Long Time No See

 Hey, Doctor! It’s been a while.”

I love it when parking valets recognize me. That was the good news. The ‘it’s been a while’ was not so good. This was my first visit of the year to Le Parc, an upscale West Hollywood hotel. It was once a regular, calling 20 to 40 times per year since 1993.

Hotel doctoring is viciously competitive, and another doctor had worked his magic. But hope springs eternal; hotels occasionally realize their mistake and return to the fold. Maybe this was a sign.

The guest had injured her leg five days earlier. X-rays in an emergency room were negative, but since yesterday her pain had worsened. I didn’t find anything abnormal except for a huge black-and-blue mark. This may have been normal healing, but she needed another X-ray.

“Doctor O! How’s business!” The desk clerk also recognized me. When I ask why a hotel has stopped calling, employees always respond that no one has been sick, so I’ve stopped asking. But I couldn’t resist. The desk clerk assured me that no one had been sick.