Saved by a Cellphone

Over time, I have made a number of nasty comments about cellphones. I have written that they are intrusive and that they serve few useful purposes. I have criticized my wife and my son for buying one for me and “urging” me to use it.

However, I recently owe a debt to this cellphone. After the autumn turkey season ended, I had scheduled my much-needed knee replacement. The day prior to the surgery, I was scheduled to have bloodwork done. Every single phone call I received prior to the surgery reminded me: “Make sure you get the bloodwork done.”

It was a Sunday morning, and I arrived at the center to have the bloodwork done. When I was called to get the blood drawn, the receptionist told me there was no order for my bloodwork. After 10 minutes of unpleasant back-and-forth conversation, I left. I had the cellphone in my truck.

Amazed that I remembered the number, I called the orthopedic center’s answering service to straighten things out. The woman at the other end told me she would phone in the order. When she called back, she told me that the phone order was not acceptable. She asked if I would drive to a hospital to have the bloodwork if it would accept a phone order. I would have; the hospital would not.

Meanwhile, I had phoned my resourceful wife. She contacted the answering service for my local medical center, which submitted an electronic order. That was acceptable. All of this took several hours. The cellphone had saved the day: I was able to have the surgery the next day and am hoping to be able to fly-fish early this spring; but my recovery has been slow.

In the woods – I recently received a phone call from a Martinsburg sportsman who told me he’d seen me in a photo taken by a trail camera. He said I was carrying my autumn turkey from the woods. However, when we discussed where the photo had been taken, we realized I was toting my backpack, not the turkey I shot a week later.

This reminded me of something a well-known outdoor writer had mentioned in one of her columns. She noted that you have to be careful about doing different things in the woods so that you’re not embarrassed. A fly-fishing Internet site recently had a conversation about being caught in embarrassing positions by trailcams. As many cameras are out there, I imagine compromising scenes are filmed regularly. I hope they haven’t captured me.