Ah, Thanksgiving: that wonderful day of the year when loved ones gather together to give thanks for the #blessings in their lives. But the day doesn’t always go according to plan; thankfully, ICD-10 is here to help us code for holiday havoc:
Y93.61, Activity, American tackle football
A friendly game in the backyard to kick off the holiday? Not so much—at least not when you’re dealing with Z63.1, Problems in relationship with the in-laws. Your brother-in-law tackles you just a bit too roughly for your liking, and the next thing you know, you’re busting out some sweet Y93.72, Activity, wrestling, moves like John Cena (and your mom finds you looking kinda like this).
W61.42XA, Struck by turkey, initial encounter
Each year, you watch as one turkey and one alternate are spared from the carving knife by the President of the United States at the National Thanksgiving Turkey Presentation. But turkeys can be a bit camera shy (little known fact), and this year’s duo just aren’t feeling it. In a case of good birds gone bad, the two butterballs bum-rush their handlers, turkey-bowling them over on their way to feathered freedom.
W29.0XXA, Contact with powered kitchen appliance, initial encounter
It’s time to start Y93.G3, Activity, cooking and baking. It’s your first time making your dad’s favorite cranberry-orange relish, and you’re feeling pretty unsure of yourself because the recipe requires you to use a food processor—which you always thought was just a term of endearment for your stomach—to chop up the ingredients. You chuck everything in there and hope for the best, but a few seconds after you turn on the machine, it stops working. You, of course, reach in there to see what’s amiss, and that’s when you make first contact with the stuck—but still very sharp—blade.
R63.2, Polyphagia
The Thanksgiving meal doesn’t come with a side of restraint. You heap on the turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, topping it off with green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, and actual rolls. And after all that food—with your pants button straining—you still can’t say no to a helping (or three) of slightly chilled pumpkin pie and hot French press coffee. (Really, who has that kind of self-control?) It’s no wonder, then, that you also start to feel a bit of R46.4, Slowness and poor responsiveness, coming on.
W52.XXXA, Crushed, pushed or stepped on by crowd or human stampede, initial encounter
After recovering from your food coma, you decide to head out to snag some Black Friday—er, late Thursday—deals. And boy, was that a bad idea. I mean, you thought you—and your turkey—were stuffed to the gills (not that turkeys actually have gills), but your local mall was on another level. You barely make it through the door before getting knocked to the ground by an overly eager—and unexpectedly strong—soccer mom.
Didn’t get your fill of holiday codes? Don’t worry; we didn’t either. We may still be 36 days from Christmas, but we already have visions of ICD-10 codes dancing in our heads, so stay tuned to the Blog for another holly jolly post.
