Laughter the best medicine

From Colin Wicking

I’m not sure what’s happened to Colin Wicking’s excellent Ned the Bear cartoon series.  Maybe Ned’s gone into hibernation for the dry season, which just hit Darwin belatedly this morning.  For readers (including me) suffering Wicking withdrawals, here’s a recent cartoon from his website.

It reminds me of a time years ago when I developed what turned out to be an abscessed wisdom tooth on Christmas Day in Sydney.  Naturally no dental surgeries were open, so I eventually ended up in agony at the Sydney Dental Hospital, where I was seen by a young, fresh-faced and newly-minted dental registrar. 

After examining me and diagnosing an abscessed wisdom tooth, he took x-rays which showed the tooth’s root was hooked around part of my jaw.   Explaining that he would have to extract it, the young dentist looked at me gravely for a moment and said “this is going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me“.  Clearly deeply amused by his own joke, he then broke into uproarious laughter.  I guess you can’t really expect a sympathetic bedside manner when you’re getting free emergency treatment on Christmas Day.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

0 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments