a tale of two doctors

the other day, i went to my new dentist for the first time.

if you recall, dr. smiles, my dentist of nearly 20 years, was diagnosed with a brain tumour last year, and died this past february 12th.

thankfully, her former hygienist and i had stayed in touch, and so it was that i was sitting in the exam chair of her (the hygienist's) new practice on monday. because it was my first visit, i had to fill out the requisite paperwork and medical history, and my hygienist friend was reviewing it all as we chatted and caught up before my cleaning.

"hey," she said as she read. "your family doctor is dr. textbook?" (she used dr. textbook's real name, of course.)

i said yes.

"i used to play squash with her," said my hygienist friend.

i sort of rolled my eyes. "well, i'm in the market for a new family doctor."

when she asked why, i explained all about dr. textbook -- including the nickname -- and told her that, in addition to dr. textbook's complete lack of people skills, there's absolutely no connection there... that i'm pretty sure dr. textbook wouldn't know my name if we were to run into each other outside her office. my hygienist didn't really seem all that surprised.

"you know she was dr. smiles' family doctor, right?" she said. "and i remember dr. smiles saying, `that woman has no idea what she's doing.'"

i nearly fell out of the chair.

turns out dr. textbook was the one who (thankfully) first referred dr. smiles to an oncologist when she (dr. smiles) found a strange lump under her arm -- the one that turned out to be the breast cancer that would gradually metastasize and spread and, ultimately, kill her -- years ago.

so strange.

the world is truly a small, small place sometimes.

nevermind the irony of one of my favourite health-care providers being treated by my most useless one.