3. Deadlines

Really needed to leave clinic by 5pm (usually I leave at 5:40 to catch the 5:50 bus). Down to the wire: at 3:30 I'm waiting for an Implanon insertion (subdermal contraceptive), having caught up on everything else. There's a 4:00 new referral and a finally a 4:30 checkback. The 3:30 showed up at 4:00 so I asked that she be rescheduled, something I do about once every 5 years. At 4:15 she's in the waiting room crying, so I said, okay I'll see her, but she has to wait for the others. The 4:00 was late and complicated, 54 yr old with vulvar wart wondering if it is an STD. My reply evasive. I started with the 4:30 at 4:55. She had lots of questions; finally finishing around 5:30. So I finally meet Ms Implanon. She looked like she just came out of a Vermeer painting. How could I have been so mean to her? We talked and decided to go for an IUD instead, which was done by 6:20; one last but important phone call; made the 6:40 bus.