Thursday, November 19th, 2020

The doctor has more energy than I do, this early in the morning. “So you haven’t been here since, when, January?” That was when I had what we thought was a heart thing. “Or maybe it wasn’t your heart. We don’t know for sure. You didn’t do your stress test. I’ll authorize you for one again.” I have been staying away from medical things since the virus landed. I have some issues and questions to catch up on. A virus test? “Are you having symptoms? We’re only doing them for people who need them.” A flu shot? “You can schedule --- wait, I have them right here. I’ll just do it now.” My ears? I’d had an earache last week in my right ear, and some hearing loss in it since then. She looks into them. “Weird. You say your hearing loss is on the right? It looks fine. Your left eardrum looks odd, though. You should see an E.N.T.” I already have an appointment for next Wednesday with one. “Anything else?” Well, the joint of my left big toe sometimes hurts when I walk. Some of my family has gout. Should I worry about that? “Does it hurt when you touch it lightly? No? Then it isn’t gout. Though you would be an excellent candidate for it.” That’s all the questions. She renews my prescriptions and writes me up for some other tests. “OK, bye. Oh -- hang around in the waiting area for about fifteen minutes. See if where you got the flu shot starts to hurt. If not, you can go. Set up a phone appointment after you get the tests. Bye.” I sit in the waiting room for a while. Nothing happens. I continue on to work.