Thumbs Up! [Photo Guide] My Grandpa’s First Adventure To a Naturopathic Doctor

After walking into the doctors office, the first obstacle we faced was finding a seat that was not too soft but also…not too hard.

We needed something right in the middle.

You know like the porridge in the 3 Little Bears (does anyone still say “porridge?”)

The first seat, a miniature bench placed right in the entrance of the office- was my grandpa’s first choice…

Within seconds he decided it was too hard. “This type of seat hurts my back”

I am not sure exactly why he sat on this hobbit bench, it was one of those benches that are just there for show. Normally these types of things are understood in a sort of silent agreement. However, this is not how my grandpa chooses to journey through life.

Maybe something about this hobbit bench was initially appealing to him?

As soon as we arrive into the main waiting area we are gallantly greeted with a giant leather couch, this was grandpa’s second seat.

Right as he sat, I thought to myself:

“ahhh shit nope this isn’t going to work”.

The “ass cushion” was way too soft, this thing was like sitting on a bean bag in the middle of quicksand.

I cleverly watched him out of the corner of my eye… his head was turning, eyes scanning the room from left to right-he looked like a high tech prison security camera. He kept shifting back and forth, twisting his legs, taking his hat off rubbing his head.

Finally he tapped me on the leg and said “ay Junior this seats not for me”… got up and moved to the seat shown below.

I was thoroughly confused on why he was leaving this awesome leather couch for a wooden arm chair. He sat down and I could already tell in his face that this was it, this porridge was just right.

I feel so awkward every time I type the word “porridge”.

I was so excited I pulled my phone out and told him to pose for a picture, finally he found a seat he liked.  So….naturally I had to archive this national achievement.

This is the pose he gives me, like hes he’s dressed in a 3 piece suit, hat off delicately placed at the leg, hand at his chest, and the best part is this facial expression we have here, glaring into the sun as the rays of light beam through the window.

Complemented with a small tilt of thy perfectly round head.

Honestly, hes a class act.

I quickly informed him that our wait was going to be close to 2 hours, and then his – “who me?” … I have to wait 2 hours?” facial expression was pricelessly snapped below.

A good maybe… 4.2 minutes go by, and now the questions start.

“How long do you think the wait will be?… I am just curious… whatever it is that’s ok”

“Is that woman before us or after?”

“Where’s the bathroom, where’s the light switch in the bathroom, why’s the bathroom so small?”

“Is it time to go in yet?”

“What’s your grandmother making for dinner?”

I really wasn’t too sure about any of the other questions he asked. It was 11 o’clock in the morning and he was already worried about dinner?…my kind of guy!

Over an hour later delusion starts to set in.

I am not sure exactly what was so funny, but mid conversation he just started hysterically laughing…stopped…and then began to laugh again and tell me a story about a horse he use to have in Italy.

I acted as if I never heard the story before but this was probably my 3rd time in the last 2 months.

I found humor in him finding humor in himself and the situation. However the correlation of this story did not completely add up for me. I am laughing now while typing this…a little less now…now I’m laughing again.

There we go!- a little change of scenery. We were finally called into the examination room.

He was anxious to have his knee checked out and the potential to finally have his pain relieved.  As he hung out on the table grandpa told me how he wanted to get rid of this knee pain “for three reasons junior”

1. “So I can go back to taking care of my garden”

2. “So I can play Bocce Ball in the mornings again”

3. “So if I feel like I want, I can go for a ride on the bike”

This doctor had me in awe, the way he spoke, his mannerisms, and the amount of genuine time he took to learn about his patients-puts him in a league of his own.

He shared with us how the actual building (it was a residential house) we were in was his childhood home, and he turned it into an alternative health center.

He spent a little over an hour with my grandpa, asking questions and connecting symptoms in a way that would have amazed anyone.

He prescribed my grandpa 1 herbal remedy to enhance his cardio vascular output (blood flow) and 1 homeopathic pellet treatment for inflammation (origin of the inflammation stemmed from an (auto) immune malfunction.

In addition he suggested my grandpa to return for 7 treatments of a type of synovial “oxygen” gel injection to be shot into each knee cap 1x a week.

Surprisingly, he agreed and within two weeks his “chronic” pain had drastically subsided.

Close to 80 years old and this man (the doctor) was still practicing his craft, and doing what he loved:

I asked him why he was still working such long hours when he didn’t need to be doing so anymore.

His response was:

“If what I do can help and heal, then why stop now”

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