As I sit here in this chair in this cubicle in this antiseptic sterile environment waiting for the Dr. to appear, my mind starts to wander.
When I was a child and even through my teen age years, I remember going to see the doctor and it was a pleasant experience. You entered a friendly warm reception area where you were personally greeted and told that you would be next or Dr. was very busy today or it would be just a short wait.
The experience today is very different. I waited in a blah reception room until the assistant called my name. Then she led me down a maze of corridors and cubicles, most with closed doors. Then I was shown my cubicle and left to wait for the coming of the Dr.
Left alone to my own devices, I begin reminiscing and constructing stories.
My earliest memory of a doctor is our family Doctor, Dr. Olga. She was a short stocky woman who took care of all the family and our ills. Her office was a room in her home and her secretary/assistant was her sister. Once when I was 10 years old (approximately) I fell and badly cut my upper lip. Mama and I rushed to see Dr. Olga. She put me on a table in her office, stopped the bleeding and carefully examined the wound. She announced that it needed a couple of stitches. I vaguely remember Mama and Dr. Olga discussing if she should do it or should they take me to the hospital. After all it was my face and would affect the rest of my life. Dr. Olga felt confident she could do it, Mama had confidence in her and I certainly did. Dr. Olga carefully explained to me that she was going to use a needle and thread (she showed it to me), and go in and out of my lip like the stitches my Mama made in cloth when she was sewing. Then she gave me the choice of having pain medicine or not. She didn’t push for one way or the other. I felt strong and brave in those days and said to just do it. She did. I did not feel undue pain although I did hold tight to my mother’s hand. I think her careful explanation – not sugar coating it, helped me to understand it and deal with it. It has healed and nobody ever notices it. Psssss - I’ve just told you a big secret.
Dr. Olga also made house calls. It was not unusual for her to stop by our house to see one or several of us. I can see her now – confidently walking toward the house with her black satchel while her sister waited in the car.
Dr. Haddock had an office in town and Mama and I always enjoyed going to see him. We would sit in his office, talk about whatever the health issue was and also visit. How was the family – his and ours, the garden, and/or the vacation. His daughter was in my high school class and his family went to our church. This is back in the days when the town was fairly small and everybody knew most everybody.
My mind takes a different turn. It seems I have been left sitting alone in this room a long time. I wonder if anybody has ever been left here in a cubicle overnight or even left for a few hours, forgotten. It seems like it would be an easy thing to happen. When I sit here for awhile I read, think, and then just begin to zone out – maybe even nap. So I might let the time go by too. I think that has the makings of a good story.
As I continue to wait, I realize that I really miss those old days when I personally knew my doctor. I liked it better when I went in and sat in the Dr.’s office and we talked about my health issues and life. Now I go in a maze, sit in a cubicle and am examined by Dr. Robot and then excused. It makes me feel like a “thing” instead of a human being.
Finally, the doctor comes in. He attends to my health issue and then quickly leaves.
I’m left to try to remember how in the world I got where I am and how can I find my way out of this maze.
4 comments:
We hardly went to the doctor when I was young, but my first experience of doctors is, as you say, much different than today. They had more time to talk to you. Even our family doctor now seems to barely have time or hardly examines. I was left once and forgotten in the gynocologist office once when I visited a new one for the first time. I was put in the room and after the nurse settled me in, it was quite a time before I was asked to go into the doctor's office and talk to him, then escorted back to the room and told the doctor would be in to examine me. I then waited for about 1/2 hr to 40 min (thinking he was really, really busy), and then I heard him chit chatting with a nurse in the hall. It continued so I got dressed, walked out and announced that I had to leave and could not wait any longer. He uttered something to my back as I walked away. Needless to say, I never went back, and then about a month later, I did pass a kidney stone, which had apparently been the source of my pain.
I'm old enough to remember service: receptionists who answered the phone, checkouts who looked at me when they said hello, having an insurance agent. Don't even talk about getting gas pumped, bags carried, house calls. I wonder if people under 40 can even imagine how it was!
Mary, my ex, the drug rep, used to lie down on the examination table to wait for the doctor to see him so he could sell him drugs. I love your memories of the way things used to be when it comes to doctors.
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