surgeon is to mechanic as..

My car has been having health struggles in recent days. I have decided that this experience will make me a more empathic doctor. I think this because the experience had much in common with a clinic visit. The original impetus to take the car in to the dealership was a broken tail light and a rather nagging tendency for my service light to come on when I stop in traffic. Like most patients I had been ignoring this problem for months hoping that it would go away on it's own. I really just wanted the tail light fixed. When I arrive at the dealership I try to explain the problem to the helpful woman behind the desk. "Well, you see this light comes on.." "Which light?" "Well, uh the light shaped like a wrench, and when it comes on the car kind of goes gauuuh and lurches when it shifts." "Gauuuh? Hmm I see." She nods sagely. "And it's done this in the past and was fixed but I'm not really sure how." Nods sagely again, "We'll look those records up for you honey." I sign some papers presumably promising them my first child and then am ushered into a cosy little waiting area. I wait, and wait. I drink the coffee, I pace, I watch soap operas, I make up stories about the other waiting people, I wait a little more. Finally the helpful woman comes back and sits down in a chair next to me. She has a mournful look on her face and I think may have even patted my hand. "I'm afraid I have some bad news for you." "Oh dear." "One of your solenoids has gone out and you will probably need it replaced soon." I am afraid to tell her that I have no idea what a solenoid is. She could have told me that my nuclear triangulation widget had gone out and it would have meant as much. So instead I say "How much do those cost?" She writes the answer on a piece of paper, which is never good. I decide that my car wil have to wait for another day to have a new solenoid and maybe I actually want a second opinion on this.
I pay at the desk, retrieve my keys and drive home. And then I do what every other newly diagnosed patient would do, I get on line and find other car owners with solenoid problems and join their support group. Which might all go to prove that Readers Digest was right when they said that a surgeon is just like a mechanic but they work with the engine running.