A visit to the doctor

is something I try to avoid. It isn't always possible of course but I am not one for going to the doctor with mild symptoms. There are other people who feel differently.

I had an appointment yesterday. I was doing the right thing by following up on a letter that had been sent out "reminding" me that I had an "overdue" appointment for a female test. The reminder was interesting in that I had never had a test of that nature. 

Middle Cat, who needs to see our GP much more frequently and knows her well, inquired about this for me.

"Tell Cat to make an appointment. We can talk about it."

I made the appointment. We discussed it. No, probably not necessary. We can try. It might be interesting to see if  we can...  it was that sort of conversation.  (As I suspected it wasn't possible. Our GP was not surprised and neither was I.) 

It was a longer than usual appointment though so we discussed other things as well - not to do with me but relating to other people I am concerned about.  As we did so I was keeping an eye on the time. Our GP is notorious for running late. She was already running late at 8:40am (my appointment time). 

"C.... I am out of here now. If I go now you will be back on track for appointment times," I told her.

She looked at me startled. Then she smiled and sighed, "Trust you to keep me on track. See you in eight weeks for the annual check  up."

I was almost out the door when she tried to ask another question. I looked at her. "I'll answer that one in eight weeks time," I told her.

And I heard her laughing as I prowled off across an almost empty waiting room. 

But I think it was important to try and keep her to time. It's no fun sitting there in the waiting room if you are perhaps elderly and frail or young and restless or if you are anxiously waiting to hear about your test results. There are all sorts of reasons for busy doctors to be running late but simply chatting to patients about other things is not one of them. 

And the reception staff, both talking to other people, gave me a discreet thumbs up as I left.