Things Aren't Always What They Seem

After the recent snow storm – I find it a little weird thinking of this storm as a storm! – the winter wonderland provided some beautiful scenes. One was a swirl on our patio between the grill and a chair. Looking like a Dairy Queen cone topping, a perfect swirl of snow rose from the patio. A small fir tree nearby looked like an old, fat man elbowing his way through a storm. Perhaps you noted other sights of nature’s wonder?

Now a few days later, the fir tree is still a fir; no old fat man in view! And the Dairy Queen snow swirl turned out to be a solar ground lamp just off the patio, with snow topping it above surrounding surfaces; then the wind did a little trick and it looked like….

So. Things are not always what they seem. Freak of nature or not.

Like the old guy who listed his gripes about his community. No local doctors or clinics nearby. No convenient small town medical community to rely on. When you write a local village paper you get all kinds of notes and messages. I set out to see what this guy was talking about.  Here’s what I found.

We have the county’s finest cancer clinic in our town. In fact it may be one of the best in the state of Illinois, or one of the best ten in the nation.  Next door to that is the ninth proton beam cancer treatment center in the nation. When it was in planning it was the fifth one to be built; but the other eight quickly filled in. still, one of nine in the country.

On each of several blocks are new buildings. One is the DuPage Medical Group clinic. Another is the Edward Hospital Sleep Center, the Edward Neurology Center complete with its own MRI. Still another facility boasts the DuPage Hospital Medical Group, now named Cadence Health. A grouping of new buildings houses the Cadence Orthopedic Center.

In small clusters we found doctors, dentists, psychiatrists, psychologists, podiatrists and a host of other specialties. All in a town of 13,000 people. We have a major regional hospital 2 miles from town. Another major regional health center and hospital is 4 miles from town. We are blessed with medical resources. In our own backyard. Blessed.

Odd isn’t it? From none to a plethora. In the same moment. Just different sets of eyes.

When I reported back to the old guy with the complaint, he mumbled something about having to go through new doctors to get access to the new facilities! I told him my doctor is 6 miles away; I’ve gone to him for nearly 40 years. In Glen Ellyn. Now he refers me to all of the aforementioned facilities. He is my entre.

The old guy has a doctor in a faraway suburb where he first came to know the doctor. He didn’t change doctors when he moved to our town to retire. He still goes back to the old doctor’s office. He didn’t move his medical association to local people, all of whom populate our area plentifully.

The complainer is 93. He remains active and blustery. Seeing what he wishes. Complaining about what doesn’t penetrate his line of vision.

Such is life. Things are not always what they seem.

March 8, 2013