You know how news travels fast? Well, sometimes, in a newsroom, it travels so fast that it speeds right past you, and then mocks you for your own stupidity afterward. Kinda like Sam Sessa's article warning of the thrills (also known as dangers) of snowboarding. That would have made for some good reading ahead of my Poconos trip.

Well, this past weekend, armed with no such knowledge, I went snowboarding for the first time. Let me admit, I didn't have the best attitude. I hate being cold, I've got pretty terrible balance and when going at high speeds, I prefer someone else to be in control. But I'd made a promise, and I was determined to keep it, no matter how many times Dave told me it was a bad idea.

An hour and a half later, I had made my way down a bunny slope, mostly through a series of falls, and then I went home and slept for three hours. I have never been so sore in my life, and that life included years of horseback riding. That was Saturday.

Yesterday, I couldn't take it anymore and I finally went to Patient First. And here's where my real complaint comes in. Not about the service: Patient First is relatively quick and absolutely professional. I highly recommend it for your urgent care needs.

No, my complaint is about the lack of reading material. Of course I brought a book with me for the waiting room, (Captain Freedom, by G. Xavier Robillard) but that exam room? It was devoid of the basic high cholesterol or diabetes brochures I've come to expect at a doctor's office.

Waiting for my X-rays, there wasn't even a magazine or a poster detailing medical procedures or organs that I had no desire to learn more about. Just bare walls in a lonely hallway. And Captain Freedom? He was too busy hanging out with my boyfriend in my purse to join my uncomfortable battle with the X-ray machine.

So I implore you doctors: When sitting around in a barely there robe, waiting to be told if my reckless behavior has resulted in a fractured coccyx -- and, yes, it did -- all I'm asking for is a little reading material to take my mind off my discomfort. And in a world where you can get Tom Jones free of charge at The Book Thing, there seems to be no excuse not to.

Who's with me?

(Photo by lusi at stock.xchng)