I went to see my favorite doctor in the world, Dr A.......... ENT. Such a sweet old man. I went because of the ear wax in my ears, not only because of my Primary Care Physician's report to my insurance company about said wax but I could no longer hear very well or hardly at all when listening to TV or YouTube. I had to turn the volume up extra HIGH and still could not understand what people were saying.
I put peroxide in my ears for two nights before the appointment as this cuts down on the time spent there while they wait for the peroxide to soften the wax. No peroxide, no flushing, no waiting.....WAIT! That is a lie. There was a very loooooong wait indeed. All because a patient with a personality showed up.
OK, so I am waiting and waiting in the "waiting" room because an old guy was saying what must have been very funny stuff to the lady interviewing him in TRIAGE. Triage.....I know. I could not hear what he was saying, hello, ear wax. Anyway, she was laughing and giggling so hard, she obviously was having a hard time getting the needed information entered into the system. Finally.... she releases him to return to the waiting room.
Before he could even sit down, he was beeped into room 1. Why did I have a bad feeling about this? I went into Triage and completed my interview in 2 minutes or less and went back out to the waiting room. And waited and waited, reading the same ancient Good Housekeeping mag over and over. I kept looking at my beeper for some sign of life but it lay there doing absolutely nothing. Finally I was beeped into room 2. Where I waited forever and a day re-reading the same magazine a few dozen more times. In case you don't know, GH is 99% ads so you can imagine what fun I was having. Re-reading an old magazine is somewhat better than nothing, I suppose. Well, I am sure because twice I simply looked at the white walls and it was even worse.
Then the doctor appears. Apologizing (but obviously not very sorry) before he even shuts the door. He had been totally enraptured by a patient who told the most amazing stories and he could barely tear himself away. He did not want to leave this patient to continue his rounds. I was surprised he didn't slap me upside the head for even being there. No, he is too sweet and gentle for that. I forgave him with no problem (he will never know the rage that simmered within, just kidding, kinda, no really...kidding). In fact, I somewhat understood. His life must be a bit boring cleaning ears, peering into noses, etc. all day long. And he does not drive more than 3000 miles a year. Just like me. My life is even more boring. My mileage for the last 12 months was 2700 miles.Twenty-seven hundred miles. In a year.
He is elderly and semi-retired. The bosses may want to get rid of him he says because he is very slow and (I don't recall what else). I told him they had better not get rid of him because I WILL WRITE A LETTER. Obviously my letters can be quite potent at times so they had better watch out. He seemed happy (or fearful?) about my promise of a letter.
Anyway, he told me that he had added up the ages (including mine) of 8 patients he had seen so far this day. To find the average age. He said, guess what the average age is. I said 80. Noooo...81. So at 76, that makes me a baby in the group. OK, now I feel better.
I won't go into detail, but the gobs of wax he extracted from my ears with the pointy metal pic was astronomical. Hideous stuff. As I said, no peroxide, no flushing, just apickin. He only hurt me once. Not paying attention, I think. We were talking about the old days of 21 cent a gallon gas compared to today and OUCH! He is also from the era where on Sundays the whole family piled into the sedan to "take a ride". That was our family's pastime too. Town or long country roads, it did not matter as long as the scenary was moving. (No TV at that time may be a clue.) For hours or all day sometimes. Although people did not make as much money as today, we never ever worried about the price of gas or the usage thereof. Why was that? I wonder.
