To begin: I’m not a very patient listener when people discuss their ailments. I’ll wager no one can compete with a fellow teacher and a good friend when telling of her medical woes. It was always on the line of, &uot;My doctor said he had never seen such a serious sickness,&uot; or such a large growth, or such a high temp. According to her she had the &uot;most&uot; of everything or the biggest. I must say this is a real New York habit. Many of my friends had it. I also found it very common among my fellow Jewish teachers. Under ordinary circumstances I’m not too pleased to listen to people’s woes, but to hear the biggest, most serious, unsolvable I’ll invest the time.

So, after reading the above it brings me to mine. Let’s go on my trip. Won’t cost you a penny. To begin: I had a foot bothering me. Very painful but not a clue as to how it got that way. A staff member being concerned called my doctor. Message: come in any day up to noon. A dear friend was to take me. Over we went and a physician’s assistant was to see me. A Mr. not a Dr. He asked doctorly questions, felt and prodded my foot acted doctorly and sent me for an x-ray. Wasn’t that what the doctor would do? X-ray was the beginning of a series of lying on the table. Looking at the x-ray came with Dr. and off I was sent for a scan (whole body) for bone density and, hopefully, no osteoporosis. Heavens no!

Back with that – since nothing was said I guess I was OK. My foot seemed to be forgotten. But no – now we go to a new area and to an orthopedic surgeon. No table this time. I sat and he sat. We talked. He squeezed my foot (it hurt) and now we graduate and get scheduled for a visit to Obici for a bone scan.

That story in another column. I seem destined for tables. Is someone trying to tell me something? I’ve been on more tables than any well-known dessert.

Oh well!

Florence Arena is a resident of Hillcrest Retirement Center and a regular News-Herald columnist.