OUCH! That hurt!
Many times while talking to someone, my mind is thinking, HUH? What's up with that? All of us say and do silly things, but, most of the time we don't knowingly offend someone or say something offensive on purpose. But, it does seem like today's older generation is often times slighted or openly disrespected by younger people. Maybe it has always been like this and I didn't pay attention to it until my so-called senior years arrived!
The lyrics of a Johnny Rivers song called The Only Thing That's Permanent is Change repeatedly come to mind as I travel this often-changing road called retirement. It seems every week, or at the least, every other week, my car is on a side road off the retirement highway heading to a medical office. Growing up, doctors were Gods to me and my three brothers, or at a minimum, we held them in pretty high regard. It's only been the last few years it has occurred to me, people in medical offices are human. Couldn't survive without them, but boy, have I heard some odd things inside those walls.
Weight experts would not consider me overweight, although it wouldn't hurt me to shed a few pounds around the middle. Here's a recent conversation between me and an X-ray tech who was very fit and athletic looking. I had asked her if there would be any problem finding the right area to X-ray (spleen). She said, "None at all. It will look right through any fat and give us a clear picture." Hmmm, okay. But, that's not as bad as the answer one of my brothers received when he asked a CT technician about the relative safety of a CT.
Ken was a little concerned about how a CT could possibly damage or affect any organs while the CT was scanning. Ever mindful of the old days when X-rays were considered dangerous if over used, my 70 year old brother said to the young technician, "Do these things do any damage to us?" Without missing a beat, she replied, "Well, it takes 20 years for anything to show up. See where I'm going with this?" Whew! Nothing like a strong dose of reality!
And that brings to mind my most recent encounter with a dermatologist I had seen only one other time. This last 45 minutes was like side-stepping a series of verbal land mines! As I entered the outer door, I walked up to the desk to sign the registration book. A teenage girl was sitting with her mother and she turned to her mom and said, "Mom? I didn't know Dr. Smith saw old people." My expectation was for mom to give her daughter a lesson on social graces. It didn't happen. I continued walking toward the book, picked up the pen and just as quickly, knocked the book and pen onto the floor. At the same time, the girl's name was called to go back to her exam room. The nurse holding the door open looked at me, smiled and said, "I'll bet you've had a lot of experience doing those things." It's a cold world. But, a smile is all she saw from me as I made my way to the nearest chair to wait my turn. It didn't appear to me that my visit could be any worse. But, singer Tony Bennett said it perfectly clear! "The Best is Yet to Come"!
When my name was called, the nurse took me to the back to be weighed and all vitals checked. Thermometers are fine. Blood pressure pumps are dandy, But, oximeters and I don't get along. For some reason, it takes forever to get a reading of how much oxygen is in my blood. After explaining this to her, Gretchen put the digital albatross on my finger. Clearly, she hadn't been listening to my prediction. Two minutes later, it was still locked in at 86 (normal is mid 90s). Gretchen had been filling in my Rx usage on the computer and finally looked at the oximeter. She yelled out, "Good God! You're dead! But that can't be because you're sitting here!" And, she wasn't smiling! I didn't know what to say, but I've got to tell you, my first thought was, HUH? What's up with that?
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