A few days ago, as I was sitting in my clinic's radiology waiting room, I was cranky. Grumpy. And I was grouchily intent on remaining that way. I felt as though after an entire month of coughing I deserved to be as surly as I wanted to be.
So there. Nyeah!
An X-ray technician called my name, and I grumped myself into the department. She smiled.
"I heard you coughing from a mile away.....I'll bet you need a chest X-ray, right?"
No kidding, genius.
"We'll get this over as quickly as possible." She steered me into the changing area and within minutes, I was rotate your shoulders forward and take a deep breath and hold it - ing. As I was going through all the machinations of getting a chest X-ray, I could hear other staff engaging in lighthearted banter in the hallway.
The nerve. How could they laugh in the face of suffering such as mine??
"Well, it looks as though we're all done here. Can I get you a drink of water? Do you need time to rest?" X-ray tech lady looked concerned.
Oh, sure. She probably puts on the caring act for everyone...just like the fake stewardess buh byes when you get off an airplane.
"No water? OK. Well, I sure hope you feel better soon!" she said. I had to grudgingly admit that she sounded sincere. But I was intent on wallowing in my gloom, so I thanked her solemnly and headed back down the hallway to my doctor's office, big manilla folder containing my X-rays in hand.
"Hey! She's back!" was the greeting as I returned to my doctor's waiting room. "C'mon in."
I plodded directly back to the exam room, suspicious. Cheerful? AND no waiting? What's going on here??
The medical assistant popped her head into the exam room. "Sounds as though you're really uncomfortable with that cough. Would you like a nebulizer treatment like last time?"
I stoically shook my head. Nuh uh.
"No? Can I get you anything else? No? Well, the doctor should be here in a jiffy." She smiled sympathetically as she headed back to her desk.
I sucked on my menthol cough drop reflectively. I began to suspect that there was a conspiracy in full force here. When the medical assistant returned in a few seconds to let me know that she was just around the corner if I changed my mind about the nebulizer, I KNEW it.
These people were trying their darndest to wreck my much deserved and thoroughly enjoyable cranky tantrum, and I had to admit that they were making small but effective chinks in my grumpy armor.
"Well, Julia," said the doctor, "it looks as though you have a pneumonia going on here. Gee, I'm sorry to see that. But don't worry, we'll get you fixed up in no time." She patted my shoulder as she pulled out the films, knowing that I would want to see them for myself. "See that bit of cloudiness in your right upper lobe?"
Dang. She was good, remembering that I have had some basic experience looking at chest films in my previous RN life....
"Now. How do you feel about treating this with....." and went on to discuss our options.
Ok. At that point I had to concede that it was time to wave the white flag. And let a small smile crack the stony expression on my face.
I knew when I was up against a formidable opponent, and I knew that I had lost, fair and square.
I left the clinic grinning.........in defeat.
No comments:
Post a Comment