What's Up Doc?

Friday was Daddy-Daughter Home With Head Colds Day. Little Suzy was limited to laying on the couch and watching TV. Saturday was a home day. On Sunday, Little Suzy and Mommy ventured out for a bit, but not too long so Suzy was well rested for school on Monday.

When I picked up Suzy from school on Monday, Little Suzy had that nasal sound when a cold is draining. Suzy also complained of a sore throat. Tuesday morning, Suzy's throat was so sore she could barely eat. Suzy asked for another day off school. I agreed to her request. I also decided to take Suzy to the local treatment center when it opened at 5 PM.

source: morgueFile.com

 Suzy and I arrived at the treatment center about 4:50 PM. Luckily, there were only 6 people ahead of us. We waited our turn and were called into the doctor at 5:45 PM. Doc did a once-over and took a quick culture to test for strep throat. Culture was negative and Suzy was dismissed with a prescription for cough medicine with codeine and advice to take ibuprofen every six hours.

One thing, though. When Doc wanted to check Suzy's throat, he didn't explain about the tongue depressor. And when Doc went to take the throat culture, he again failed to prepare Suzy. As we left the treatment center, Suzy protested that her throat felt worse than when we arrived at the treatment center.

Suzy's regular pediatrician is soft spoken and warns Suzy before he does anything. The treatment center Doc was also a pediatrician, yet failed to warn Suzy about anything. I hope treatment center Doc has a better manner with the other kids.

Have you ever had a medical (or other) service provider fail to thoroughly explain procedures? How did you feel when that happened? Would you recommend that provider in the future?

ROL: You Can and Should Take It With You.

ROL is an abbreviation for Return on Life. Return on Life is all about making small incremental changes that yield large returns on life enjoyment. This week's ROL is about planning for the expected.

Have you ever been to the DMV and waited 45 minutes while 3 clerks came back from break, 4 clerks went on break and no one appeared to know how to load paper in the one special printer that is assigned to print the document you need to get on about your day? Have you ever waited over an hour for your doctor, dentist, optometrist? Seems Doc is running just a bit late and the magazines seem to be stuck in the 80's. You never know when these situations will occur, you only know that these situations are bound to happen.  Boredom fuels frustration which in turn fuels stress, even though you know this waiting game is going to happen from time to time. How do you beat it? Simple. Take something with you. Load an app to your smartphone that can keep you engaged for an hour. Better yet, go old school. Bring along a book or puzzle book and a pencil. I bring my Sudoku book more places than I take my family. Remember, you can't control how others run their schedule but you can manage your reaction.

What about you? Do you have any ready plan for occupying time while you wait (and wait and wait) for an appointment?