Apr 16 2010
Bedside Manner
I’ve been busy. I’ve been so busy that I have had to keep myself from writing.
Writing takes time.
The key point is that I have to keep myself from writing. Once I get started somehow several hours have gone by.
However, I just had to share this latest visit to my doctor for my annual physical. He’s been my doctor for years, is just little older than I with pale hair, faded freckles and the slightly startled look of a newborn.
I’m sitting on the examination table in my fetching paper gown.
Door opens, in walks my doctor. He asks me the usual questions about how I’m feeling and my overall health.
Then he surprises me.
Doctor: Want a flu shot?
Ms. Q: What?! No. Not really
Doctor: Why not?
Ms. Q: I don’t like shots.
Doctor: But this is a flu shot – you don’t want to get the flu, do you?
Ms. Q: No. But I heard there might be side effects.
Doctor: Do you watch Fox News?
Ms. Q: [What? Huh?] No. I don’t watch TV. Why?
Doctor: Fox News thinks that flu shots are part of some conspiracy. You know, black helicopters, that type of thing.
Ms. Q: Uh…huh.
Doctor: It’s all a plot to scare everyone from a non-existent danger.
Ms. Q: Oh. Well, I don’t watch TV.
Doctor: So let me give you a flu shot.
Ms. Q: I just gave blood. I don’t want any more needles!
Doctor: I think you should. I have a bad feeling about this year’s flu season.
Ms. Q: Ugh. But I heard there are side effects.
Doctor: Yes. The SIDE EFFECT is that you DON’T GET THE FLU.
Score one for my doctor! Humor wins! And he really does have my best interest at heart.
I got the H1N1 vaccination. A quick jab in the right shoulder.
I also recalled that I was due for a tetanus booster so he jabbed me in my left shoulder.
So that was my Friday morning.
My plans for tonight?
Pizza!
Cholesterol test is done…it’s time for some melted fat!
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Ms. Q! I’m happy to see you are still around, even if it’s just for a post here and there… (I dropped by your blog last week just to make sure my feed reader hadn’t broken the link to your place.)
I’ve not yet gotten the H1N1. I made a couple of attempts but it was during the time the vaccine was in high demand. I probably need a tetanus booster too.
Nice to see that your doc has a good of a sense of humor as you do, Ms. Q.
delmer: thanks for dropping by just to check in. It’s amazing how quickly time can pass. I was thinking, what? It’s been since LAST JULY since my last post?
I was telling 3 of my coworkers about my getting the HINI vaccine and what was interesting was that all 3 said that they never get the flu vaccine and refuse it! All said that it would increase my chances of getting sick in the future and that we need some exposure to germs/viruses to build up our own resistance.
It was easy for me to remember the tetanus booster as I had gotten my last one in 2000 and made a “note to self” that I needed another one in 2000. My left shoulder is still slightly sore. No effect as far as I can tell from the HINI vaccine.
Jake: thanks! The doc was giving me a hard time in a funny way.
You’re alive!
Some of us were beginning to wonder…
HEY! You’re here!!!!!!! I sort of neglected my subscription thing and I didn’t even check over here because it had been so long!!!!!!!!!!!
I’ve never gotten a flu shot. The year before last the principal and the school nurse actually came in and harassed me about it in front of the children. But my dad is not able to get a flu shot, because he had that disease they haven’t totally decided a flu shot hasn’t caused. So, I dunno. I haven’t seen anything totally convincing either way. But I don’t watch Fox News either, for whatever it’s worth.