Ophthalmology, gastroenterology—what's the difference?

Let me begin by stating that I'm feeling much better. So much better that I almost feel silly for having gone to the doctor at all. But, honestly, there were some concerning symptoms so...anyway...

The clinic was on the third floor of the mall across the street. Rather, it was the third floor of the mall. It was a clinic with everything: pediatrics, OB/GYN, dental, vision, surgery, x-ray, lab, pharmacy, family practice, and just about every speciality one could think of. Quite convenient to having everything together, I think.

Andrew asked if I wanted him to come home to go to the clinic with me, or watch the kids, or something...but I told him it was fine. The waiting rooms are gender-segregated anyway. And the big kids could watch the little kids while I was gone. 

I had to head over to make an appointment. And then I had to head back over for my appointment. 

But it was all fairly straightforward, except for my own confusion when the front desk handed me my paperwork and told me to proceed to clinic 3 and take a seat.

Actually, that part wasn't terribly confusing. I understood that perfectly well.

My confusion set in when I got to clinic 3 was it labeled quite clearly—in large capital letters—OPHTHALMOLOGY. 

Huh. 

I walked into the office and looked around. There were pamphlets about eye health on the counter. There were posters about eye health on the walls. There was a sign on the desk that said "Office of Ophthalmology." 

Now, I love a good ophthalmologist as much as the next person, but I began to feel that perhaps I wasn't in the right place. Call it a gut instinct (no pun intended). 

So I went up to the desk and said to the receptionist, "The front desk told me to come to clinic 3, but...I'm not sure I'm in the right place."

The receptionist looked at me, looked at her screen, looked back at me. 

"Nancy?" she asked. 

"Yes."

"For gastroenterology?"

"Yes."

"You're in the right place. Have a seat."

I did end up meeting with the gastroenterologist, who was very kind and reassuring. In fact, everyone is. Practically every person from the person whose job it was to stand by the automated self-serve ticket kiosk to help people know which buttons they should press...to the pharmacist who handed me my medication...to the person I spoke to on the phone regarding insurance...they all mentioned how sorry they were that I needed to be there and wished that I would feel better soon. 

Anyway...that was the only strange thing about the appointment. I'm not sure why ophthalmology needed to have a huge capital letters proclaiming its location when gastroenterology got...nothing. Perhaps to reassure patients who can't see well that they're in the right place. 

I told Rachel that this is where the saying "your eyes are bigger than your stomach" comes from—mixing up ophthalmology and gastroenterology.