Doctor Time

The last couple of days have been a whirl wind. Mom had a doctor's appointment on Wed. Since her trip to France, she has been "down in her back." It has been a real problem for her - one that we all would like to see get better, since it is effecting her social life. I went along to the doc's office just to help "get the story straight." Back when my dad was sick, we learned that it took at least two of us to hear and understand all that the doctors said. If three of us went to the doctor, we could come away with three different versions of what the doctor said. Maybe it wasn't all that helpful after all.

Right off the bat, Mom and I had a difference of hearing on what time to be at the doctor's office. She said the nurse told her to be there 30 minutes early. Really? I got Mom there 25 minutes early thinking that would be sufficient. Then the nurse handed us a book to fill out - not exaggerating. It was at least 10 pages of questions. Then, of course, the x-rays that the GP doctor had Mom do where not what the back doctor wanted. So we had to go to radiology and get more pics made. I filled out the 10 pages with Mom's help and she got her x-ray. At some point, I looked at my watch and thought, "Wow, this really did take us 30 minutes to fill out." As we were finishing up the paper work and she was signing in all the appropriate places, she said, "You know, I already answered these questions." My eyebrow went up. Sure 'nuff, the nurse had sent her all the papers, Mom had already filled them out, and had them in her hand the entire time. What can you say at that point?

We got into the exam room pretty quick after that, and we were there until about 1:30. The doctor was there at least 15 minutes of those three hours. It looks like Mom and I will be going to Dallas in a few weeks to get an injection in her back to hopefully relieve the pain without doing surgery. More adventures to come.

Yesterday I went with Toby to his doctor's appointment in OK City. He had to be there at 7:30 AM - meaning we had to get up and gone before the crack of dawn. When we walked in to the hospital, two old men (I do mean old - as in their elbow skin lapped over their elbows) greeted us and directed us to admitting. While being admitted by a lovely young woman, we could hear the conversation of the the two old men - discussing their gardens. One man said he was going to plant some "squorsh." Toby, me, and the admitting lady all snorted, but tried not to bust out laughing. Then in his best slow, OKie accent the man said the bugs were a "damned nuisance!" We did all lol at that. It became the words for the day.

Toby did well with his test and was done by 8:30, but we had to kill some time waiting on the doctor who did not show until 11. We had breakfast and went to a bike shop. After his doctor time, which took until 12:30, we kicked around OK City a bit. It was a good day with temps in the upper 80's. The wind was whipping us, but we still had a good time.

You know, I don't think I like doctors very well. I try not to go to them unless it is absolutely necessary, but I guess other people see doctors quite often. Although there seems to be a doctor on every corner, they sure are busy people. And their time management skills are lousy. I could rant on this, but won't.