My Appointment

The handsome man enters the examining room with two students in tow. He introduces them as such and asks if I object to their presence. I say “no” while wondering why a couple of high school students would be shadowing a Cardiologist around. Wait, they are med school students? No way. They look like babies. Speaking of which, I look again at the handsome Doctor and ask him how old he is, a legitimate question to ask someone who will be soon tinkering around with your heart. He vaguely replies, “mid-thirties”, which means he’s probably 31…younger than my son. This is a good thing, I’m thinking. Steady hands. He’s Indian. I have trouble pronouncing his name. All the nurses in the office tell me he is the best, that I will be in very talented hands. I believe them.

I had open heart surgery 21 years ago when I was 45 years old. This issue is unrelated to that and not nearly as serious. Still, if you have ever had your chest opened before, the thought of revisiting the scene of that jolting trauma is not something I look forward to. This time there will be no 7 inch scar, no horrifically painful recovery and hopefully no hospital stay. This time I will be in and out the same day. A friend of mine who recently had this same procedure said the bill was $200,000, about what my open heart surgery mitral valve repair and five days in the hospital cost back in the day. Thank God for Medicare. I’ll pay 300 bucks.

I’ll be glad when it’s over. I don’t like thinking about my heart. I much prefer that my heart would mind its own business and pump blood like it’s supposed to. When you start thinking too much about any internal organ it becomes hard to stop thinking about them. Every hiccup feels like a crisis. It’s stupid to think this way and a huge overreaction, but it is what it is. The irrational often overpowers the rational when it comes to visits to the Cardiologist.

But my young, handsome doctor with the tongue-twisting name seems to have everything well in hand. 

I just wish we were talking about my appendix instead of the heart.