Mike's 1st Round of Medical-Land Tips - Helping You Navigate Medical-Land

1. Before leaving for your doctor's appointment, pray for patience and for your sense of humor to remain intact. There is humor in the land of pain & despair but you have to be on alert. Print out directions and know exactly where you're going; many of the buildings look the same in Medical-Land.
2. Leave early for your appointment. There is a very slim chance they can work you in before the person in front of you in the case they haven't arrived.
3. Upon arrival, use valet parking if they have it. That will eliminate the stress of finding parking thus helping your blood pressure reading. As the population continues to age, parking becomes more & more rare in Medical-Land and the people who govern Medical-Land don't care about parking; they have their own parking places.
4. Understand that striking up conversations with strangers on the elevator, in the lobby areas or in the 1st holding area within the doctor's compound, is risky. The people visiting Medical-Land (contrary to the people who run and work in Medical-Land) like to talk about themselves and their aches & pains. You may have to endure a long and intense discussion. I usually take the risk but that comes from the experience of being able to read people.
5. As you enter your particular ruler's kingdom, approach the glass in the first holding area, pray again for patience and then look for a sign on the glass in front of you instructing you how to sign in. Seeing that sign and obeying it can get you off on the right foot with the keeper of your records. Otherwise the record keeper could choose to place your file below other visitors to Medical-Land who happen to see the sign and obey it.
6. Choose a waiting seat in the first holding area on the end. This will give you more elbow room as the holding area begins to fill up. Make a note of the time you take your seat of waiting. I'll explain why later.