The Worst Way to be Popular

I've never considered myself to be popular.

People don't dislike me and when they get to know me they like me just fine, but I'm generally a quiet person.  I'm the girl no one really thinks much about, but if they were to be asked, "Do you know Lisa?" they'd say, "Sure.  She's nice."

My clinic is a busy place.  I don't think I've ever seen the same patient in the waiting room twice.  I've noticed over time that staff has become more comfortable with me.   There are more smiles, more "good lucks" and well wishes after one treatment or another.  When the phone rings, the message just says "Hi Lisa!  It's M."  I no longer hear, "Hello Lisa.  This is M.  I'm one of the nurses at Blah Blah Blah Fertility Clinic."  That much is nice, but now things are... unsettling.

At my lap, there were a billion people there, I swear.  I am in surgeries as part of my job a couple of times a week.  There is a scrub nurse, a circulating nurse, the surgeon, a resident, a me, and a nurse anesthetist or anesthesiologist.  Every once in awhile a med student or another resident will be there, but those are the usual players.  When I went in to the OR, I remember being overwhelmed at the number of people in there.  There was my RE, one of the fellows I always see, a resident I'd never met before, an anesthesiologist (MD count of 4 now), a nurse anesthetist, and about 3 or 4 more random people.  I'm assuming they were nurses and/or residents or med students.  I really wasn't planning on adding that many people to the cooter view count at the time, but so be it. 

When I went to the clinic for a culture yesterday, I walked right in and the receptionist (There are 3.  They are that busy.) didn't even need my name.  She actually just buzzed me right on back and told me to go ahead to the bathroom and put my sample on the counter in the lab.  I could just wander around the clinic with a jar of pee.  When I came out, I heard a nurse talking with the PA.

"Lisa's here.  Were you going to do a UA?"
"Oh yeah.  I'll still send it out, but let me do a dip really quickly."

At the same time, another nurse walked by me from the other hallway and said, "Hey Lisa!  How are you?  Hanging in?  Healing up okay?"

I like that there's a nice comfort level there and I feel like I'm in good hands when they know me so well.  But at the same time... I must be spending way too much time there.

I make it a point to get to know my patients well from day one, but I also know that I need to get that 6 month old to trust me so that I can help him or her the best way possible and that I will likely be spending the next 21 years working with this family (We have a good pension plan, what can I say.). 

When I first started at the fertility clinic, I was just another patient.  One that they thought was a young chippie who would be in and out, getting pregnant with just a little help.  I had to give my name and DOB all the time.  People introduced themselves J, forgetting that they already had... twice.  Now I feel like I'm a vet.  An old timer.  Someone they see on a regular basis and can't help but get to know.  But now that they know me, they have to feel invested, right?  I have to be one of the people they are trying to get the hell out of their office.  I have to be.