body art II

It's been a funny week. Frantically busy, but nothing of any real concern. Mostly sore throats and the like. One small moment of levity has helped the week along though. A mother brought her sixteen year old daughter in to see me -- with a sore throat as it happens-- very worried about her. On the surface there didn't seem a lot to worry over. Admittedly her daughter is wheelchair bound as a result of a neural tube defect, but aside from the fact that her legs don't work she is a perfectly healthy, perfectly normal teenager.

As it turned out that last fact was the real problem. It seems that the girl had told her mum she was going to the city shopping last weekend with friends. All went well, the girls enjoying a four or five hour shopping trip and returning home as planned. It was only a little later that evening that mum noticed an unfamiliar glint when her daughter smiled. The part of the plan she had failed to inform her mum about was the visit to the Piercing Parlour to have her tongue pierced!

The piercing came out that same evening, and mum was very keen to know if this was the likely cause of the throat infection. I had to say I very much doubted it, and I just wonder how long it will be before the piercing reappears....