Avocet Doctor

Monday 24th January

Day 278

We are sitting in the surgery, all gazing at my father’s feet. The doctor with her two long wings of hair bends forward and presses her finger on the surface of his toe. The pressure leaves a white circle in his purple red skin which fades away immediately. Odema in the feet - what does it mean? His heart is already a-rhythmic. Not too serious, keep and eye out for any changes she says - size, colour, temperature.

After she has examined him some more he sits on the edge of the couch with his legs dangling down.

‘What do you put on this dry skin?’ she asks him.

‘Aqueous cream’, he says.

‘Oh, that’s rubbish stuff,’ she says, ‘doctors love it but it doesn’t work. I’ll give you something much better.’

I like this woman who isn’t smiley but keeps her hand on my father’s shoulder all the time she talks to him, looks him in the eyes, realises he’s a bit deaf. Unstinting in her time with him. Rare as an avocet.