For sixteen long years, Mildred suffered from every illness known to mankind, or at least it’s what she’s told doctors, friends, and just about anybody who could spare 40 minutes of their precious time.
Harold always drove Mildred to her appointments and occasionally went into the office area with her. He knew her stories and ailments as well as she did. If she ever missed an appointment, Harold could fill the doctor in without her being around.
Once Harold analyzed Mildred’s maladies as being “all in the head”. He mentioned it only once because a week later he was still repenting.
Unfortunately, though, Mildred never trusted female physicians so her options were split in half. She said they were more interested in gossip than treating patients.
“Nurse, could you cancel all my appointments for the next hour please?” Dr. Renfro said as she peeked her head into the reception area.
“Odd,” Harold thought, as he heard the inter office interaction from the waiting room. “There’s not supposed to be a lady doctor here. Was that for my Mildred?”
Forty minutes later, Dr. Renfro ushered Mildred out into the waiting room and said, “Remember what I said, Mildred. We need to get you to keep taking your blood pressure meds and vitamins. We’ll see you in six months.”
Dr. Renfro smiled at Harold and waved good bye, the door to the exam rooms gently closing behind her.
“Let’s go, Harold. This is a great place. These people are wonderful. I’ll tell you all about it in the car.”
As expected, Mildred told the story in 3D detail, with at least 20 “and then she said,” statements.
“And I knew exactly when I could trust her, Harold. You know I don’t trust female doctors easily. But when she went into that reception area and canceled her appointments, I knew she had compassion and wanted to hear me through. No one’s done that before, Harold. It’s like she really cared. Imagine that, canceling appointments for lil ol’ me.”
“Mm hmm,” Harold said, deciding not to reveal the sleight of hand Dr. Renfro pulled on his Dearest.
As an astute observer of people, Harold noticed neither of the two receptionists had picked up the phone to cancel the upcoming appointments. Emails wouldn’t have worked with on such short notice. Phone calls were ideal for quick cancellations but none were made.
Or maybe Dr. Gloria Renfro had run into a few dozen Mildreds in her career and would let them ramble until there was nothing left to ramble about, thereby gaining lifelong patients.
Harold was betting was on the latter.
Listening is sometimes the best treatment.