I am a fan of Clint Eastwood and enjoy watching movies in which he has starred over the years. In particular, I like watching his “Dirty Harry” movies of which there were several in which he played a tough, no nonsense police detective in San Francisco. In these roles, he always would have a catch phrase in the movie which made their way into the verbal fabric of America at the time such as “Go ahead! Make my day!” and in another one him saying “Marvelous!” to some idiotic act on the part of someone.

In one of these movies, his catch phrase was “A man has to know his limitations.”  This quote became my own catch phrase for the events described in the memory shared below.

People who work in the public schools of America have the opportunity to interact with an interesting and diverse group of people.  Some of these people give school teachers and administrators unique opportunities to serve the needs of their fellowman in ways beyond academics.  This is especially true in high schools with students that are “special” in terms of their educational needs.  One such child that I had the opportunity to work with was a young lady by the name of Sadie.

Sadie was indeed a “special” child that afforded those of us who worked with her numerous opportunities to expand our understanding of the workings of the human mind.  Among these opportunities is this one that involved her physical well-being while at school.

Sadie was known to be a student that would have need to visit the school nurse on occasion if you can call going to the nurse at least 2 or 3 times a week occasionally for a variety illnesses, both real and imagined.  These illnesses ranged from true sicknesses such as fever, colds, and stomach aches to more questionable maladies such as undocumented heart problems.

On the day of this particular incident, during the lunch hour just as I was getting ready to go to the lunchroom, the secretary buzzed my office with the report that Sadie was at the front desk requesting to see the nurse again.  She also reported that Sadie had already been up to see the nurse two or three times that morning complaining of fever, a head ache, an upset stomach, bad sore throat, and maybe a couple of other symptoms.   The school nurse had checked her each and every time during these visits and found no problems.  She didn’t have a fever and her throat did not show any signs of infection.  According to my secretary, the nurse could not find anything wrong with her other than her usual need to just be seen and also told me the nurse was out to lunch at the time.

So, in a moment of brilliance, I decided to see Sadie myself and try to treat her problem.  After all, I was an old physical education teacher, had some experience in first aid and treatment of a variety of illnesses, understood the human body pretty well and felt sure that I could help cure her current ailment. I told the secretary to send her in to see me.

When Sadie entered my office, I thought, “My gosh!  She really does look sick.”  She was walking all bent over at the waist, sort of shuffling along, barely able to put one foot in front of the other and looking to be in severe pain.  She had to look of a sick person but I had seen this act before from her.

I said to her, “My goodness, Sadie. You don’t look like you feel so good.”  She replied in a low voice, seeming to be in pain, “No, sir. I don’t feel so good at all.”  As she told me this, I noticed that she was making up and down motions with both of her hands along the side areas of her lower abdomen.

Then I asked the question that I should not have asked.  I said to her, “Well, what seems to be wrong with you today?”   Without a moment’s hesitation, she replied, “Mr. Lee, my ovaries are hurting me so bad I can’t hardly stand it.”

Whoa!!  This was too much information.  I recognized right quick that I was totally unprepared to treat Sadie for this particular illness.   Like the catch phrase from the movie, I fully understood my limitations in regards to treating this illness of Sadie’s. Old physical education teacher or not, this was way out of my area of certification.

I immediately said to Sadie, “You need to go see the nurse about that!” and pointed her towards the door.  I then picked up the telephone and told the secretary that Sadie needed to see the nurse for the type of illness that she had.  I explained to the secretary the nature of Sadie’s condition and told her that I was totally unqualified to treat that particular illness.

I burst out laughing about this little foray into the treatment of Sadie’s illness. A man has to know his limitations and I knew mine.  The thought crossed my mind there are reasons doctors specialize in different areas of medicine and I recognized right quick I was way out of my area of expertise.