At least, according to my husband.
SEXY, RIGHT?? (Kevin routinely “compliments” me like that – I’m used to it. Also? Tough. My hair. Deal).
I got a trim and a color this past Saturday. My hair is even shorter than it is in my profile picture you see in the right-hand column. It’s my fault, really. I allowed the stylist to talk, and talk, and talk and whack, whack and whack and by the time I really noticed how much she was taking off and on the verge of saying something, she stopped, stepped back and said, “Is that short enough?”
I nearly shouted “YES” back at her.
So yeah. It’s short. And it’s dark. Like almost black. At least, it feels that dark to me, but really, it’s pretty close to my natural hair color. Which is what I wanted, actually. The stylist used a different type of color on me this time – it’s supposed to cover gray better. *shrug* I don’t know, I can’t really tell a difference, but everyone I worked with today said something to me.
They liked it. And they thought the shortness (because I can’t really say the “length” since there isn’t a “length” to it) looked good on me. One gal thought my new “do” made me look younger.
I’LL TAKE IT!
Let’s put it this way, my hair is SO short, that the stylist had to use an electric haircutter-razor thing to shave off the tiny hairs on my neck.
I know! But you know? I like it. It’s super easy to take care of and it’ll last me a good seven, possibly eight weeks before I feel like it needs another trim. (My hair grows insanely fast. Nearly every stylist I go comments on that).
So I went to work feeling self-conscious, but left work feeling pretty good because so many people made positive comments. I have no idea if they really felt that way, but … DON’T CARE. It made my day.
I have a public service announcement:
Healthcare clinics are not emergency rooms.
I talked to a patient’s husband today, and he was concerned about the amount of pain his wife was in.
Understandable. This is especially hard for men because it’s an instinct for them to “fix” things and they want to make everything better. When they can’t, they get frustrated.
I get that. I understand that.
However. We are a clinic. Our doctors are certainly in the business of fixing people, but if it’s an emergency and requires immediate attention, that’s what an emergency room is for. We schedule patients and our doctors rely on this schedule when they see patients. They rarely, RARELY, work patients in because they are in extreme pain.
Everyone who sees our doctors are in pain – get in line.
I try not to be annoyed with people who throw an absolute hissy fit about not being able to be seen the next day, but let’s be real – we’re not an emergency room. If a patient goes to the emergency room and our doctors take a look at whatever test they do in the emergency room and determine that the patient needs to be seen in the clinic, trust me, WE MAKE IT HAPPEN.
But the norm? Is to make an appointment for people who are in equal, if not more, pain.
I had a patient ask me how she was supposed to KNOW if she needed to go to the emergency room.
No one KNOWS when to go to the emergency room, there’s no hard and fast rule, everyone is different. Every situation is different. Everyone’s pain tolerance is different. You just listen to your body and you usually know, deep down, when something is not right. If you’ve reached that deep-down part of you that knows something is wrong and you feel scared because it FEELS wrong, then for the love of God, go to the emergency room.
That’s why it’s called an emergency room – it’s an emergency. We can’t do much for you in a clinic setting, we’re not physically equipped to handle emergencies – we’re equipped to provide a setting for the patient to speak with the doctor about a standing issue and nothing more.
I can understand why doctors become de-sensitized to the whole process … because there’s just so much of it. EVERYONE is in pain. EVERYONE wants to be fixed. And though our doctors are awesome, not everyone CAN be fixed surgically. Many patients can be fixed if they are just willing to make some lifestyle changes.
But alas, society today relies too much on quick fixes – whether that’s a pill, or a surgical procedure to correct whatever is wrong or not working properly.
So please. Do not treat clinics like your personal emergency room because it’s not that we don’t want to help you, it’s because we’re not physically equipped to do so.
Write From Karen 