Luther Keeps The Doctor Guessing

Last Sunday I told a story about my dad’s recent visit with a doctor. (You can hear the story at www.VisitUsOnline.org if you’re interested, 11/8/09 msg.) After I told the story about the doctor being caught off guard by my dad’s sense of humor, Nadia reminded me that I should have mentioned the other time, during their meeting, when the doctor didn’t immediately catch my dad’s humor at play. So, here it is…

The doctor was telling my dad that the test which had been performed revealed that there is a mass in one of his lungs. The mass shows up as a dark area on the charts that the doctor examined. The doctor held up his fingers to indicate the approximate size of the mass. The doctor continued with his explanation of the matter, but my dad interrupted him.

“Could that be the bullet?” my dad asked with a curious look of wonder on his face.

The doctor knew from a prior conversation that my dad was a World War II veteran who saw a good bit of action and so he launched into an explanation about the size and shape of the image on the CAT scan indicating that it couldn’t be “the bullet”.

As the doctor continued faithfully addressing the question of “the bullet”, I had to hold up a hand and tell him, “Doctor, my dad wasn’t shot in the chest during the war, he’s just kidding with you.”

The doctor looked at me—to see if I was the one who was now kidding, or not—then he looked at my dad, who was smiling at him.  And he started laughing.

The doctor was seriously attempting to tell my dad that there is a mass of some type in his lungs that will need to be investigated.  It’s a matter of concern because of the possibility that obviously comes to mind: could it be a malignant tumor? That’s a question to which we still do not know the answer. The doctor—who is a very nice man with a wonderful, caring “bedside manner”—was being appropriately professional about a serious health issue.  My dad was joking with him.

Before our visit was over the doctor said to my dad, “Mr. Marler, you are a remarkable man.”

The doctor is right, but if he only knew the half of it….