Connie Foot Photo #25

 The appointment this week was for an apligraf, which Connie has had before.  For those keeping track, she had the apligraf sewn on by the Foot God back in March.  You can read about it here.  This visit the apligraf was being shared with Connie by a guy who happened to be a patient of another doctor so Connie as attended to by this doctor, Dr. G.L.  The Foot God is not there on Tuesdays or Thursdays.

It had been a long day before we even reached the office.  Connie had an early morning dermatology appointment where I got to watch two lesions get sliced off and sent for biopsies.  After that we did the weekly grocery shopping, unloaded, had some lunch, and then got back into the car to head to the foot appointment.

Each doctor in this office has his own staff so the Foot God's staff was not there.  Dr. G.L.'s staff had several male nurses, and our nurse for the appointment was Nurse Robert.  He was a good looking, caring, and very helpful young man.  He took us into a room with a window from where we could watch the thunderstorm rolling in.

Nurse Robert took off the bandages and left a moist dressing around the foot so that it wasn't exposed to the elements why Connie waited for Dr. G.L.  Hmmm...the Foot God's staff never does this.  Connie had seen Dr. G. L. once before, but I had never met him.  Connie had reported that he was quite handsome, something I had seen for myself from the portraits each doctor has hung on the wall in the entrance to the waiting room.  She also said he had a personality.  I was interested in meeting him.

As we waited the skies outside our windows were getting darker.  Thunder started rumbling, and I saw a few cracks of lightning.  It had been sprinkling as we left for the doctor's office, and we were well equipped with umbrellas.  We chatted some.  Nurse Robert popped in to make sure we were all well.  I caught a glimpse of Dr. G.L. as he stood outside in the hallway chatting with his staff.  Quite a good looking guy.  He too popped in to pat Connie on the leg and assure her he was coming soon to take care of her.

Suddenly the sky began making a lot of noise, and the lights in the office flickered off and then on and then off again.  They were on a good ten seconds and then the sequence repeated itself:  off, on, and off for good.  The staff began running up and down the dark hallway.  We were fine in our room as we had the window, but across the hall where there are no windows it was pitch black.

So patients had to be moved, and it was a while before Dr. G.L. made it into our room.  When he did he came with an entourage.  There was Nurse Robert, a red headed nurse who is always here in the office, and the Apligraf Girl.  They gathered around the back of him in a semi circle.  He sat down and introduced himself and told Connie he was going to be applying the apligraf.

Me:  Are you as good as the Foot God?
Dr. G.L.:  I aspire to be.
Connie:  Well, he's been working on me since September so you can't do any worse.  Or can you?
Dr. G.L.:  I am going to do my best work on you right here in the dark.  Which foot is it?  I can't see all that well, but don't worry I'm going to apply it by touch.

Whoa!  A sense of humor?  We didn't laugh at first.  We must have been in shock, but his staff laughed and then Madison laughed, and then Connie and I joined in.  Actually we joined in with more humor and pretty soon more staff was poking their heads in the door to see what fun was being had in the semi-dark room.

Dr. G.L. worked quickly and efficiently with his staff observing (as much as they could in the dark).  He took out the apligraf with tweezers and gently applied it to the wound.  I said that the Foot God had sewn it on last time, but Dr. G.L. said he would be applying steri strips.  He did this quickly and efficiently, and then HE PUT ON THE DRESSING HIMSELF.

Connie:  What?  You put the dressing on  yourself?
Dr. G.L.:  Why?  The Foot God doesn't do this?
Connie:  Heavens no!  He is too good to do the dressing.  He has his people do it.
Dr. G.L.:  I don't trust my people with this delicate operation.
People:  What?  Hey!
Dr. G.L.:  No, I'm kidding.  I'm also efficient.

He put on a different dressing, one that sticks and stretches around the foot.  All around he was quite impressive.  He left with instructions not to touch the foot for a week.  The red headed nurse put Connie's boot on and then wrapped her leg and foot in a large, black plastic trash bag so that it wouldn't get wet in the rain.

Darcy and I headed out the back door where the car was parked.  We had umbrellas, and we went down the sidewalk and straight into a lake.  The entire path in the parking lot that led to our car was underwater, and I mean UNDERWATER.  I was already in the lake over my ankles before it registered in my brain.  It was even deeper then this:

I was wearing tennis shoes.  Darcy was wearing flip flops.  We were both soaking wet by the time we got into the car.  We yelled at Madison who was peeking her head out the back door, and told her she would have to bring Connie out the front door.  We drove around and Nurse Robert came out wheeling Connie, umbrella over her head.  He put her in the car, and then offered to put the wheelchair in the back of the car.  Whoa!  Nurse Kelly has never offered even to wheel Connie out the door.  Nurse Robert got everyone tucked in the car and waved good-bye.

Forget the T-shirt slip.  The Foot God and his staff have a lot to live up to now.