dental clinic: Browse The Strips

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Lynn's Comments: Remember when the thought of recording a personal message for our answering systems gave folks hives? Some asked friends to do it, others signed up for an automated system and others became comics, DJ's and public announcement pros. The other day, I called a friend who still has one of those recording devices on her counter and regularly updates her message. This week it's: "Hello?? HELLO?! ...HELLO!!!!!" and when you repeat for the third time "Hi! It's ME! Hello?" the message says "Hah! You thought I was here, didn't you..well, I'm not, so leave a message!" The message I left was a loud "AAAAAUGHHHHH!!!" followed by my home number. So far I haven't heard back.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Lynn's Comments: The patient in this strip was our dear friend, George Fast. He and his wife Sigrid were our curling partners and we spent some wonderful times together. I often poked fun at friends by putting them in the strip. Sadly, George passed away far too soon. Seeing this again has brought back some great memories.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Lynn's Comments: Dr. Patterson's receptionist has been based on a number of people over the years, but at this time, she was our friend, Ann-Margret Plummer. Her husband managed the mine and I think she managed everything else! Efficient, sweet natured, honest and fair, we relied on her for everything from book keeping to bringing home the bacon. Years later, we remain great friends and see each other as often as possible.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Lynn's Comments: As in any profession, there are days when everything is a hassle and nothing goes right. In the dental clinic, this was "one of those days". With the job I had, the great thing about living with a dentist was the stories that came home. Cartoons about life in the clinic were often based on real events and real people. Fortunately for me, these folks never recognized themselves...which is where funny faces and funny names came in. Both Rod and I had stressful jobs and constant deadlines, which might have contributed to more stress at home, had we not had a good sense of humor and the refuge of his mother's house nearby. We were also relieved from hour-long city commutes, traffic jams and circuitous trips to the daycare. The clinic was an easy walk away, which made storytelling easier. It was all too close to home to forget!

Monday, February 14, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I have just returned from a dental appointment. It's fun to see that despite the many clinical innovations, some things never change. My hygienist talked pleasantly about her holidays as she scraped and prodded, trying not to say anything that required an answer...and later Peter, my dentist, did the same. Keeping your mouth open (rather than shut) is easy as long as the topic of conversation is middle of the road...but once a good volley of wit begins, the situation becomes a struggle. Living in Lynn Lake, where we knew virtually everyone, meant some social repartee. Patients expected their appointment would include both a check up and a check in - to what had transpired since their last visit. Everyone had a connection to us somehow, either through my parents-in-law or through Rod's early childhood, so it was hard to end a personal exchange and simply cut to the chase. My mother was one of our first large case patients. She required a load of bridgework and was, naturally, interested in the whole process. She had been given as much information as possible, but even with anesthetic swabs, and suction in her mouth, she was still asking questions. We did not have an assistant at the time, so I was the one handing the instruments back and forth. With family close at hand, Mom continued to talk until the Nitrous Oxide unit was strapped to her nose and turned on. Within, a minute or two she became quiet, mellow and relaxed. She breathed in the gas and exhaled a long, appreciative sigh. She had a goofy open-mouthed smile and her eyes twinkled as if she was half dreaming about something wonderful and far away. Over the next several hours, she said nothing and the work went well. I had never before seen my mother blitzed or blissed-out and when it was all over, I resolved to say little about how much she'd enjoyed her trip and how much we had loved the quiet!

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Lynn's Comments: One thing you can do in the comics is allow the audience to read a character's' thoughts. In a soap opera, people will often talk aloud to themselves: "Alice will never have Desmond! No! I'll make sure that he knows about her sleazy affair with his half-brother, Fred! ...blah, blah, blah." It was so useful to write everything in thought balloons and have the facial expressions say the rest. Here I used the name of a friend who had started a busy flight service in Northern Manitoba - CALM Air was Carl Arnold Lawrence Morberg's "baby" and he ran it well. His family and friends called him as soon as they saw his name in the paper - and he was able to reconnect with folks he hadn't seen in years!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Lynn's Comments: When we drove out of "the bush" to Winnipeg, it was an hour to Leaf Rapids on a paved highway. Then we travelled for three hours to Thompson on a narrow dirt trucking route that wound through glacial eskers over muskeg and sparse patches of shrunken black spruce trees, which looked like they had been pulled backwards through a knot hole. There were no buildings or facilities of any kind. Rocks and scrub willows at the side of road provided no privacy at all, should nature call. The good thing was that we rarely saw another vehicle, but you had to keep to the right anyway, because travelers drove so fast they'd be in front of you in an instant. After Thompson, it was another 14 hours to Winnipeg on a rural road, so you can see why traffic was rather awe-inspiring. I even forgot what it was like to have traffic signals and the thought of rush hour made us laugh. In Lynn Lake, everyone but the miners walked to work - and "rush hour" was a line up at the pub!

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Lynn's Comments: A friend of ours played the bagpipes, and I asked if he'd show me how they worked. After dinner one evening, he and I went to the church yard to practice. After about half an hour of my trying to get the bag inflated and the chanter to play, we gave up. Next day, I was stopped by a neighbour who asked if I'd heard the "squalling in the church yard last night"! She was sure some animal had been caught and strangled and had almost called the cops.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Lynn's Comments: The trip we took by train from Winnipeg to Vancouver was worth recording. Even without a daily chronicle, I would have written this stuff down. It began with telling the kids - far too soon - we were going on holiday. Things became even more "exciting" as we prepared to be en route.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Lynn's Comments: In the 80's there was still an "attitude" about women working. "The little lady" was a secretary or receptionist and the more responsible positions went to the "tough broads." Even though attitudes had relaxed and most men accepted and encouraged women in the workforce it was not uncommon to find serious discrimination. We're still fighting this. Despite a change in the "fibre of society", we're not out of the woods yet!

Friday, December 16, 2011

Lynn's Comments: I don't know about you ladies out there, but I'd much rather get a food processor for Christmas than a nightgown that was chosen by my husband!

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Lynn's Comments: One of the concerns my husband had at the dental clinic was well meaning moms wanting to be in the operatory to "help calm their children". Typically, the child would be fine with the dental staff and the doctor but mom would insist on being there--that's when the problems began. I remember him telling me about a mother who watched the procedure in silence until he was ready to inject the anesthetic. Then she said to her son in a sing-song voice; "Here comes the needle!!" The child immediately started to howl and the process was delayed until he settled down. Just knowing that mom was listening in might be enough for a nervous or high maintenance kid to start a row. So the farther the parent was separated from the patient the better.

I did this strip a few months after this actual incident occurred. The characters were changed to protect the identities of the patient and his mom. As far as I know, they never did see the connection!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Lynn's Comments: This was an inside joke between Gunther Hildebrandt, a long time family friend, and ourselves. Gunther enjoyed reading the news and discussing current events, especially with my father-in-law. Together, they would solve the problems of the world. Gunther loved to talk, so in this strip I am having a bit of fun at his expense. The dental clinic was never the place to have a really good conversation, especially for the patient.

Gunther was a good sport. In fact, friends and family always enjoyed seeing their names, and it undoubtedly resulted in mail and phone calls from their own friends and family, from all across the continent, saying, "I saw you in the funny papers!"

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Lynn's Comments: As in any sitcom, my saga had to have characters who were "pawns". These are people who ask the questions the audience wants to ask and pressure the characters to give more information than they could otherwise give. In a strip, you can do this with thought balloons, which work from time to time. The best gags usually require some repartee. This not only gives you the opportunity for TWO smart minds to make a remark, but provides the artist with appropriate facial expressions as well.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Lynn's Comments: These are the last words a dental patient wants to hear! Bad days happen no matter what your "calling" is, and our clinic staff had their share. I think the complaints I heard most often were in regards to the fidgety nature of dentistry. Fine instruments and tiny parts, such as drill bits and ortho brackets, can easily pop out of your hands. Trying to finish a tough job on a tight schedule makes a small delay even more frustrating. Combine this with a long day of intense concentration, and you have dentistry in a nutshell. Despite the pressure, most dentists I meet are pretty easy going. I guess it's something they've learned on the job!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Lynn's Comments: When we lived in northern Manitoba, mechanical problems had to be fixed by US. There were no technicians to call, no company to complain to. My husband just figured out how to get things going again. A dental clinic is a really complicated place. There are water lines, air hoses, suction devices, and all kinds of appliances. When we set up the practice, he put in all of this stuff himself. The clinic was in an apartment above Walter Perepeluk's grocery store. Rod and a friend worked for days to attach all the pipes, and this had to be done between the tiles on the ceiling of the store below. After a great deal of hard labour, it was announced that the pipes and the wiring were complete. We celebrated with a good dinner and a glass of wine. The next morning, however, when Rod went into the grocery store to check on his handiwork, Walter met him at the door with a strained look on his face. The entire ceiling, a network of plywood, panels, and tiles had fallen to the floor. The store was a mess of tiles, dust, and dirty produce. With more than a little fanfare, the new dentist had arrived!

Monday, January 14, 2013

Lynn's Comments: I have known a lot of medical folks through my job at McMaster University--just "the luck of the draw!" I once asked a psychiatrist friend from Hamilton, Ontario how many psychiatrists there were in the city and he replied, "Oh, 40 odd.... and two normal." It was a funny line, but the more I got to know various docs, the more I wondered how hard it would be to counsel a patient when your own private life was completely out of hand!

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Before I left Lynn Lake, I had discovered the joy of finding a reliable artist to help me with some of my work. I taught a friend how to colour the Sunday pages and I also had someone help me answer the mail. The move south allowed me to create a studio workspace in the downstairs of our house--large enough to give two of us a comfortable workspace.

I had desks and tables installed, and hired a woman to help with the business, do the colouring, and help with mail--a full-time job. As time went by and the business expanded to include books, calendars, greeting cards, and a few animated specials, I found it necessary to hire a full-time graphic artist to work on backgrounds and do the lettering. Having someone to take over some of the inking, cut my drawing time in half--but it meant another body in the studio. We began to use electronic means to do colouring and design--meaning that more creative work came our way.

When my husband hired a studio manager, three of us were crowded into the basement, so I decided to build a separate studio; a small bungalow on an adjoining piece of property. It was near enough to walk to, but separate from the house. This meant, for the first time in years that not only did I have to dress in a slightly more business like manner, I had to be on time for work!

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Rod spent every minute he could in his treasured workshop. He could make or repair almost anything. Even though he was usually very careful, there were times when he did go to the clinic with a bandage or two! This always gave his patients a laugh and inspired me to do this strip.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Lynn's Comments: Because I didn't want to juggle a whole team of characters in the dental office, I made Jean both the receptionist and dental assistant. This is impossible! I then added the situation many companies dread: maternity leave.