Gone

Today at the hospital, I heard the worst possible yet somehow funniest statement ever made by a healthcare practitioner.

I’m here as my dad waits to get a pacemaker put in. One of the medical folks, Larry, came into his room this morning to walk Mom and Dad through the procedure.

Larry told us that the surgeon had been delayed by an emergency surgery. He recommended that Mom, Melinda and I leave the hospital for a bit and give Dad a chance to rest. They would get Dad into surgery as soon as they could.

“Well, we do have some errands to run,” Mom said.

“Sure, go run your errands,” said Larry. “The worst case scenario is that your husband will be gone and you’re not here.”

“Gone, gone?” my mom frantically asked.

“Oh! No, not gone gone. Just gone into surgery!”

I bet poor Larry won’t make that mistake again!