I see a trend here

Today a patient presented to the ward with mild dehydration. The following is my best recreation of the conversation:

Me: How many times did he have diarrhea today?

Patient’s mother: Three times.

Me: Is he vomiting?

Patient’s mother: Yes, three times.

Me: How many times did he urinate today?

Patient’s mother: Three times this morning.

Me: Has he been coughing?

Patient’s mother: Yes.

Me: A lot or a little?

Patient’s mother: Three times today.

At that point I started laughing and stopped the formal interview. People don’t usually tell you how many times someone coughed. Something seemed fishy.

Me: It seems you like the number three?

Patient’s mother: Huh?

Me: How many children do you have?

Patient’s mother: Two.

I immediately felt a sense of satisfaction! I finally got her to say a number other than three.

Things like this infuse a bit of humor into our day.