5:02 a.m. - 2007-03-29
the Marathon in G
So far I haven't run the first stride yet. I did go get a physical to check out a few things and make sure my heart sounded the way it's supposed to. I probably go to the doctor once every 3 or 4 years. I've dealt with my current HMO for the last 20 years and they deal with one of the local health care providers. There is constant turn over amongst the doctors, so my primary care physician has changed maybe 10 or 12 times in those 20 years. I have probably only seen half of those since there were some who left for greener pastures before I'd ever had an appointment with them. Since they come and go so rapidly I've stopped even selecting a physician. I just take the first one with the opening on their schedule. This is how I made the appointment for this latest physical. Since it had been a while since my last exam, the nurse took notes on a laptop for the doc while I went through what I wanted checked and the basics of what health problems and habits (smoking, drinking,etc.) I might or might not have had in the past.
When the doc comes in we basically go through the same thing again when she feels she's clear on my concerns, she tells me to pick the top 4 because that's all she'll have time to address. That sort of rubbed me the wrong way right off the bat. So we started going through things. One of the things that needed to be done was get a PSA test. My old man had prostate cancer as did his brothers and since there is other incidence of cancer in my family I'm kind of a prime candidate for that sort of thing. I'd told the nurse this and also told her that he'd actually died of liver cancer. So she's reading this (yes, the doctor is a 'she') and she remarks :"So, your father died of prostate cancer?" Now I'm sitting on the exam table in my assless gown reading the laptop on her desk and can see full well that's not what it says and am thinking 'good christ, can you not even read?' I correct her (possibly a little shortly) and we continue. I apprise her of my intent on doing some exercise and wanted to get a doctor to listen to my heart to make sure it all sounds ok before I start. I had endocarditis in '95 and while subsequent stress tests confirmed the questionable valve to be ok, the cardiologist said make sure you get checked out before you decide you're going to do something strenuous. This is something I'd told the nurse as well and the doctor's response to this was that endocarditis is not something that is typically recurring. At this point it's obvious there is some great disconnect between what I'm saying and what she's hearing. And it continues and I'm getting kind of pissed just typing it so I'll move along to the conclusion. When it comes time for the prostate exam she tells me that she uses 2 fingers (can you say Road Trip?) and then shows them to me (I guess so I can count them?) And then she uses them. She tells me what she's feeling for at every turn and tells me where they are now and no matter where she says she's feeling, it all feels pretty much the same from my end. It's been 36 hours since the exam and I still feel pretty violated. Anyway she ordered some blood tests which I still need to do but need to fast 12 to 14 hours beforehand. And she did get around to listening to my heart and giving it 2 thumbs up. I didn't ask her if she could hear the murmur. By that point I was certain that if she did, she wouldn't know what it was. Anyway, I'm done with that for another 4 years or so.
Now yesterday I did do something worthwhile. I went and had some orthotics made. I knew I was walking kind of goofy and one of my arches was kind of breaking down. Wore them to work last night and my feet feel great.
Later today I'm going to set up a consultation at a gym where I hope to set up a weight training regimen to go with the running that I'm not actually doing yet.
Until then I'm going to use Professor Harold Hill's "Think System". The music you hear in the background is me thinking the marathon in G.
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