Today after school I played translator for a friend whose Italian is weak and needed to communicate with his doctor.  P was feeling very poorly yesterday so he went to the emergency room in his local hospital.  A nurse on duty scoured the hospital and found an English speaking doctor to examine him but unfortunately the guy was nuts.  P was in the examining room for an hour but left with nothing more than a prescription for antacids.  The doctor spent the entire time talking about his own bouts of depression and how 2 years of prayer had helped him get over his girlfriend who left him 10 years ago!  I'm thinking if you're still talking to complete strangers about it 10 years later, you're not over it.  Anyhow, no tests, no meds, no nothing except a suggestion to start praying?  Ergo the visit to his doctor with me today.  It was a little odd but pretty funny.  The doctor directed all of his conversation and questions to me and anytime P tried to talk he shushed him.  I felt like a mother with her young child except this child is 60 and bearded.  We broke into giggles when I had to tell him to provide a stool sample or ask him about his personal daily habits.  P leaned over and said that this had certainly brought our friendship to a new level.  I did mention that if the doctor was going to do a prostate exam I was leaving the room.  That was something I was not inclined to share.  We'll have a follow up next week when the results from P's tests have come back.

I seem to have spent an enormous amount of time on medical issues this past year.  Between various illnesses, my own and others, dental appointments, eye appointments, minor surgeries, and tests, tests and more tests, I am sincerely tired of it all.  After months of waiting I am going in to have the chicken-fat lump removed from my leg next Monday.  That'll be a treat.  That same afternoon we're back at the orthodontist.  Tuesday is an appointment with the eye doctor for Grace who now needs glasses from spending hours daily on those teeny tiny devices from Hell.  GP and I are just starting to fall apart and I'm still fixing Grace up for adulthood.  I'm going to bed.  xxoo me