Writer Christopher Geoffrey McPherson took time out from working on his current novel to send me this short/sweet story…
Just want to share a story I have about waiting for a doctor: A few years ago I was scheduled for heart surgery (heart defect necessitated a new artificial valve). I got to the hospital about 9:00 a.m. My surgery was scheduled for 11:00 a.m. About 10:00 a.m. they told me the doctor was delayed and offered to reschedule the surgery. I'm pragmatic about such things. I opted to stay (I'd already fasted, arranged to be at the hospital all day, etc.)
At about 6:00 p.m., they finally prepped me for surgery. I was on the table until about 10:00 p.m.
The next day the surgeon came to see me. He thanked me for working with him to reschedule my surgery. He said: "I got a call that a man had suffered a coronary artery dissection," the thing that'll kill you if it's not treated right away. "Because you were able to wait for your surgery, I was able to save that man's life."
Sobered me up right away.
Yeah. I think something like that happened when I was kept waiting the other day. And come to think of it, when I had my gastric bypass surgery in 2006, I had to wait something like six hours past the scheduled time because my surgeon had to open someone else up first to fix someone else. I could wait but that guy's problem couldn't.
I absolutely understand that. I just think in the era of cell phones, there's a way they can alert us to this kind of thing. We'll still have to sit in waiting rooms for long, boring hours sometimes but every now and then but there could be times we could get there later or even go out and fill that time with something useful and come back.