Love on Chesapeake Bay (BWWM)

19. Lucy and Ethel

"Another one, miss?" The bartender asked, pointing to Nisa's empty margarita glass. She and Kayla were sitting at the bar at Nacho Mama's, a taco joint in Canton. Mama's had the best tacos in town so, of course, it was always packed on Tuesday nights.

"What choice do I have?" Nisa pouted, pulling a flashcard from the deck. The bartender laughed, taking her glass for a refill. Playing clinical case scenario trivia games with the human Encyclopedia was definitely not working in her favor. The rules of the game were simple: guess the patient diagnosis correctly and you were safe, guess it wrong and you drink. This was going to be drink number three for Nisa while Kayla was still on her first.

"Alright," Nisa cleared her throat, "A 33 year-old female comes in complaining that recently her skin has taken on a yellow tint. Upon examination you observe that her skin is in fact yellow as well as the whites of her eyes. What is this condition called, what organ is affected, and what test do you do to confirm during your assessment?"

Kayla held up her finger as she finished chewing - she had just shoved the rest of her taco into her mouth. "Jaundice. Liver. Murphy's sign?" she said, mouth still half-full.

"Very lady-like," Nisa teased. "But you're right..." she sighed, "Again."

It was Kayla's turn to pick a card from the deck. "Ok this one's easy. Three days ago a patient who is a known alcoholic was picked up in the streets by paramedics. He reportedly walked into a moving vehicle and sustained multiple fractures. His blood alcohol level was a 0.28. Today the patient is shaking uncontrollably and acting bizarre. How do you diagnose?"

"Oh I know this!" Nisa said, biting her lip in thought. "Delirium Tremens?"

"Mhm," Kayla said, putting the card at the bottom of the stack.

"Woohoo!" Nisa said, punching the air with her fist.

"What are you ladies so excited about?" asked the man sitting next to them at the bar. He and his friend were turned in their stools to look at Kayla and Nisa. The two men looked to be in their late fifties, early sixties - the one who spoke had a some gray in his hair and beard.

"She finally got an answer right in the little game they're playing," the bartender chuckled as he set down a frozen strawberry margarita in front of Nisa.

"Hey," Nisa said, glaring at him. "It's not the first right answer."

The bartender laughed as he walked away to tend to another customer.

"What game is it?" the man next to the salt and pepper beard asked.

"Trivia, clinical case scenario style," Nisa said.

"Ah... you two must be students. We played that back in the day - only I don't remember alcohol ever being involved," salt and pepper smiled.

"Wanna play? It's more fun this way; or at least it would be - so far I'm the only one drinking since this one never gets an answer wrong," Nisa said, gesturing towards Kayla.

"Sure. I'm Richard," said the man with the beard, extended hand to shake.

"Michael," his friend said, holding out his hand as well.

"Lucy," Nisa lied, shaking their hands. Kayla looked at Nisa, slightly confused but decided to play along.

"Ethel," Kayla said. The men laughed.

"So, Ethel, you haven't gotten an answer wrong thus far? How about this, I've got a question for you," Michael said.

"Okay shoot," Kayla said.

"Arlight. Real patient I saw just the other day. Forty-nine year-old female complaining that one side of her face is drooping. Upon examination you see that the patient is alert and oriented with normal cognition and there is obvious facial asymmetry with obvious weakness on the right side of the mouth and hyperacusis of the right ear-"