I hate going to the doctor these days.

The problem is I hate waiting and most of the doctors that I go to make me wait an inordinately long time. Often well over an hour.

I try to reduce the wait time by making early appointments on the theory that the earlier the appointment, the less time the doctor has to fall behind.

Now I especially hate going to the ophthalmologist. Not only can’t I spell it without the aid of a spell checker, but I really hate the drops they put in my eyes to dilate my pupils, which take all day to recover.

In recent years with the pandemic the wait times at the uh, eye doctor have been a bit better because there have been lot fewer people in the waiting room, but this year they seem to have returned to a full house. Nearly every chair in the waiting room was filled.

Still, my appointment was for 9:30, and my doctor only started seeing patients at 9:00, so I assumed the wait time couldn’t be too bad. 

I was called by the technician for the preliminary examination just a few minutes after 9:30. He asked the usual questions and had me read off the eye charts, etc. Then he administered the eye drops and took me to the machine that scanned my retinas.

Then I returned to the waiting room to await the doctor.

About five minutes past ten someone else called me into an examining room and said the doctor would be there shortly.

I could hear voices in what sounded like the the next room. They were loud. It sounded like three people who hadn’t seen each other in years who were just getting reacquainted.

Did I mention that they were loud?

They went on like that for about fifteen minutes while I sat there waiting for my doctor to show up. It was now 10:20.

Finally, I saw those three people walk past and they were saying goodbye, and one of them turned out to be my doctor.

He entered the examining room, examined my eyes, and was done in about five minutes.

I wish he’d do his socializing on his own time.