(8:30 a.m.) Here we
are again, another day of torture in the ophthalmologist’s office. As usual,
the 10 x 15 feet waiting room is packed with patients. Today my grandmother has
a follow-up appointment, in which I hope the doctor tells her the day of the
right eye surgery.
(9:30 a.m.) During the
last month, my grandmother has been wearing sunglasses every time she goes out.
She looks like an odd version of Stevie Wonder.
(10:30 a.m.) Medical
appointments are like therapy for my grandmother. She happily talks with the
other old patients about their ailments. My grandmother and the other patients
opine* about medical conditions as if they were experts ready to be
cross-examined in a courtroom.
(11:00 a.m.) Today a
crazy old woman is showing all her scars. In a car accident, she broke her
right knee; at another time she felt down the stairs and ruined her right arm;
her right eyelid is dropping; she can’t move her left wrist because…(I miss the
reason); and on and on. I hate that. Who cares?
(Noon) We enter the
doctor’s room. As in the previous eye exam, my grandmother is doing a great job
discerning the letters on the wall. The doctor projects some letters on the
wall, and my grandmother hits the target. The doctor concludes that her left
eye is healed and schedules the right eye surgery for the first week of
October.
(12:30 p.m.) Finally,
we leave the doctor’s office. My grandmother is full of energy but I am
drained. I hope this odyssey ends in two months.
To be continued.
*What’s the word in
English for “opinar”?
(11:00 a.m.) Today a crazy old woman is showing all her scars. In a car accident, she broke her right knee; at another time she felL down the stairs and ruined* her right arm; her right eyelid is droOping; she can’t move her left wrist because…(I miss the reason); and on and on. I hate that. Who cares?
ReplyDeleteActually, "opine" is the perfect word here. It's not common, but it really communicates that they are expressing opinions, not facts, and even hints that they are doing so in an annoying way.
Your vocabulary is excellent. I like "torture", "packed", "follow-up", "therapy", "ailments", "discerning", "drained", "odyssey".
*better: messed up/permanently damaged. I don't think of body parts as being "ruined".
Thanks Matt!
ReplyDeleteOhh! What a mistake. I didn't know that "dropping" is a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteObviously you were understood with "dropping", but "drooping" is the better word. Not only eyelids, but also flowers, power lines, branches of trees, and morale can droop. It's a good verb.
ReplyDelete