Doctors like 'Show and Tell'

At the risk of sounding gross and morbid, I'll tell you what I did today.
I brought my mom to her foot doctor since her left big toenail became ingrown, and her toe became swollen.

Looking at my mom's toe, the doctor said there was pus, and he needed to do minor surgery and cut part of the nail.

He said it was just going to take 10-15 minutes, and since we were there already, my mom agreed to have it done right there in his little clinic.

I backed away, but my mom called me and asked me to hold her hand. I saw the doctor preparing to administer anesthesia by injection, and when he put it in--can't tell if through the nail or the skin--my mom yelped in pain and squeezed my hand tightly.

Then the doctor proceeded to operate. He told me, "Look, there's the pus. Do you see it?"

I looked at the toe from where I was as I held my mom's hand and for once I am thankful I am nearsighted as I cannot see what got him excited.

"There, do you see it?" he asked again.

I looked at the toe again and can only see a blurred bloody mess, and told the doctor, "Eww. That's why I am not a doctor. I can't stand the sight of blood." He smiled.

The operation over, we sat on chairs while he wrote the name of an antibiotic on a prescription pad. "Oh, I forgot to show you the nail!" he told me.

"Please, doc, don't bother," I said, and he grinned.

What is it with doctors and their love for "show and tell?" :)

When I had my appendectomy in 1998, the surgeon called for my mom to go the operating room. My mom, very nervous then, thought I had a heart attack while on the operating table or something. It turned out the surgeon just wanted to show her my severed appendix.

Then when my mom had gall bladder surgery a few years ago, the surgeon called for me to go to the operating room. And there, the surgeon, still in scrubs, showed me a pink/purple (can't remember the exact color now) gall bladder in a little kidney-shaped basin, pinching it this way and that, saying, "See? This is what we took out of your mom." I was speechless. And horrified.

My mom was wheeled into her room a few hours after that along with a little "souvenir" from the surgeon: a 'stone' the size of a one peso coin placed in a little bottle -- the gallstone that caused my mom much pain.
It must be their love for science that makes doctors want to show off unhealthy body parts, severed or not.
As for me, the non-scientist, I'll take the doctor's word when he says what needs to be taken out has been taken out. No need for proof, doc.

BOOK OF THE WEEK: Since February, our church has been discussing love--what it means to love like Jesus did. The campaign was called 40 Days of Love, and the principles were based on the Bible and the book The Relationship Principles of Jesus by Tom Holladay. Don't let the book title intimidate you; the book is very practical, and a worthy read. It encourages readers to place the highest value on relationships, to communicate from the heart, and to treat others the way you want them to treat you.

VERSE OF THE WEEK: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." -- Isaiah 55:8-9