Doctor Appointment

Today was my return visit to the doctor. She was pleased to hear that I took only three Ativan pills over the first two days after I came to see her last. I was pleased too. I have learned from previous I’ve-got-cancer fear-loops that once I can calm down, I can see the silliness of my thinking this. I also asked her since the GIRD was not bothering me at all could I stop taking the drug? She said of course I could if I wanted too but she wouldn’t advise it with details of why she said this. Oh, well, it is one pill a day and since it is a generic, it isn’t expensive so I will continue with it. It is very nice to be able to eat without the discomfort.

Then I told her about my worries with reference to my lack of energy. She said it certainly wouldn’t hurt to take a multivitamin a day and she also suggested going back on the baby aspirin– one a day. I had stopped this before my surgery and just never gone back to it. {It is not that this will have an effect on my energy level but that for someone my age this was a Good Thing.} Then she made all sorts of suggestions. I don’t have tarry stools so it is unlikely I am bleeding internally. But, it wouldn’t hurt to check if I was anemic. She also suggested that I have my thyroid checked since I have gained weight and lost energy. I said ok although, as I told her, I felt pretty sure that the weight gain was from eating more and not being able to walk.

After she listened to my heart, she said it sounded fine but she would like me to have one of those tests where they slap little sticky bits all over you and your heart beats are printed out. I had the last one right before my surgery last year. When she did a comparison of the two, there was no difference. But, because I told her that I feel short of breath whenever I walk fast, she {or rather, her supervising doctor who came in to meet me and who explained all this to me)} would like me to have a stress test. So, that is going to be set up for some time in the near future. I assured her that as long as I had something to hold onto, I could do the treadmill version rather than the one where medication stresses the heart. I actually find the idea of that rather scary. At least if *I* am doing the walking, I can stop if I feel bad! And after I had donated a couple of vials of blood in the Vampire Department–the phlebotomist introduced herself with her name and said she was a member of the vampire department — I was through and just in time to get lunch.

Tomorrow I need to call and set up a mammogram time. The problem with going to a doctor who actually looks back in the files is that she can tell me how long it has been!

QUOTATIONS:

"Step by step. I can’t think of any other way of accomplishing anything."

Michael Jordan

"Fear not for the future, weep not for the past."

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) English poet