Shower Every Day?

"Am I going to see Dr. Goldman?" Mom asked as we walked to the car.

"No. We are going to the doctor who looked at your face."

"I hate that doctor!"

"Mom! How can you say that? You saw him only once!"

She argued it didn't matter, she didn't like him and that was that! I let it go. We sat in the waiting room. She fidgeted. When the nurse called her name, she shot me a glance of reluctant resignation and we followed the nurse to the examination room. We waited some more. "I don't know why you don't like him, Mom. You didn't even talk to him the last time we were here. You talked to the nurse the whole time while he talked with me. You could have listened to him, you know." She just shrugged.

The hated dermatologist came in and exclaimed how good she looked as he grabbed his magnifying goggles. Mom pointed out the areas on her scalp that were healed. He inspected each one. "I'm very pleased with your progress. We'll keep doing what we've been doing and I'll see you again in two months."

"Does she still have to shower every day?" I asked. Mom was sure he'd change that. She resists daily bathing.

"Always, from now on, daily showers," he said. He looked at her and explained, "When you don't shower, bacteria begins to grow on your skin and will make you itchy. That's why you had all those sores on your shoulders and scalp. Besides, showering is good for your brain." Mom perked up at that as the doctor went on to explain how our skin's nerve cells get super stimulated when we shower which in turn stimulates our brain. He didn't know he had just touched a hot button with my mother. She has always wanted to do good things for her brain--crossword puzzles, word searches, watching PBS specials with Dr. Amen, "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life." I hugged that dermatologist with my eyes!

"Will she be able to get her hair permed now?" I asked. He saw no problem at all, said she could go get a perm that very day. Mom floated out of his office on a cloud! She had been waiting six months for the sores to heal so she could get her hair permed.

As we walked to the car, Mom said, "Now HE was really nice. I liked him, didn't you, Donna?"

"I thought you hated him?"

"That wasn't the same doctor I saw before."

"Yes Mom. He's the same one."

"I don't believe it."

We drove away in silence until Mom said, "Having a bath everyday won't be so bad, I guess."


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Location:Gile Rd,Nottingham,United States