Since I'm on a residency kick lately I've got to share my favorite residency related story to date. Joe of course has the BEST stories. Oh like the time an emaciated street dog wandered into the exam room in the emergency department while he was examining a patient! Crazy, right? Apparently not all that crazy for where the hospital is located! To put it mildly the hospital is not in the part of town a person would choose to spend time/visit. Which is one of the reasons despite my pre-residency fantasy of bringing the kids to the hospital for lunch with daddy I have never actually been to the hospital. The other reason being that emergency medicine doctors don't actually have a lunch break! They just eat whatever they can as quickly as possible between patients. So all in all it wasn't a very realistic fantasy.
Needless to say the closest I've been to the hospital is across the street at the clinic as a patient. Joe warned me that the clinic and patient population would be a little rough. But I didn't care. I just wanted labs drawn as soon as possible to rule out any medical causes for my constant fatigue. And yet even despite Joe's warning I was still a little shocked to see all the unique characters I was surrounded by in the waiting room. I kept looking around for someone somewhat normal-ish without any luck. Then as I was leaving after my appointment I saw from behind a tall blond woman in a pretty dress and heels and I thought "there is someone else like me here!" Then she turned around. And she was a he.
Yes. That might have been the face I made that day. Yes. Normal might not be the best word to describe me;-) Normal-ish. At best.
(The ending did NOT surprise my husband or any of the residents that have since heard my story. Hardly anything surprises them in fact.)
I can only begin to imagine all of the stories he must have from working in the medical field. I'm sure every day presents new challenges! I have also been in a waiting room or two that was full of colorful characters to observe. At least it gives you something to do during the long wait for your name to be called.
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