Summary

Darcy Thiel shares humorous and personal anecdotes about a series of mishaps and lighthearted moments involving her family and healthcare experiences.

Abstract

Darcy Thiel recounts a week filled with amusing incidents, starting with an accidental 34-mile detour on her son's birthday and ending with a hospital visit to see her sister. Despite initial frustration, she finds humor in the situation, especially when her father receives a call about his unused hearing aids. At the eye doctor, an older patient's repetitive jokes become less charming over time. Thiel's sister's medical condition leads to a discussion about the term "NPO" and its Latin origins, which stumps the medical staff and a nursing student. The article concludes with a humorous observation about a medical drawing that resembles a penis, causing amusement among the nurses and Thiel but not her sister's elderly roommate.

Opinions

Thiel initially feels like a "sucky parent" for her driving mishap but later laughs it off with her father.
She finds humor in her father's lack of hearing aid usage, especially when it's convenient for him to ignore others.
The repeated jokes by the older patient at the eye doctor become tiresome, suggesting a need for fresh material.
Thiel takes pride in knowing the Latin meaning of "NPO," which eludes medical professionals and a soon-to-be graduate.
The medical drawing of her sister's pancreas is humorously compared to a penis, a joke that not everyone appreciates.

Miscellaneous Tidbits

Smiles and chuckles

Last week I was driving Dad and I home from Lockport. That’s about a 45-minute drive home and I’ve made the drive a million times. We stopped at Millersport Market so I could pick up a fabulous dinner for Colin’s (my son’s) 33rd birthday.

It wasn’t exactly cooking, but it sort of was. I had just enough time to get home, get it in the oven, and eat before we had Frankie’s (my son’s) first hockey game after being laid up on crutches.

After a few minutes, I looked at Dad and told him I was feeling confused. I couldn’t get my bearings.

Where was I? I knew I was on the expressway but suddenly nothing looked familiar. I studied the signs and realized that somehow I went east on 90 instead of west.

How the heck did I do that?

Well, let me just tell you, it is 17 miles before the next exit. I had to drive all the way to Pembroke before I could turn around. That’s 34 miles out of the way.

At first, I was teary-eyed, telling myself what a sucky parent I was. How hard is it to make dinner for your kid’s birthday?

Impossible for me.

But then Colin called and said he wasn’t home anyway so we decided to have dinner the next day. Dad and I joked all the way home about the scenic drive and the chance to spend some quality time together.

Yesterday, Dad got a phone call. He put it on speaker. The woman said she was from the company he used to work for and was following up on the hearing aids he got.

His insurance had this amazing deal where he got hearing aids for free. They usually are 3–4 thousand dollars so it was quite a thing. Dad just looked at me in utter confusion. I explained what the call was. They wanted to do a survey with him.

I then said into the phone, “He can’t understand what you are saying because he ISN’T WEARING HIS HEARING AIDS!” We laughed our butts off. He doesn’t wear them most of the time which is quite convenient when he wants to block us out :).

Then we had to go to the eye doctor for Dad. Most of the patients there are older. It’s only a five-minute appointment with the actual doctor but you see two other people first for various tests.

This one older guy gets picked up and I hear the nurse say, “Oh, ha ha. I was waiting for the joke. I knew you would have one.” Never fear, I got to hear the jokes before the morning was over.

What did the cookie say to the doctor? I feel crummy.

Why does a hummingbird hum? Because it doesn’t know the words.

Cute. Very cute. Until the third and fourth time I heard the jokes. He told them to everyone. I wanted to tell him he needed some new material.

Then Dad and I went back to Lockport to see my sister in the hospital. (No, smart alec, I didn’t drive all the way to Pembroke this time. But you can be sure I was not on automatic pilot. I paid attention to every turn I made!)

She has a blockage in her pancreas. She is being transported to Buffalo General today. They will do a procedure where they explore the blockage. If it is gallstones as hoped, they will be removed. If it is a mass, they will do a biopsy.

After the procedure, they will determine the next step. She hasn’t eaten anything or even had ice chips since Sunday and it’s now Friday. At least she is not in excruciating pain anymore.

In her room, her surgeon drew her a lovely picture of her inside organs to explain things.

We got talking about what NPO means. I knew it meant nothing by mouth, but we looked up what the actual meaning is. Turns out it’s Latin for “nils per os.”

So that became the game, asking nurses who walked in if they knew what it meant. Not one person knew. I know a nursing student who is taking his last finals before graduating.

He didn’t know either. I’m so proud. If the question is ever on Jeopardy, I’ve got it covered.

But the most mature joke of all was that picture. Now honestly, doesn’t that look like a penis at the bottom? I mean, not a good picture of one, but at first glance? The nurses agreed.

My sister’s roommate in the hospital is about a million years old. I don’t think she thought the joke was funny. Dad didn’t mind. But then, he didn’t have his hearing aids in so he probably didn’t even know what we were saying.

By the way, that is supposed to be her pancreas.

I’m Darcy Thiel. I utilize my professional and personal experiences to increase my understanding and compassion to help others. I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, Adult Planning Specialist, End of Life Doula, and author. Feel free to check out my profile to hear more.