I actually just had a talk about this (sort of) with a friend about a mutual friends 9yo. She is obese, and her cheeks are ALWAYS red. Friend said she was concerned about this lady’s kid... and I told her we have no idea if 9yo has health issues. And that if she were to say anything to mutual friend she better be damn sure she says it in a not offensive way because of that. They live in another state so we don’t know much about their daily lives... But based on how she was before, how she has gotten exponentially larger too, and her mil who is a nurse said something about the kids weight and they no longer visit her despite living in the same city... i’d bet money the kid doesn’t have health issues.

Sounds like you either don't know your social circle well (some people are good at hiding from the social stigma of recreational use) or you surround yourself with people who are losers regardless of pot smoking. A good majority of my social circle uses cannabis in one way or another. Two lawyers, one retired doctor who volunteers her time and services to underprivileged communities, a nurse, a software engineer, a couple executives, an accountant, shockingly a few musicians/artists, marathon runners and thru-hikers. I can't think of a single friend of mine that imbibes and is a loser. I mean our common bond is being active outdoors and we enjoy treating ourselves with cannabis on long (average 40 miles) hikes. And of my friends, those who use cannabis log more volunteer hours than those that don't. But that's just my circle, ymmv.

I don't see the point of alcohol. Roughly 40% of inmates imprisoned for violent crimes in my country were drunk. Depending on the study, 35-70% of those committing sexual assault including rape were drunk at the time. I don't think I even have to bring up alcohol and it's relation to domestic violence, or drink driving. I've had three alcoholics in my extended family, two are dead and all three succeeded in massive amounts of destruction to our family. I live in an area near a lot of bars and clubs and I regularly see people in a complete mess walking home and totally vulnerable, vomit on the street and I also hear about regular violence committed by drunk people against paramedics, doctors and nurses. Give me a stoner any day. At worst he's too lazy to do anything with is life (although that doesn't fit most of the stoners I know). At least he's far less likely to be out raping people or beating his wife or mowing down pedestrians.

For heavens' sake, some of you so-called nurses need to learn some compassion for sick people. Geez.

I've been a nurse for a long time too. I've worked in many medical offices and one of the issues is we are supposed to see as many patients as possible to keep things profitable. If we could schedule longer appointments than things wouldn't get so out of hand. I'm sorry that others may feel differently (and YES, things can come up that are out of our control) but bottom line is....they try to cram too many people into too few hours. Because $$$$$, That's the truth, like it or not.

I've been a nurse for almost thirty years and have worked at numerous offices over the years. I haven't commented on any of your posts, because I agree with you that waiting sucks, but this is ridiculous. If you think the problem is only scheduling, you're absolutely clueless. It's a range of issues. It only takes one small thing to throw off a schedule. It can be the computers crashing, late patients showing up, double booking a patient because of a serious problem, the list goes on. You really do just sound like a whiner. I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but bloody hell, lady. You have no idea how a medical office runs and you just proved it.

OP of the extra-long wait at doctor's office here. This morning I took my elderly dad to his first visit with a new internist. Appointment was at 9:30 and at 9:27 he was called back. At 10:15 his nurse came and got me because Dad wanted me to know what's going on. Doc spent 15 minutes explaining to me. We checked out, went next door and he had X-ray and blood work, and at 11:00 we were on our way to his 11:30 doc appointment. Nobody had to wait on us, nor us on anyone else. It seems that scheduling is the issue that causes problem, not busy doctors.

Since you deemed it necessary to pop off on me, let me tell you the WHOLE story. The office I went to consists of surgeons and their PA's. The surgeons see patients in the office three days a week and do surgeries in the adjoining hospital two days a week. They don't take walk-ins and they don't do ER call-outs. Their PA's take care of the non-Doctor stuff (like taking stitches out). The PA kept me waiting WAY too long and nobody bothered to explain why or apologize. I worked in a medical setting for 18 years, so don't start with the sunshine out my ass crap. Doctors, nurses, PA's, medical assistants, and receptionists need to remember that we lowly patients deserve a heads up. As my original post said, this isn't the first time this has happened.

I'm a nurse at a doctor's office and, believe me, we laugh SO HARD when we make our patients wait. It isn't stressful at all, knowing that people who need our care are being forced to wait. It's hilarious. We love it. It totally doesn't suck at all, getting yelled at all day because we had an emergency, and our new computer system sucks, and we're running an hour behind because the doctor decided to work in a patient with a serious condition. It's a pretty sweet gig. At least the pay is good.

I made an appt today to donate platelets for the first time since I learned they help people with cancer and ended up leaving with 5 bandages. After the initial finger stick test, my number was slightly lower than the accepted range (which has never happened for me), but the nurse tried again on my right finger which was fine and up to levels. Then they inserted a needle on left arm, but my veins were too delicate and didn't think they would take to the procedure, so they tried again on another vein the same arm, but it still didn't catch. We decided it was best to not try not the right arm with platelets and just stick to donating whole blood. So, that worked! The nurses were very apologetic and professional about it all. I would still try platelets again, but make sure I'm well hydrated days before.