Off to the Doctor

Today I went to the doctor mostly for my 6 month checkup but also to talk about my blood pressure. I asked Fred to take it before I left and it was 140/80. Well, that is less than it has been before I lost weight. When I got there I was bordering on the edge of being late since there was a lot more traffic than I thought there would be. As usual, I parked a long way from the entrance and walked pretty briskly to the entrance so imagine my surprise when less than 10 minutes after that, my blood pressure came up as 130/70!

My primary care physician is in charge of the interns and when he took this job he asked his patients who would do so to move to an intern. I don’t mind having an intern at all and the two I have had have been very conscientious. The boss-doctor always comes in to sign off on the paper work so I don’t feel as if I am just someone for them to practice on.

So, today I went in with my iPod Shuffle on and the intern asked me what it was. He told me he is very non-techical and doesn’t even have a cell phone. Anyway, when we actually got round to talking about my health, I asked him about the risk factors in having high blood pressure and he told me that the strongest one I have is something that nothing can be done about and that is my age. He told me that as I was doing everything right in exercise and eating, and since I have a dislike if taking pills unless they are really really necessary, he would suggest I go for the next six months continuing to do what I am doing. He said to add a baby-aspirin a day to my pills {which are nortiptylene, a multivitamin, calcium and naproxen}. He told me that next time, if we both felt I needed some help with the blood pressure, he would suggest something that has been around a long time, is generic and is mild. {He told me what it was but I can’t be bothered to get up and get the card he wrote it on right now] I have made it quite clear how I so much will NOT be a test dummy for the latest and most expensive drug advertised on TV!

He checked out something I thought might need a dematologist and he said there was no sign of skin cancer on my back or face or ears. I opted not to be referred at this ime but he put a note in the file that I could be referred if I found anything that bothered me in the next few months. As I told him, I have had two different cancers and I do not want to add skin cancer to my resume. I have to go in fasting to give blood for a cholestoral test. I will be getting an appointment to have my bone density checked again to see if there has been any improvement since the last one a year ago where I came out borderline for osteoporosis. I have been taking calcium with Vitamin D twice a day since then.

So, on the whole, a good appointment…

Until later..