I think today's entire debacle started last night, when I watched the weather on the wrong television channel. The high, for today, was supposed to be only 53 degrees so when I dressed to go to the doctor, I put on a sweater......yes, a warm winter sweater.
When I left the house, it was pouring down rain so it was a little chilly. As I drove down the road, I noticed it was 69 degrees. It definitely wasn't winter sweater weather, but it was too late (I thought) to turn around, go home and change. I had been praying for warmer weather.....my prayer had to change!! Instead of a heater, I needed air-conditioning!
I drove through some "can't see the car in front of you" rain and arrived at the doctor's office about 20 minutes early (I thought). I signed in, found a seat and proceeded to read the new true mystery "The Legs Murder Scandal" book that I had bought, on Saturday, in the neat little Hattiesburg family bookstore.
In just a minute, the receptionist motioned to me to come back to the desk. "Mrs. Gorrell, you do realize that your appointment isn't until 1:45?" (It was now about 11:25.) What!!! Most people are late and here I am, two hours early. Why hadn't I checked the calendar before I left home? (And I had to rush to get dressed!) The doctor was running late, so "No, they can't work you in any earlier." It had taken two months to get this appointment rescheduled, so "No, he has nothing open anytime in the near future. I suggest you go have a leisurely lunch, and keep this appointment." said she, with a nice "I'm sorry" smile.
I went to the Pet Store, and bought a surprise for "the girls", and then to my favorite 'Books-a-Million'. Might as well get coffee and catch up on my reading of the latest Genealogy mags.
At about 1:10 p.m. (13:00 if you do military time), I reappeared at the doctor's office and signed in, once more. In 10 minutes (I hadn't even read one full page of my book), the nurse opened the door and said "Miss Sarah" (I thought). She was a different nurse than the one he usually had, but this one might just be filling in for her (I thought). I also noticed that her badge didn't have my doctor's name......nope, I didn't say a word! They were probably just helping each other out (I thought).
She had weighed me, measured my tallness (made me grow 1/2 inch......that, I questioned!), checked my blood pressure, and questioned why my heart rate was so low. About that time, the door opened and the "regular" nurse looked in and said "You've got my patient!" The 'fill-in nurse' got a panicked look on her face and said "No, I don't!" Sherry (my doc's nurse) said (very emphatically) "Yes, you do!" At that point, I spoke up and said "I'm Sarah Gorrell" and she said "I called Tara!" Sarah/Tara, it all sounds the same. (As it turns out, Tara was a new patient so this nurse had no idea who I was supposed to be!)
As we were leaving the examining room to go to my doc's room, the other doctor (had a Hispanic name but looked Asian), came in looking very confused. Where was his "new" patient going? Maybe the "new" nurse explained, I just smiled and kept going. I had already caused enough confusion for one day.
Finally, I saw my own doctor, and his first question was "Did you try to change your name?" Do they tell everything!!!
When he heard I had been in the hospital with heart issues, he said "I didn't cause it." I responded with the first thing that came to mind "they said you might have". Now, he looked panicked....so I quickly said "I'm joking!" I don't think he has much of a sense of humor, he didn't smile.
I'm still going to blame the weatherman it never did get cool enough for that winter sweater........
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