Alligators on a Party Barge

Reason for Having a Doctor Friend, Parts 3–7

3. For when you hit a slippery patch of tile in the Metro tunnel, plunk forward onto your forehead, and have a giant goose egg that as the day goes on gets bigger and more painful.

4. For when you watch too much Grey's Anatomy and self-diagnose that bump on head as something actually somethin' more serious—it's always the people with the simple injuries on that show that are toast, y'all.

5. For when your face starts progressively going numb, starting at the point of injury and spreading outward, a full 6 hours after contact with floor.

6. For when the late Friday night decision is made that maybe one should go to the emergency room to check out said numbness, for it could be indicative of reason number 4.

7. For when the ER doctor says, "You need a CAT scan" at 1:30 a.m., even though she already told you it was likely just swelling pushing onto the nerves, causing temporary neurological paralysis.

If one could just find a doctor friend, one could have been reassured, told about the temporary numbness, wait until morning and call one's real doctor. Could have been all different.

Won't someone please be our doctor friend?

posted by Veronica @ Monday, December 04, 2006