“If you do not have control over your mouth, you will not have control over your future.”―
This morning I went to the medical clinic to setup a series of tests that my physician ordered for me after my annual physical examination of Monday. I had fasted from 10 p.m. the night before and was ready for the simple blood and urine tests that could be conducted right away by the lab technicians.
The number of people sitting in the clinic’s waiting area was not too congested and so I waited my turn to be admitted to the reception desk, handed the attendant my form and took a seat. It started off as an uneventful morning.
A man who had taken his seat in the waiting room before me started to sneeze. Once, twice, three times. His sneezes became a going concern after the sixth episode and so rather than sit there and curse this person for having a sneezing attack I stood up, grabbed a box of Kleenex tissues and walked over to him.
I handed him the box and told him to take a few of the tissues and sneeze into them and not his COVID 19 mask. I handed him a fresh mask ( I always carry a five pack of these in my jacket pocket in case I run into this type of situation.
He said thank you and then proceeded to sneeze into his mask again. I also told him to adjust his mask so that his nose was also covered. The top of the mask was under his nose and over his lower lip.
After five minutes of this activity one of the nurse technicians approached him and put him at the top of the patient list to have his tests processed. She noticed that his sneezes were becoming a concern for the patients ( especially the seniors) sitting in the same area as he was. She did the right thing after five minutes. Hooray.
In a way he had not “lied” to the nurse stationed at the front door entranceway. She was asking everyone if they ha d a cold or runny nose. The question did not cover runaway sneezing attacks.
In this time of acute viral contamination it is better to take some action rather than sit there and silently curse the offending party.
The life you save may be your own or a loved one.
THE MAIN AISLE (c) 2023 
I’ve had a couple of medical appointments and each time I was asked to arrive on time, not late and not early, and to wait outside until someone collected me.
No one is allowed to sit and wait in the waiting room. I much prefer this method of waiting, it’s far safer waiting outside in the fresh air than it is to wait in a room with other people.
The staff wore PPE and the patients wore masks, everyone used hand gel upon entering the building, at one appointment my temperature was taken in the doorway before I was allowed inside. I was impressed with the whole set up.
It will be interesting to see what the set up is like at the hospital when my appointment comes through.
Let’s hope all your test results are clear, medical waiting rooms are the worst place to be at the best of times, let alone in the middle of a pandemic. 🙂
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I hope your hospital appointment will be a safe, optimistic and good one for you. xx
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