I saw a five-year-old with a sinus infection who was resistant to blowing his nose. I was trying to teach him how when he said to me, “Dr. Jim said I could just go like this . . .” and he preceded to snort in as hard as he could.

What the heck? Didn’t Dr. Jim go to medical school?

I’ve always thought you’re supposed to blow it OUT.

I thought about saying, “You shouldn’t sniff it in because it can go into your brain” or something like that so he’d start blowing his nose better, but with his mom there I wasn’t sure she’d be ok with that.

Instead I asked him, “Well, who’s smarter, Dr. Jim or me?” (I knew the answer, I just wanted to see if HE did).

“Dr. Jim” he stated.

So, this kid wasn’t all together.

A few weeks later I had a cold, and was blowing my nose a lot, but couldn’t really get it out. I instinctively sniffed in, and WOW. I could breathe! What do ya know! All that money I spent at Georgetown Med and you’d think I would have learned that. Maybe St. Louis U (Jim’s and Bill’s alma mater) wasn’t such a bad place after all.

Dr. Bob