An area emergency room physician was stunned today when his patient, a 4 year old boy whose parents denied any medical history, was found to have a well-healed sternotomy scar on examination.
“Imagine my surprise when I went to examine this previously healthy little boy and found a large scar at the thoracic midline, along with a 4/6 systolic murmur, a broviac, and a g-tube” said an exasperated Dr Nathan Subaraman, MD.
When asked if the boy ever had surgery, his parents initially said no, but with further prompting they did recall “three or four” procedures related to the boy’s heart, or possibly his lungs, liver, or intestines.
“I’m not sure when it was done, or why, or at what hospital,” said the boy’s mother, Vivian Blank, 35.
When asked if he is followed by any specialist doctors, she said he was followed by four of them in a nearby city, but she can not recall their names, institution, or specialty.
“That plastic thing on his chest? Some nurses come to the house each day and put special medicines through it,” said Mrs. Blank, though she was unsure of what medicines or why they were provided.
When asked about other medical issues, apart from those related to his heart surgery, broviac, and g-tube, she did vaguely recall an allergy to Vincristine and that he needs a medicine called “factor,” and that he “must not have any carnitine…no…he must have extra carnitine!”
