Said my ED attending (supervising doctor).

What is this? A Rite Aid??? (I thought quietly to myself so as not to get fired).

I had just seen a 6 week old who presented to the Emergency Department with one day of big toe swelling. Upon further inspection it appeared that the baby had either a hair or thread wrapped around his toe, limiting circulation. In the medical world, we call this a hair/thread tourniquet. These happen when either a patient or caregiver’s hair unknowingly falls into the patient’s proximity and wraps itself around an appendage. This can also happen with loose threads from clothes or a blanket.

The hair/thread was wrapped so tightly around the toe that we couldn’t remove it with our fingers.

My attending opted to try Nair (hair removal cream) to encourage the possible hair tourniquet to disintegrate. Word on the street was that we had a bottle somewhere in the ED when the attending used it last…3 years ago. We looked all over the ED. No luck.

“Is there an intern (first year resident) you can send to get some from CVS?” the attending asked.
“…I am the intern.” I replied

“Great! Can you get some Nair?” she asked, slapping a 20 dollar bill in my hands the way ya mama does when she sends you to pick up some cabbage from the store while you’re out.

“Sure.” I replied.

”Now girl you know I can’t say no!!!” I thought quietly to myself again so as not to get fired.

Five minutes later I was in my car shivering, driving up a winding mountain road to the nearest CVS contemplating whether I could forge a new career path selling feet pics on the Internet.

I walked into the CVS and located the Nair. After a short debate concerning whether I should buy the cocoa butter or vitamin E formula, I checked out at the counter.

I came back, applied an obscene amount of Nair to the poor baby’s foot and 20 minutes later the tourniquet vanished. We sent the patient home.

I still reflect on the great work I did that day. Yeah, yeah we saved this baby’s toe. But the real good deed of the day was me driving to the CVS and getting Nair so that the next pediatric intern who needs to remove a hair tourniquet 3 years from now doesn’t have to.

If you’re reading this. I walked, so you could run. You’re welcome.