I am slowly and steadily building up reasons I go see a doctor. Every time though, I milk it for as long as I can. Today, I was asked why I hesitate to go, and it was perfect. First of all, I have a large area on my lower right leg with a pair of gashes. I thought, initially, it was two thin breaks of skin, that I would bleed for a day or two and then it would stop. After almost two weeks, the bleeding is still continuing and I can't figure why I am still bleeding, other than where the cut is, the muscle doesn't get a chance to rest and stay together.
The main reason I hate going is that nobody is ever in a hurry. We got to the urgent care facility right at 9:00am, and I didn't go to a room in the back until after 11:30am. That was over two hours waiting, I told Wife she needed to go with me, as I was sure I would fall asleep while waiting. One of the necessary evils of working the night shift. It seemed simple enough, we get there, the receptionist said it should take an hour to an hour and a half, there are five people in front of you. Meanwhile, I have to fill out the chart everyone does with one's history. After awhile I had done everything I could, Wife was busy on her phone trying to set meetings for the afternoon, and checking on things, although I enjoyed having her there with me, laughing at my cheesy nervous jokes. I felt I zoned out for a couple minutes here and there. When I asked her how long I had fallen asleep in the waiting room, she said "for about 40-45 minutes." I said "nah, you're fucking with me." We were waiting for over two hours though, so maybe.
Of course, once the nurse has you in the back, you can't hide from the facts. She starts mentioning Diabetes, and it would explain why the cut hasn't healed. It doesn't help when she tries to weigh me and the scale said "Ayyy" and tilted. The nurse was actually cool, and she was laughing at my jokes, so that always helps. My cut was opened and she went to town, first with a soft cloth washing it with a pinkish mix of liquids. The doctor came in, and after waiting 2.5 hours for this, he gave me about two minutes of his time. He said skin was too damaged to try and do stitches, all he could do is make sure we got on top of any infection. The nurse then took those little brushes you use on a baby's scalp to remove the cradle cap and dandruff material, and all she and the doctor could say was this is going to hurt. Luckily, most of the nerves are kind of numb/dead at the cut area, I did not feel much of the scraping. I thought I was being Mr. Smart applying that silver spray my brother in law gave me from my father in law when I was having trouble after my ingrown nail surgery. Turns out spraying that just numbs the nerves and is not good for open cuts. This was part of the reason it was not closing. In the end, I got a good cleaning of the wound area, a topical antibiotic ointment, a tetanus shot on the left arm, an antibiotic shot on the butt, and a prescription for an oral antibiotic. I am then supposed to go see another doctor who might go in there and get his hands dirty.
So then why don't I like to see a doctor? There is always a long lag time, whether you sit for an hour or three, no biggie for them. The doctor with the degree will only give you about three to five minutes of his time. Being a fat boy, diabetes always comes up, yet they did a glucose test and I was fine. They harp on "we should have a primary care physician," yet I only see a doctor when something like this happens. I ended up taking the night off since I did not get to bed until almost noon, and I hate missing work, except Wife is in town, so it was nice staying home with her here.
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