my appointment with dr. dykes this morning was absolutely the best experience i've ever had --in my whole life-- with any doctor.
he spent a whole hour with me, the bulk of which was spent just talking. he wanted to know not only my health issues, but also the major stressors in my life, as well as background on my family and my relationships. he made some interesting analogies and connected some dots that i hadn't seen before. he has a familiar face, a soothing low voice, and the kindest eyes i think i may have ever seen. i felt like i was talking with my oldest and best friend.
after our conversation he said he wanted to run a couple of blood tests (glucose, thyroid, anemia, etc.) and that he'd call me to discuss the results. i'm not sure that's ever happened before, either.
his office is in the big old house at the corner of swift avenue and the durham freeway. the house is listed on the durham register of historic places. he said he used to live in the cottage next door and back in the 1980s would come to this big house ("monkey top", he calls it) to have meals with the 15 or so artists that used to live there. when that collective dissipated, he bought the house himself and turned it into his medical practice. he said he likes being able to work in a place that holds such fond memories for him.
and it works so well, having a medical practice in a house. it is a disarming and beautiful thing to be in an exam room with high ceilings, big curtained windows, creaky wood floors and baseboards that won't quit. this is the way dr. dykes works... everything about him and his practice is very homey and comforting.
i left a little later than i had intended, and had to call the station to tell the announcer on duty that i'd be a little late. she said she'd cover my first break... but only if i told her about five beautiful things that i saw on my commute to work.
here are the five things:
1) my doctor's face. he's not a brad pitt lookalike or anything, but the kindness in his soul is gorgeous.
2) the crazy mannequins outside the untidy museum.
3) the HUGE (huge!) yard sale i passed on the way to work. it must've been a half-acre big. very colorful!
4) the young daddy that was taking a photo of his small daughter in her easter dress. she was surrounded by a ring of tulips at the baptist seminary.
5) the construction site in wake forest where i turn off NC 98. it's actually very ugly (which is the opposite of a beautiful thing), but the tractors have turned up a huge amount of red clay... which, to me, is very beautiful. and i wouldn't have seen it if the construction wasn't there.
3 hours until my haircut...
Posted by xta at April 9, 2004 2:49 PM | TrackBack