A Visit To The Doctor

A Visit To The Doctor

I needed another bag of soil to top up some of the plants and also to plant the yellow rose that Ciro had brought back from the tianguis on Saturday. I also needed to get a pot for it. We decided on Sunday to take the car to get the dirt and pot, so I was in the process of making a grocery list when Irene came to the door. They had bought a Jasmine plant for themselves at the tianguis on Saturday and she had it in her hand. She told me that it was for me, I told her I would pay for it and she wouldn't let me. I thanked her and she left. I can't quite figure this out as Ciro had been showing it to me and telling me that Irene had wanted one because of how nice they smell. Then the next day she is giving it to me, I don't know. So now we needed 2 pots and saucers. The pots here are not sold with the saucers and the only place that I have found the proper saucers for the pots, they have been as expensive as the pots. I have just been buying plastic dish pans to go under the pots as I don't want the excess water running all over the patio.

The yellow rose and the jasmine plant.

It seems like it is always a Sunday when we end up taking the car out for these errands. Why, I don't know, as that is the busiest day of the week for the big grocery store as most people are off work. It is not like we have a busy schedule, I think it is just that we tend to forget what day it is until we get there. This retirement thing is tough!! We got the soil from the nursery and proceeded to Soriana, which as we expected was busy! As we had the car, I stocked up on some of the heavier things so that I wouldn't have to carry them on the bus. I needed flour, I had asked Roy to get some one day and he had come back with a bag of lard, which I already had. I had gone uptown for some other things that day and realised when I got uptown that I hadn't shown him the flour bag so that he would know what it looked like. He doesn't know the spanish words for things like that. So I was wondering what he would get. I told him that I thought he did it on purpose so that I would have to do more baking. Ha ha. So, on Sunday I got a couple of small bags of flour and forgot to get yeast, oh well.

I have been intending to go to the doctor for awhile now and decided that yesterday was the day that I would try that. I needed chocolate chips for cookies, Roy has been mentioning them and the last couple of times that Alan has been up, I think he has been looking for them also, as his face kind of dropped when I gave him a lollipop instead of cookies. From the directions for the doctors office it seemed that it was only a couple of blocks away from where I get the chocolate chips. Two birds with one stone! I have never been to the doctor here in Mexico, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I found the office easily, (he also has a small hospital attached) and asked the receptionist about an appointment. Yes, she said, you will be after the man in the hat. OK, I sat down to wait. From the speed that people were coming in and out of the room, I realised that this doctor must be taking time to talk to the people. No in and out in 5 minutes like in Canada, this is a good thing, I thought. The receptionist by the way did not take my name or any medical history or anything else. There were lots of people waiting and I decided that I would be there most of the day, until I noticed that everyone else that was there was in a family group. I was the only person there by myself. People were friendly and there was lots of conversation going on, which they included me in. There was a cute little boy sitting beside me that everyone was getting a kick out of. He asked where his dad was and his grandma pointed at an elderly man waiting and said, he's right there. No, the little boy, said that's not my daddy. This went back and forth for abit with everyone getting a good laugh out of the little fellow. I gave him a candy and he didn't seem to like it. I asked him if it was dulce (sweet) and he said, no it's malo (bad, no good), his grandma stuck it in her mouth and told him that yes, it's sweet. He insisted it was bad and kept putting it in and out of his mouth and getting all sticky before she finally took it away from him. That kept everyone laughing for awhile more. Time passed slowly as there were no magazines or anything to look at other than a couple of large paintings on the walls. There was a huge television in the corner; but it was not turned on. I read all the diplomas on the walls, the doctor had trained in England with some other courses taken in Arizona. When it was my turn the doctor ushered me into the exam room himself as he had done with everyone else. I explained why I was there and he chatted with me for awhile before taking my blood pressure. He then went and phoned the pharmacy and came back with the information that I had asked for, we chatted about something else and he again went and looked something up and phoned the pharmacy. When he came back we chatted some more and he wrote out the prescription. He told me which pharmacy he had phoned so that I would know that they had the 2 things. During all this, he never asked my name or took any written medical history. He did ask lots of questions about my medical history; but nothing was written down. At the end of the visit he came back out with me, told the receptionist the charge and ushered in the next patient. A very different visit from in Canada; but very nice, as I didn't feel rushed, he took time to listen to what I had to say and was very helpful and informative.

After the doctors visit, I went and got the chocolate chips and then to the pharmacy for the prescriptions and then to the store for the saucers for the plant pots. This store was very busy and the lady behind me was showing me the santa claus hat she was buying for one of her children/grandchildren. It had long white braids on it and little red plastic stars on it. I showed her the switch and told her that there were lights in the stars. She hadn't realised that; but when we hit the switch nothing happened. She went back to the counter to pick out another one. She returned with another one and it also didn't work, there was a clerk right there so she asked her about it. The clerk either said that the batteries were missing or dead, I am not sure which, so the lady went back to the counter again. This time when she returned and showed me the hat, I showed her that one of the wires was hanging totally unattached. She rolled her eyes and returned to the counter again. This time she returned with one with no lights, she had given up on them, she said and laughed. A fun way to pass the time standing in line. After finishing my shopping I debated going home or heading to the bank as I was getting low on funds and it is almost rent time. I decided to do the banking and got on the bus, to go to the bank that gives out a higher limit per day at their ATM. I did my banking and caught another bus to go home, I was getting tired so decided to be lazy and do a transfer (they actually don't do transfers here, you just get off and catch a different bus). When the first bus stopped at one of the hospitals I noticed that stopped right in front of us was the bus that would take me to within 1 block of home. I hopped off and hopped on the other one and was home shortly. I was too lazy to pot the plants when I got home, so need to do that today. I used all the cheese making supper last night, so I should go and get some more of that today to. Instead of painting yesterday while I was gone, Roy decided to dust, and mop the floors for me, it was nice to come home to a clean house. He may get back to the painting today, maybe.