Responded to a text from my DM just now, asking if I wanted to do anything tomorrow, to stay I'd been feeling rotten with a stomach bug all day, so could I let her know tomorrow?
She immediately panics and says I MUST see a doctor immediately, I need urgent treatment. I reply to say even if I could get an appointment I'd get pretty short shrift from a GP for seeing them after a day's illness. She follows up insisting I must at least get a phone appointment - I point out they're likely to tell me just to rest and get plenty of fluids, which I'm already doing.
I'm rarely ill, so maybe this has taken her by her surprise, but it's really out of character. As a child I would have to be at death's door before we'd "bother" a doctor, and when she's ill she's really resistant to treatment. Last summer I had to practically frog-march her to the doctor's after she lost 3 stone in 6 weeks and was still insisting it wasn't worth "bothering" the doctor. (Turned out to be her thyroid, FWIW).
So this reaction is really OTT, it's just a tummy bug! And I did say that when I told her, I wasn't playing up my symptoms for sympathy - I wouldn't even have mentioned it if she hadn't wanted to meet up.
It's really weird. Is it just that anxiety levels increase with age? She's 68, btw.