do I'll be first in line to tell this story.