I had an insight yesterday, something I wanted to share with you. I’m also an idiot so forgot it. It will probably come to me as soon as I post this and then I’ll forget it again tomorrow. I was going to say that it’s not easy not having a brain, but the whole point here is that I do have a brain, a good brain, it came up with an insight, it’s just unreliable
So I’m going to do a Joe Friday and give the facts, just the facts. I had a follow up appointment with my surgeon. My surgery feels like it was ages ago. I just checked, it was May 9, close to a quarter of a year. I knew there wouldn’t be much to the appointment. He didn’t schedule any sort of imaging so all he would do is talk to me and feel my abdomen. It takes close to an hour to get there, so I’d have two hours traveling for a 15-minute visit. That was wrong as I forgot the waiting time in the office. I spent three and a half hours out for 15 minutes of doctor time.
Good thing I love my surgeon, Dr. Malcher, he deserves to have his name I the public record, and liked the resident working with him, Dr. Costanet. I don’t know how to spell her name. I just know that it’s pronounced like castanet but the first syllable is cost. When I finally got into the office the nurse’s assistant weighed me and took my blood pressure. Then I waited. Then a nurse came in and asked me some questions. Then I waited. Then Dr. Costanet came in, and then I waited. Then I was escorted to the waiting room, where I waited. That was to get the time for my next appointment in six months. Dr. Malcher said he likes to follow his patients. I called him a stalker. He laughed. I love that I have a surgeon I can joke around with. His greeting when he walked in was, “You’re alive! I didn’t expect that.” Surgeons don’t do that. They should I didn’t mind all the waiting because he treated me like a person, not a piece of meat. This is all about opportunity costs. Every job is done by the least trained person capable of doing it. The doctor’s time is used efficiently and he realizes that treating the patient with personal attention is part of being efficient. It’s not time wasted.
I just checked and saw that there was a video taken of my appointment. Here’s the part I was telling you about.
Last night I went to the Met game, they were playing the Cubs, one of the teams they are vying with for a playoff spot. It was an important game. The Mets had Stroman pitching, the pitcher I least wanted to see, and this is my second game in a row where he started. The game started with no score to the bottom of the third when Met wunderkind Pete Alonso hit a no-doubt home run, his 42nd of the year. This set the Mets’ all-time record for home runs in a season, and it’s still August. Things went down hill from there and the Mets lost 5 – 2. Alan and I tied in our prediction game; we both had the Mets losing 5 – 4.
I did something unusual for me. I ate at the game. I usually don’t because it’s so expensive but I had a craving for a Nathan’s frank and fries all day. It’s much more expensive than in a regular Nathan’s but the order of fries is huge. The soda is free as I fill out a designated driver form before the game. You don’t have to actually drive, just be a licensed driver and not drink alcohol at the game. They give you a wrist band. They should stamp you, as you can take off a wrist band. But I don’t cheat.
The trip to and from the game took longer than it should I don’t get where the time goes as the 7 train is a super express that only makes four stops before Fifth Ave where I change to the D. I think all the extra time was on the D. It must have to do with late night construction.
When I walked in the tunnel from the 7 to the D I heard a curious conversation behind me. It was medical. It missed one word of a sentence that I will indicate with ______ . “That’s your colon, part of the digestive system, this is your stomach, part of ________. “ What could the missing word or phrase be? The stomach is part of the digestive system too. Was the person speaking totally ignorant or have some sort of meaning that I’m not catching. Let me know if you have an idea.
I have nothing planned for today. I’m going to try and do some reading. I always say I’m going to try and do some reading but don’t. I’m not binging on any TV show. There’s no movie that I’m dying to see. I’ll read and take a walk, exercise my mind and body. I also need to record another Gord’s Gold. Rod Picott just sent me an album. Maybe I’ll listen and write him up. I have a backlog of musicians I need to share with the world. My piece on Sunny War aired yesterday. It will be repeated, I don’t know when. Listen to Folk Music Notebook as much as possible and you’ll catch it. You’ll also hear a lot of great music.
Wise Madness 