A nice 89 year old man was brought to the emergency department by ambulance complaining of chest pain.
While I was talking to him, he mentioned that he and his wife would be celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary in a few days.
So I asked him “What’s the key to your long marriage”
He rubbed his chin and I sat back, expecting some profound words. He came up with this:
“We don’t communicate much. When I complain, she doesn’t listen. When she complains, I don’t listen. It works out well that way.”
A little while later, Harvey’s wife Marge came to see how he was doing. She was petite, well-dressed, and sharp as a tack.
I wished her a happy 65th wedding anniversary.
She gave me a funny look. “It’s our 64th anniversary and it’s not for six months, but thank you.”
I looked at Harvey. Marge looked at me and then looked at Harvey. He frowned and waved his hand at her as if to tell her to go away.
“Did he tell you it was our 65th anniversary?” she asked.
“Well, kind of.”
“You can’t pay attention to him. You know how he got here?”
“By ambulance?”
“Yeah. He was pacing back and forth in the kitchen and finally said ‘I wonder what’s taking the ambulance so long.” I asked him why he called the ambulance. He said that he had been having chest pain all week. Then I told him I didn’t hear him talking on the phone. He told me he used the phone in the living room … that’s sitting in a drawer … that hasn’t been plugged in for years. So I called 911 and they were at our door in 10 minutes.”
Then Harvey gets mad. “Marge will you shut up already? I’m the one having chest pain here. Now button your lip.”
Ahhhhh. True love.
This and all posts about patients may be my experiences or may be submitted by readers for publication here. If you would like to have a patient story published on WhiteCoat’s Call Room, please e-mail me.
Too cute! I guess by the time they’ve made it THAT long…they pretty much have pissed eachother off enough to know the limits…
True Love, indeed.
I asked one old fellow that same question once.
He looked around, leaned over and whispered ” Keep a girlfriend on the side !”