GOING TO THE DOCTOR

Going to the doctor -- boy has that changed!  Mom used to send us to the doctor ONLY if we were about to die.  Other than that, we would go to the doctor’s office with a dollar – yes, $1.00 – and get either a package of green lozenges for a sore throat or a package of half blue/half yellow capsules for a cold.

Just thinking about those lozenges makes my throat go numb.  I think my throat got better out of self-preservation.  The blue/yellow capsules came with instructions to take two immediately and then one at the prescribed times.  Those first two gave that ole cold a double whammy.  I do not know what was in them, but the cold packed its bags and left.

I can remember walking into the doctor’s office.  The nurse knew my name, where I lived, what grade I was in, and if I had gotten into trouble at school.  (Gotta love small towns.)  She would take the dollar and hand me the little white envelope.  The doctor might not be in.  He could be off on a house call or delivering a baby.  If you were about to die and had an appointment, you would either wait or come back the next day … if you were still alive.  Yes, I am stretching that a bit, but only a tiny bit. 

Oh, how simple it was!

Going to the doctor – boy has that changed!  I am writing this while I wait to get in for my annual wellness check.  Now why would you go to the doctor if you are well?  Makes no sense at all.

First hurdle is to reach the office.  Everything is done through a call center or online.  I hate call centers!  The person answering the phone has no idea who I am or anything about me.  And I pray I never forget my birth date!  Why can’t the local clinic answer their phone?  Since I am on a roll about the call centers, why do I have to receive a call, followed by a text or email, to remind me that I have an appointment?  I WROTE IT DOWN!  I KNOW I HAVE AN APPOINTMENT!  I WILL BE THERE!  AND I DO NOT GET TEXTS ON MY FLIP PHONE!

Heaven forbid I try to get a prescription without seeing the doc.  Even if I have taken it before and describe what is wrong in easy to understand words.  Look at my chart – oh right.  This is the call center.

They always ask, “How are you feeling today?”  I want to say, “I feel terrible or I wouldn’t be here.”  Then there are three pages of questions.  The same questions I answered last time.  Couldn’t they have a form that says nothing has changed?  Finally, I am taken back to the room.  Where the nurse goes over the questions just to make sure I answer them the same.  And then the doctor comes in…..

Going to the doctor has changed.  I am very thankful that I have a doctor who cares about me.  Who listens to me.  Who allows enough time so I do not feel rushed.  Who answers all my questions.  Who smiles at my answer to the question:  Do you snore?  My answer?  Hubby says I do.

But sometimes, I wish I could just take a dollar and get a package of those throat numbing lozenges or blue/yellow capsules from a nurse that knows my name, where I live, and if I have been in trouble lately. 

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There are many kinds of healing and today’s medicine has ended a number of diseases.  For that, we should all be grateful.  Hopefully, the future will hold the cure to many more.

BUT.. we often question why one person gets better and one does not.  We ask why a loved one is sick.  We ask God why am I sick.  Why me seems to be the question when anything bad happens.  Should it be?

I wrote Why me Lord? for my very first lay speaking class.  The basic ideas were:

Why me Lord?  Why did an illness take my loved one?  Why is a mind lost in time?  Why?  Why?  Why?  What I realized is that I was asking that question in the wrong way.  I needed to ask, “Why not me?”  At birth, there was no toe tag saying, “Nothing bad will happen to this child.”  I am no better than anyone else, so why would I think only bad things should happen to other people?

I also realized I was asking this question at the wrong times.  I began asking why me Lord when I was given a special blessing.  I am no better than anyone else, so why am I so fortunate?

Why me Lord? – When do you ask this question?