A Doctor’s Visit During a Pandemic

My doctor’s appointment was set up months ago. On the day of the appointment I managed to let it completely slip my mind since I was juggling Zoom conference calls in an attempt to work remotely. I cursed myself for forgetting as it takes months to get in. Rescheduling however was relatively easy. When Pam and I arrived at the doctor’s office the reason it was easy to reschedule was obvious. There were only a few cars in the parking lot. The lot is usually packed to overflowing.

The waiting room was also not very crowded making social distancing a breeze. The nurses wore face masks, but otherwise it was business as usual. After filling out mynew insurance forms, I took a heaping squirt of hand sanitizer from the dispenser on the counter. I didn’t have much time to sketch the waiting room. My name was called before I could refine this sketch.

The closest I got to any other patient was in the narrow hallways. My appointment was a standard follow up visit to be sure I was still functioning like normal. I honestly expected more of a war zone atmosphere, but I suppose the small general practitioners are not yet feeling the brunt of the virus outbreak yet. They did insist I fill out a form that verified that I had not visited a foreign country and no one in my family had the virus. I am wondering if I would have been turned away if indeed I had recently traveled abroad.