Differential diagnosis of 22yo female c/o BUO October 29, 2000 I've had this bruise on the back of my calf for about a week .  It's at that greenish-yellow-brown stage right now, so it really doesn't look that menacing, but at its zenith, it was monstrous.  Probably the biggest bruise I've had in years.  And I have no idea where it came from.  It was a BUO* (Bruise of Unknown Origin).  The bruise hurt when you poked at it, which indicated to me that the BFE (Bruise Forming Event) was some kind of a blunt trauma.  Pain upon poking ruled out the possibility of HB (Hickey Bruise), but does not eliminate the possibility that the bruise could have been orally inflicted.  Actually, given how much the bruise hurt, the BFE must have been a major trauma, on the order of  falling down a flight of stairs or getting hit by a baseball bat by a rival figure skater.  So the question now was: how could I have sustained an injury of that magnitude and not remember? Next point of interest was the shape of the bruise.  The bruise was split into two irregular segments, the larger (B1) of which measured approximately threeinches and was distinctly crescent shaped.  The second segment (B2) was more or less round, much smaller, and located one inch from the convexity of B1.  Given the shape of these two bruise segments, it almost looked like the bruise could have resulted from a hand grabbing at my calf, with the thumb forming B2 and the other four finger forming B1.  But matching my own hand up to the bruise indicated that if this were a DTRE (Digitally Traumatized Region of Ecchymosis), it would have to be from a teeny tiny little hand.  Things just weren't adding up. So here are the possibilities that I'm left with:
										GLOSSARY OF TERMS (need to know for the exam): BUO = Bruise of Unknown Origin BFE = Bruise Forming Event HB = Hickey Bruise DTRE = Digitally Traumatized Region of Ecchymosis CDBS= Crescent-Dot Bruise Syndrome * Note: These are not real medical terms.  Don't go using them all serious-like or people will mock you.
					1.)  While I was in the throes of a alcoholic amnesiac stupor, a mean-spirited midget grabbed at my calf with his little tiny midget hand so hard that it left a bruise. 2.)  In the middle of the night while I was sleeping, Joe took out the dentures from his bottom jaw (where he only has one tooth) and bit me really hard on the calf. 3.) I'm suffering from CDBS (Crescent-Dot Bruise Syndrome, colloquially known as "Leg Rot") and only have 24 hours to live.
				Well, at least if possibility 3 is true, I'll live long enough to take my Immunology test.  Oh, thank god. Must go study now, Michelle
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