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I giggle a little too Thank god the patients can’t see us now because it’s unprofessional to laugh at their nervousness But at the sauy unnerved by tiny blonde Leonie? You have to admit, it’s hysterical in some ways

My fellow doctor rolls her eyes again

“Yeah, he was freaked out,” she recounts “It was like there was a bee in the office Suddenly he starts darting his head this way and that, although er wasn’t even in him yet”

I choke back another giggle

“Well, it’s better than the guy who voloves,” are my rueful words “Reh we used that industrial cleaner stuff”

Leonie makes a funny face

“Yeah, because he forgot to aim for the trash can God Someone should tell him next time That was a clusterfuck for sure”

And I try to suppress another giggle I shouldn’t laugh After all, urology is our profession and we are real-life doctors who screen people for cancer Both Leonie and I haveBut still, the ridiculousness about our situation so out at the prospect of our finger? Men walking with an exaggerated li our office? It’s hysterical, you have to adh now and then Disease and illness aren’t exactly uplifting subjects, and it’s nice to see the lighter side of things occasionally

So I turn back to my friend

“Who’s next?” I ask wryly “Another upchucker or another guy who can’t look me in the eye once it’s over?”

Leonie grabs the clipboard from its plastic rack by the side of the door

“H A new patient Only forty,” she says, scanning the chart “But it says here that he inquired about an exam because of risk factors in his family”

Both of us grow quiet for a h like teenage girls so cause of death aes sixty and over, and many hospitals have developed advanced protocols to follohen addressing this incipient disease Prostate cancer takes our husbands, fathers and sons all too often, and I can’t help but feel like I have an important role in its early detection and treatment