I should have included one more thing on my last post. I’ve been working on resolving my tendency to get UTI’s, which is not interesting to write about here except to say I’m pretty sure this is what would have killed me if I had been on this planet before the advent of modern medicine. Or who knows maybe it would have been suicide because probably I wouldn’t be able to tolerate it long enough for it to kill me.
So anyway, recently I was in my primary care doctor’s waiting room. This clinic has various locations throughout Austin. I’ve been going there ever since we moved to Austin. I’ve been to various locations—and they are all very “sketch”. The rooms often feel repurposed or like a temporary, chaotic clinic space, the walls are covered with various health awareness tips, and most people speak English as a second language. I haven’t looked into it but maybe this is where people with little or no health coverage go? I’ve also sometimes had annoyances with the back-end processes, but I have a feeling this could happen at any clinic. The thing that keeps me loyal is MY DOCTOR! She actually listens to me and takes what I’m saying seriously. She’s like a normal person! This is invaluable of course as you all know. I haven’t seen loads of doctors in my life (yet) but I have seen them be dismissive of my comments and just so arrogant! Besides, it seems to me that doctors at clinics which see such variety of patients if anything are probably better than doctors in privileged areas!
Sorry, that was tangential. So I’m sitting in the waiting room and a cop comes in and double checks with the front desk that this is “the right place”—I totally understand having to do this because as I described, the clinic feels so sketch and confusing and not even clearly marked!
So a few minutes later, there’s two cops escorting an apparent inmate into the room! I say inmate because she had a chain connecting her ankles! (Also during checkin I heard mention “jail”). So after a bit extra discussion to get her checked in, the inmate and the one lady cop fell into normal conversation and really, just like regular people in a waiting room. I was thinking, is that whole chain really necessary? How do you even walk with that on? Seems more like a scarlet letter inspired thing than actually the best way to ensure security, you know? So anway, it was kind of an eye opener and weird. Maybe this is a Texas-specific thing?
No pics because obviously I don’t go around taking pictures in the doctor’s office.