First Visit to a Doctor

We knew the day would come when one of us had to go to see a doctor here.  Tim was the first to have this honor.  I tagged along (at his request) to have a second pair of eyes and ears. 

Tim has had an area that was a bit suspicious and he needed to see a Dermatologist.  When we need medical treatment we are sent to Budapest, but we weren't sure he needed a simple treatment or a procedure.  So we made the decision to go to EuroLab.  By all we had heard, anything simple could be handled there. 

Tim made an appointment and asked if he should come early to fill out any paperwork.  The woman laughed and said "Nhet".  So we arrived just a bit late because we had a hard time finding the place.  We entered a beautiful multi-story building.  It was clean and everyone inside was wearing either blue suits (royal for the ladies and dark for the men) or pink medical outfits.  They took us right upstairs by the elevator and into a waiting room that looked much like one in the U.S.  Then another young lady in a blue suit came in and took us to the examination room.  We were introduced to a man (never called Doctor by anyone).  He asked Tim what he was there for.  He also asked him some family questions and asked how easily he tanned.  Then he said he needed to do a photo for examination.  Hhmm - photo?  This maybe a common procedure for Dermatologist in the US, we've just never experienced it.

When the man/doctor went to get his camera and lens, he opened a normal medical cabinet with a glass front.  Inside the cabinet was the camera, the lens and 5 other items.  Nothing else.  When he went to get gel to clean the area, he opened 3 empty drawers of a medical cart.  One drawer had a few sealed swabs and he took one and cleaned the area with it.  Then he put the lens on the camera and prepared to take a photo.  But, the camera wouldn't work.  First, he realized the special lens attachment needed to be charged.  He plugged it into the wall and said it would be fine in about 2 minutes.  Then he checked the camera.  It also wouldn't work.  The batteries were dead.  He had no extras, so he called someone to get some.  Then he called someone else.  Then someone else.  Then someone else.  Finally, he looked at us and said batteries would be brought in a few minutes.

So there we sat.  Waiting to charge the lens and waiting for batteries for the camera.  Tim and the man/doctor had a few minutes of exchange about language.  It was during this time he told us he spent 1 month working with a dermatologist in Colorado.  Did that mean that was all the training he had?  We never found out.  I sat around and took a visual inventory of the room during the wait.  There was an examination table, one trash can, 2 chairs, 1 desk, 1 desk chair, a medical cabinet, and a medical cart.  It was clean and orderly.  Everything looked normal, but appearances can be deceiving.  The room was almost too clean - it was almost bare.  Tim got a good report from this man and he is satisfied.  

This medical center was absolutely normal from first appearances.  But, the deeper you looked, the more you realized that they had the bare minimum for supplies.  No doubt, their clientele needs it to look as it does in order to place their confidence in those who work there.  But, shouldn't we ask why we choose appearances as criteria for good and bad?

We go through life and make judgment calls based on appearances forgetting that God has forbidden us to do so.  We have people visit here and make judgements about people without knowing why people look the way they do or act the way they do.  One of the most frequent complaints is that people here are rude, and they are.  But, when you learn that just 10 years ago, many of them had to stand in line to have a loaf of bread to eat every day you understand that they will do whatever they have to in order to get what they need.  Rude is the way they used to live.  Things are changing and everything isn't always what you might think.  

Our first visit to the doctor was interesting but not bad.  Would we go there for an important procedure?  Probably not.  But, we feel that we can trust them to handle the small things.  We'll trust what we can't see.