Liz Tobin scrunched her eyebrows while listening to her patient’s lament. "So one big worry is that while your stuff is being moved from Geneva to Luxembourg, you may end up getting hit with a huge tax bill?"

Her patient nodded, her thoughts distracted by the prospects of dealing, again, with tax agents — this time, possibly, of two countries.  "Apart from the worries of moving everything, of course," she added.

Liz shook her head, looking back at her with empathy, "well I’m sorry to hear that.  One thing I’d like for you to consider, though, is taking some meditation classes or instructions.  All your worries about your art being moved from one place to another, your high-stress work, now your anxieties about the tax men : all of those things combined may make our work to get you and your partner pregnant that much harder, particularly since we’re having to deal with the fact that … you know … this is your first pregnancy, and at a later stage in life, on top of that.  So a lot of challenges for us to consider, right?"

Fifteen minutes after the patient had left, Liz was still pursing her lips, and finishing up her notes, when Tina came in.

"Hi Liz," Tina greeted her cheerily.  Her bright smile changed to a look of concern, however, when she saw Liz’ distracted glance, instead of the doctor’s customary cheerful attitude when greeting her.

"Good morning, Tina," Liz responded, flatly.

Tina paused, then smiled at her encouragingly, "Spill,"touching the doctor’s arm lightly.

Liz pursed her lips again, then confessed, "It’s just something going on with the patient I had before you," she paused, before continuing, "Stress is just a real challenge to manage, and in my patients who are, um, older, I worry that it becomes even more of a hurdle to overcome for them."

Tina nodded sympathetically.

After a pause, Liz forced a smile and looked at Tina quizzically, "So what’s up girl? Here for a chat or something else?  I wasn’t clear about what, based on the appointment notes the nurse scribbled here. By the way, a very belated thanks for inviting us to your place last Thanksgiving.  Julie, the other nurses, and I really had a blast!"