A visit to the doctor's office

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I went to a doctor's office on Tuesday. This particular office still practices the art of making people wait in their cars until they can be shown to an examination room.

I arrived about 20 minutes prior to the appointment and called them about 15 minutes prior to the appointment to check in. I think that they told me that they would call me when they were ready for me, but the connection was scratchy and they were hard to understand. It was in the mid 90s or so, I think.

So I waited. And waited. And waited. Much of the time, I was listening to a CD of the old radio show, Tales of the Texas Rangers. After about an hour of waiting, I walked across and down the street and got a Dr Pepper and then returned to my car. I read Scientific American for a while and then dozed off.

I think one of the employees finished for the day and was leaving and saw me waiting. She got concerned in a big hurry, came over, woke me up, and asked why I was there.

They all seemed highly embarrassed to have forgotten me.

When making my next appointment, they wanted me to come back in a month, but I just had to rub it in and so I insisted on two months so it wouldn't be so hot outside while waiting.

In the UK you have to wait outside in long lines of people, even when it's still really hot! They make you wait ages here before you're seen. Although when my mum took me last month we weren't forgotten. I think it's terrible they forgot you.

Did you feel like you couldn't ring them a second time and inquire? I'm asking because I get that feeling too. I take people very literally and I would have been waiting just like you, doing what I was told. I would have resisted calling them again or going in uninvited because I wouldn't want to seem pushy.

My doctors don't do in-person appointments at all yet, except for very limited cases. Everything is done by telephone or video conference. My dentist makes me wait in the car like you described, but I'm so anxious about a similar situation happening that I don't go at all.

The last time I went to the doctor they did all the covid protocol outside , temp check and questions.They let you in one at a time.The staff was all masked except for the nurse practitioner ,who entered the room I was in with a bare face and then tried to shake my hand.I don’t want to go back for my checkup in October.

The appointment was with a dermatologist. His office is 160 mile round trip and is open only one day a week. Any other time I would have to go to his main office which is a 240 mile round trip from home. In either case, driving there and back takes far more time than the visit or the wait.

I had to drive 500 miles round trip for a dermatologist appointment on one occasion, but that was pretty unusual. It was the nearest dermatologist my insurance at that time would cover. Now that I'm on Medicare, I have more options.

I did wonder whether they had forgotten about me and thought about going to a nearby farm and ranch store or a nearby boot shop with the idea that I would just drive back if they called. But I wasn't in that big of a hurry and I didn't actually need to go to the farm and ranch store.

Also, I had a slightly late lunch and so it would be a while before I would be ready for supper. One of my favorite restaurants is near the dermatologist office and so I'd end up waiting somewhere anyway. With the wait in the parking lot and a little shopping after the appointment, it was the perfect time to go get the daily special (enchiladas with red sauce, a fried egg on top of the enchiladas and a lettuce and tomato salad on top of the fried egg, and with refried beans and fried rice to the side). I couldn't believe that I managed to finish the entire plate of food.

Am now hungry.

I had a late lunch today -- a hamburger made with Waygu ground beef.

Looking on the Internet, it looks like Waygu ground beef typically goes about $10 to $20 per pound. An old friend of mine who I grew up with raises Waygu cattle and I can get it from him, in quantity, for about $3.69 per pound in individual one pound frozen packages, and he will even drop it off for me. Or I can go to the grocery store and get ordinary ground beef for $3.69 per pound. It's truly a no-brainer.

For supper, I'm planning on making Waygu tacos.

That’s a new one.I had to look that breed up.Where I live it’s mostly black angus cattle.
Sadly I tend to have high cholesterol so beef is a occasional treat.

It's the Japanese beef that is very highly marbled.

With regular ground beef, much of the the fat melts out and into the pan. With the Waygu, it pretty much stays in the meat. When you cook a Waygu hamburger patty, you basically end up with just whatever oil you had in the pan to start with. The fats in the meat stay there.

When making hamburgers, I always prefer to form the patties very loosely to leave air pockets in the meat for the fats to accumulate. Then, after cooking, I let them rest for a few minutes while I wash all the cooking utensils, to let the fats in those air pockets solidify so that they don't run out and make the hamburger soggy. The result is a very good hamburger even with regular ground beef.

With the Waygu ground beef, it seems that you can compress them all you want -- squeeze out all the air pockets -- and not let them rest at all and they are still great.

Some good burger tips there.
I might cheat on my low fat diet and buy a pack of beef at the store and fire up the grill this weekend.There are some tomatoes on the garden that are just about ready.