Week 39: Why I went to the doctor.

This week I had to go to a “health check” at work.  To be completely honest, I really didn’t HAVE to go, but if I go to these things once a year, they give me a large discount on the health insurance that’s taken out of my pay check.  So I think the discount is worth the trouble.  Usually each year they tell me that I’m fat, and my blood pressure is a bit high.  Actually for the fat part one lady said “Your body mass index is not where the company would like it to be.”.  

I really wasn’t looking forward to the health check, but I was a good boy all night and fasted and didn’t eat or drink anything besides water.  I get there and they prick my finger to take some blood.  That always hurts, but at least they aren’t taking a tube full of blood from me.  (I’ll be giving that up anyway, but more on that later.) 

And then this old man says it’s time to take my blood pressure.  I wasn’t looking forward to that.  So he fits the cuff on my arm and starts to pump.  I don’t remember people having to make the cuff that tight.  It felt like he was trying to pump the cuff up enough to snap my damned arm off!  He finishes and then tells me he has to do it two more times. 

After taking my blood pressure two more times he goes and gets another woman.  She proceeds to tell me how bad my blood pressure is.  Normally when they see blood pressure that high, they immediately call the paramedics!  Did I want to go to the hospital?  Did I want an ambulance?  This was serious!  I might die at any second!  This was a genuine medical emergency!  The lady went on and on and then made me sign a form saying whether or not I wanted paramedics.  Obviously I did not want paramedics.

And so I went home.  Now I was upset and even though I hadn’t eaten in about 24 hours, I was no longer hungry.  I was worried and wondered if I should go to an emergency room.  I had been fine up until then, but the lady kept telling me how serious it was and how I needed treatment IMMEDIATELY!

I waited until office hours started and called my doctor’s office.  I asked about an appointment and was told he had an opening at 10:40 that morning!  Fantastic!  Maybe I could get in before I had a stroke, or heart attack, or just died outright!  And so I waited and worried.

Finally, I headed to the doctor’s office.  There was a bunch of people in the waiting room waiting to see different doctors.  Most of them putting on these dramas trying to show everyone how really sick they were.  I ignored everyone.  I was called back to an examining room and the nurse took my blood pressure.  I asked if it was high and she said yes, but she didn’t seem all shook up like the pushy lady at the health check did.  The nurse left and I waited for the doctor.

Finally my doctor came in and we spoke about my blood pressure.  He then told me he hates stupid people who try and frighten people telling them they need to go to the hospital immediately for high blood pressure.  He told me that yes, I might have a stroke if my blood pressure stayed at its current level for 30 more years!  He said it wasn’t as huge an emergency as the idiot lady was making out.  That made me feel better. 

After chatting a bit more my doctor said he wanted to check on a bunch of things and he would be prescribing me some blood pressure medication.  I like my doctor because he’s very thorough.  Whether you want him to or not, he checks everything!  And so after he left, the nurse came back into the room with a big electronic thing to check my heart.  She connected all these wires to me and told me not to move.  That only took a few minutes.  Then she told me the prescription had already been sent to my local drugstore/pharmacy and that the doctor wanted blood and urine samples from me.  I couldn’t seem to urinate right then, so I decided to put that off for a bit.  I can get that done somewhere close to home later on. 

I didn’t get a written prescription.  It was just “called in” for me.  It turns out that the prescription was sent to the drugstore/pharmacy that’s right across the street from where I live!  A perfect location!  So I picked up my blood pressure pills and finally went home for some sleep.  I’d been up and awake worrying about all of this for quite a while!

After taking my pill, I can say I do feel better.  I don’t seem to get out of breath as much as I used to, and I do feel like I have a bit more energy.  I just kind of feel better overall.  So actually maybe it was a good idea for me to go see the doctor.  I probably didn’t need to be frightened into it, but still it was a worthwhile trip.  And the doctor expects to see me again in a month to check on how my prescription is working (and probably discuss my urine and blood so I’d better actually get that done!)

So why did I go to the doctor this week?  Blood pressure, simple answer.

Before I end this week’s blog, one quick thought.  I was thinking about things and it’s a good writing exercise to do these blogs each week.  And then years later I can look back and remember what I was doing, and how I was feeling during each week in 2017.  We need to move forward, though.  Evolve and move forward.  So what would be the next step?  Maybe videos?  I have a number of cameras and I don’t use them as much as I’d really like.  So I was thinking that after finishing up my 52 Weeks of Why, maybe for 2018 I should do 52 Weeks of life and post a video of what I do and think each week?  I wonder how many people would watch that?  Just a thought.  Until next week, keep asking why.