Just a quick note here – Dr. Eapen’s ‘tie’ story.
Dr. Eapen, and his Resident Doctor, Andrew, came into the examining room in Radiation South to follow up on my treatments. They had no neck ties and were in short sleeves – kind of ‘informal’ you’d think – for DOCTORS!
I had taken Dr. Eapen’s picture (above) for the website a week or so before and was showing it to he and Andrew on my Tablet. He stared at his picture intently and immediately focussed on the shirt that he was wearing that day.
“Oh – it’s the same shirt that I have on today” – isn’t it?”, as he looked down over his ‘missing’ tie and past the ‘pen’ in his shirt pocket – to check out and compare with the shirt he had on.
“Well, it’s a safety issue now.”
“A new edict (from Dr. Kitts, the CEO of the hospital)”.
“No more ties and long sleeve shirts for medical personnel at the Ottawa Hospital – there might be a chance of spreading an infection.”
Makes perfect sense.
But, what does that do for Dr. Eapen’s beloved morning ritual – it has to drastically change now!
He always used this ritual to get into the right frame of mind for the day – pondering, dithering, inspecting, comparing, trying this one or that one, and finally – so as not to be late for his appointments – choosing one favourite to best match the shirt – from his ‘notoriously large’ collection of ‘neck ties’.
Don’t ask me how he came to choose his favourite ‘shirt’ of the day – was it before or after the tie, or the pants?
GADS !!
Now, with the new regulations, he had to find a replacement for this very important ritual.
Guess what is was?
………… Choosing the colour of his ‘pen’ – what else!
It had to match the shirt, I guess.
Or did he choose the pen first, and then the shirt and then the tie?
Enough — off to work …
