Is Marcus Welby still taking patients?

I started the day at my doctor’s office.  It’s a regular thing.   Every six months I stop in and he tells me I’m doing fine.  Giving me way too much credit, he tells me the results of my blood work; I nod as if I actually understand what he’s talking about, then go home to complain about my aches and pains.  You know, the standard doctor’s appointment.  

Sitting there in the examining room this morning I waited quietly for my ten minutes with the good doctor.  Indulging my low threshold for boredom, I looked through gardening pictures I’d downloaded to my iPad and listened to conversations in the hallway.  It ebbed and flowed, discussions between the doctors, the doctors and their nurses, the nurses and the nurses and a doctor and a very hard of hearing patient in the next room.  It brought me to one glaring certainty….I am glad I’m not in the medical profession.

Growing up I wanted Marcus Welby to be our family doctor.  He had the most wonderful bedside manner, and he never seemed to hurt anyone.  Having a young James Brolin for a sidekick didn’t hurt anything, either.  Watching that show I knew I could never be a doctor….I was, after all, only a girl.  But I could be a nurse!  It was the next best thing, and I’d get to hang out with doctors like Marcus Welby and James Brolin.  Ah yes…..I would be a nurse.

I grew up telling people that I wanted to be a nurse, even did some prep work in high school for a nursing career.   Then my young heart fell in love, and it seemed the only thing my future needed in it was this tall young man named Larry. 

Yes…I traded my dreams of working with Marcus Welby for a husband and, eventually, three babies.  First there was a beautiful little boy who never slept and ate like a lumberjack.  He was followed by a sweet blonde baby girl who was the best baby in the world.  Before the ink was dry on that birth certificate we produced another little girl who screamed for the first three months of her life.   I realized after the birth of the third baby that I had accidently assumed my nursing career without any training and absolutely no credentials.   I also discovered a voice inside my head that kept repeating, “If I ever get these babies raised no one will ever throw up on me again.”   My dream of becoming a nurse died a miserable death as I tended my coughing, sneezing, ‘my tummy hurts’ little brood.

And so, all these years later, I found myself sitting in the examining room this morning listening to the real thing.  One doctor was trying to straighten out some blood work orders with a new nurse.  Their conversation faded away as two nurses stepped into my hearing range discussing a patient who was ‘hard to room’; the one offering to get the fellow into a room for the other, more reluctant, woman.   From the next room I could hear my own doctor clearly as he tried to explain to an elderly gentleman (obviously very hard of hearing) why it’s not good to put things into your ears.  Then everything was temporarily drowned out by a wailing infant that went by the door. 

Eventually a nurse came in, took my blood pressure and asked me some questions.  As she exited my doctor blew into the room, dropping heavily onto a rolling stool and exhaling as if he’d just slid into home plate. ( Funny, Marcus Welby never looked harried)  My family doctor is fiftyish with a boyish face that will serve him well for a lot of years; this morning he looked tired and frazzled.  Dealing with the complaints of however many people you can push through an office in eight hours as you take calls from other doctors, answer questions about patient’s phone calls, and make important decisions on the fly has got to be exhausting.

Happily, I was there to report that, at least for the moment, I’m feeling pretty chipper; looking forward to kayaking in a few weeks.  I had no complaints to add to his day, and his smile as he left the room seemed almost grateful.  I left the office smiling with the realization that life seems to work out as it should…I wasn’t Florence Nightingale material to begin with.   Besides…I’d never have been happy working for anyone but Marcus Welby.

                                                                Life is Good