You can't keep a good newFNP down

Since newFNP last exposed herself to a patient's aromatic purulent discharge in a not-altogether successful attempt, newFNP has incised and drained not one, but two further patient lesions.

Lesion one: lady business abscess. OK, not exactly lady business but suprapubic in locale and wholly a result of picking at one's ingrown hair. Hands. Off. Ingrowns. I restate my case initially argued in "Picky Evolution."

Lesion two: epidermoid cyst. NewFNP has been waiting for this since she first became acquainted with one during her independent study in derm.

NewFNP is floating in her derm dreamworld. Oh, how newFNP loves derm. Bring on the Retin-A, kiss that acne and those wrinkles good-bye. NewFNP would love to scrapy-scrape your big fat plantar's wart, just as she would love to inject your inflamed acne lesion with kenalog. NewFNP loves to draw pics of derm lesions. NewFNP simply loves derm. It's a pure, unadulterated love.

OK, back from dreamworld. So, an epidermoid cyst. Not pretty. It forces one to utilize culinary analogies when describing cyst contents: cheesy. Soft cheese. Soft white cheese. Rondele, anyone? The I&D is exactly the same, except that you want to get the sac which contains the contents out in order to prevent recurrence and numbing the patient is so much more difficult. The contents of the cyst are firmer and therefore require a larger bored syringe in order to introduce the lidocaine. Ouch, big fat needle.

What can ruin a perfect I&D is another provider's student attempting to horn in on the I&D action. And by horning in, newFNP means asking not once, not twice, but five times to either perform or observe the I&D. At each query, newFNP replied 'no,' each response becoming progressively more firm and annoyed, the last of which being, "You can stare at me all you want; the answer is no." Is the student six years old? No, no she isn't. Yet newFNP found herself speaking to her as though she were. There is a reason that newFNP does not have a student: because newFNP needs the experience herself. NewFNP still is gaining comfort in her role as pus-expressor.

Note to all students: when your preceptor says 'no,' there is a reason. Don't push it. Should newFNP even have to tell anyone that? NewFNP is certain that her readership is already savvy enough to realize the non-kosher maneuver by our student.

In the end, not even pushy student could spoil the supremely successful I&D. NewFNP was even able to disrupt and express the sac. You can imagine my happiness - bordering on beatitude.