Monday, February 5th, 2024
The past few days have been good. I’m finally able to sit down without significant pain, which means I can drive (yay!) and sit down long enough to write (double yay!).
The past few days worth of writing time have been devoted to my upcoming article in the February Issue of the Vashon Loop, which is all about (wait for it…) trash cans! Trust me. It’s actually very intriguing and I’m feeling really good about how its come out after at least 15 interviews, plenty of background research, and a ton of edits from my partner in community journalism, Jane Valencia. You rock, Jane!
I also want to express how much I appreciate my medical providers. In America, maybe elsewhere, I think the exchange of money between patients and medical providers creates a barrier. We tend to think they are selling us a latte, when they are carefully drilling out a cavity and creating a new filling for us. We feel irritation or stress when we’re told that we have to get and pay for x-rays, even though we don’t want them, completely missing the point that our Dentist is obligated to do so by malpractice insurance because if they don’t and we develop a dental issue under their care, we can sue them (and we’ll win). So, some of us (like the man seated in the hygienist chair next to me, storm out while shouting that we (and our son!) won’t be getting our teeth cleaned here in the future! Yeah, good luck buddy — you won’t find a dentist willing to take you in as a new patient without a full set of x-rays, which will cost a lot more. Sigh.
The truth is, when my long-time dermatologist checked my body and found an abnormal mole on the back of my thigh, her face turned white. When she sliced it off and then called me with the extremely good news that it was not (yet) fully cancerous, her relief matched (and maybe exceeded) my own, because who wants to see a patient they care about sicken and die?
A few weeks ago, I went in for a cleaning and then a filling. I stopped my dentist as she turned to head to the next patient and, looking her in the eye, I thanked her and her assistant for their kindness and willingness to learn these skills. When I had my second, deeper punch biopsy done at my dermatologist office, I went out (while still gratefully numb) and bought a beautiful card, pouring my gratitude for their sincerity into it, and saying that I see and feel the realness of our relationship. I’m pretty sure I made their week.
Thank goodness for the people of the world who are willing to do the jobs we don’t, so we can benefit from their effort and expertise, and most especially when they do so for the sake of improving our health and saving our lives.
Our fridge died, on the day my housemate and I returned from Costco. Yeah, that was an interesting coincidence. She helped me empty the fridge, and my other housemate helped my son and a friend move the old fridge out of the house. Now, we all wait for the new one to be delivered (it’s taking awhile), but my housemates are patience personified and good friends. Thank goodness for the good people who come into our lives!
K-dramas. I enjoy them immensely. Many thanks to all the folks in Korea who bring these lovely stories to screens around the world. If you can make us smile, cry, laugh and remember what it feels like to love…you are doing something worthwhile and beautiful. Thank you.
By the way…here’s the new fridge to be. There are three cooks in the household, and we have a chest freezer in the garage, SO we decided to get a “fridge only” model! We are all super excited to have this much fridge space!
And, two of us are planning to have a Korean Shelf with delicious miscellaneous tidbits that can we served up with any main course (tofu, pork, fish, chicken, beef) — a la Korean Style!