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It DOES Suck To Get Old . . .

People don't listen to you.

They want to grab you and hustle you along.

They treat you like you are six.

They act as if you have no idea what you are talking about, and as if you are simply wildly self-indulgent and need a firm hand.

Ever see Bubba Ho-Tep?

It is based in reality.

I spent the day at the doctor's with my friend H, who is 87 and isn't willing to park herself on the back porch in a rocking chair quite yet.

Something is very, very wrong and they don't know what. A few weeks ago something foul blew through and set off everyone's allergies. H picked up a nasty bronchial and sinus infection and simply has not been able to get back on her feet. We get to go in for tests every week, and I am going to have to go into the examination rooms with her from now on.

H has a curved, diseased spine and a torn rotater cuff.

A nurse -- a trained professional -- insisted she lay flat on her back.

H can't. She at the very least needs to raise her knees to keep the pressure off her back.

The nurse -- trained professional, remember -- grabbed her and attempted to press her down.

The nurse -- who is trained and has a degree in nursing -- yelled at her and treated her like a six-year-old.

I had to go save her. One of the advantages of being a 6-foot Amazon is that I usually only have to walk into a room looking irritated and everyone straightens up.

It turned out that the test could be easily administered from a sitting position, and that it is possible for a nurse to apologize three or four times per sentence.

We have already requested a different nurse for next week's test, a four hour chemical stress test.

Since I just jumped up and bolted through the doctor's office, the office staff and regulars have assumed that I am a bodyguard, and that H must be someone. The groveling was funny, but the obvious speculation was annoying to the point that I did not clarify that the bulge in my waistband was actually a GameBoy.

Let 'em worry -- maybe they will make an effort to act like professionals.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

How horrible for H. We spend years and years acquiring knowledge, bettering ourselves, and growing. Somewhere along the line, our society has displaced the respect and honor our elders deserve.

Bless your heart, Amazon Body Guard with Gameboy. ;)