Impressions

A couple of weeks ago we were at the eye doctor's. Before checking in for the appointment we made a stop at the restroom in the hallway. There was a man with his wife and the wife was using a walker. She went on into the women's bathroom and I was talking with him. He was frustrated that she was losing her vision. They see the same eye doctor that my husband sees.

He commented that they were thinking of trying a different doctor. He referred to our common doctor as not being easy to talk to and of being arrogant.

We've been seeing the doctor for about 5 years now and don't really have any problems with him. The frustration comes from having a spouse who is losing his vision to damage from glaucoma and at this time there isn't really anything that can be done to correct it.

We then went in for our appointment. A week before our scheduled appointment we received a call saying our doctor was out sick and would we mind seeing his associate. That was fine with us. When we were in the exam room before the doctor came in the assistant was talking with us. She was telling us how sick the doctor was and said, "you do know he has leukemia, right?" We did not know that. She says he's been battling it for years and usually when he has problems he does chemo and then comes back to work.

With tears in her eyes she said to us, "he was here at work one day and then unable to come in the next day and we don't know if he'll be coming back". That was very sad to hear. We had no idea he was going through those struggles.

Just goes to show that you never really know what someone else may be going through. If their behavior isn't up to your standards, give them the benefit of the doubt.