nodding

The past week has been so crazy at the clinic. Today was even worse. We saw the same amount of patients today as we did on a busy weekday. We were supposed to close at 2pm but finished with the last one at 3:30pm.

On days like this, I need to be very efficient. This is very difficult since most of my patients require an interpreter. I do ok by myself with Hispanic patients, but we also have a lot of immigrants from other countries like Burma and Nepal.

My sister dread the Nepalese. We don't even ask our PA to see them. I see them. They are very nice people, but it seems like most of them want to get the most out of their medical benefits. I guess, from where they used to live, it was extremely difficult to get medical attention. Their lists of medical problems are endless. And they are afraid that if they don't get treatment for every thing in one visit, they won't get it at all. We always address every issue our patients have before we leave the exam room, but they're still afraid.

Most of them have pain at one location or another on their body. And they always say "paining". And, another thing, they don't nod. Actually, they nod to the side; they bend their heads to the shoulder to indicate "yes". Sometimes, they bend their heads to the right; sometimes they bend their heads to the left. Sometimes, they bend their heads to the right then to the left. Sometimes, they repeatedly do it. I have yet to figure out what their "no" is. And, I'm afraid to ask. They usually just say "no".

Well, sometimes, I think it's kind of funny when they nod like that, especially when they do it rhythmically like a dancing motion. For every symptom I asked them, they nodded. There was a family of four today. They all nodded to my questions like sychronized swimmers at the Olympics. They nodded, and they nodded. They never stopped. I was exhausted. Not today, I thought. There were so many patients. I didn't have time to sit there watching them dance with their nods. I couldn't take so much of their nods any more. Today was hard.

On another note, tonight, Jim came to hear me sing for a benefit. I'm happy he was there.