Apparently, one of the many fringe benefits of maleness is automatic promotion in the medical field. At least in the minds of little boys.
Yesterday I was out of Ambrose’s room for a little while and when I returned, he mentioned that the doctor had stopped by to see him. I hadn’t been expecting the doctor until later, so I was upset to have missed him.
“What did he do?” I asked Ambrose. “What did he say?”
“Well,” my son informed me. “He listened to my heart and my breathing and then he said he’d be back later with my dinner tray.”
Hmmmm… Doctors delivering dinner trays? After a little investigation, I discovered that the “doctor” who had been in to visit Ambrose was in fact a nursing student from a nearby college. Not even an RN yet, just studying to be one. And this young person’s only qualification for automatic promotion to MD? He was male.
Now I have to wonder if the female doctor Ambrose sees every couple of months is forever relegated to “nurse” status in his mind. Or maybe he thinks she’s the maid. I’m afraid to ask.