| When I Consider How My Light Is Spent |
[Sep. 12th, 2009|09:10 pm] |
Fraking bugger, I say.
I mentioned that I saw Dr. Eyeball a few days ago, and that she declared my retina “very stable” and that she was happy with progress. Well, today, I had a nice major bleed, and my entire right eye is full of blood and swirls.
Buggering farting bugger. I so fraking love being a meatbag. |
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| Meanwhile, In Another Part Of The Forest |
[Jul. 2nd, 2009|05:05 pm] |
I had an appointment this morning with my diabetes doctor. The news, to my astonishment, was largely good. My blood pressure was, hmmm, 132/83; my weight is steady; and my A1C was down! It's at 7.8, which still needs work, but that's in the right direction.
Apparently, motels being boring, we're going to bed early, so I'm taking my bedtime insulin on time, so my morning numbers are good. (~120) Who'd have thought it!
It was so dark and misty and rainy at 9:00 I felt like we were at the bottom of an aquarium. As I said to a confused man huddled under his umbrella as I dashed in to the hospital, "Summer would only make us soft!"
It so happened that we drove over Meetinghouse Hill, which is where the first This Old House was filmed. There was a great deal funny about that – the crew going through the house with the inspector, saying "We were hoping to save that", and "That still looks good…", and the inspector responding "Nah, it's all shot. All shot. Just tear it right out."
Not to mention, when they took out the old furnace, the foreman gave the word and his crew just pushed it over. Fanning the thick dust away from his face, he assured the PBS crew "Don't worry about that, it's just the asbestos."
So I'm almost healthy. I can't answer for the furnace guys. |
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| Friday At The Meat Mechanic |
[Apr. 24th, 2009|12:58 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | meat | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | Caffinated | ] |
We had an appointment with our internist this morning. We have an appointment every three months. Janet, this morning, worked out that between us we have 38 scheduled physician appointments a year, not including emergencies, specialists (like Hand Guy), nurse visits and the like. The exquisite fun of chronic conditions!
As it happens, my blood pressure is still a trifle elevated, as are my triglycerides. Elevated triglycerides are correlated with elevated blood glucose. My bG is under good control except for the first thing in the morning, which my endocrinologist and I are working on.
Turns out feedback systems are important!
The hospital her practice works out of (the Carney) has just gotten a new electronic records program, and all the doctors are still learning it. Well, the doctors of my generation – to the whippersnappers it's just another day on the keyboard. We spent quite a bit of time saying things like "Why isn't it taking it? You clicked on "Add" and "OK"!" She did, though, admit that she'd really love a medical tricorder – which would talk to the damn record-keeping program itself, actually.
I either amuse or alarm myself. I was sitting in the exam room waiting for the doctor, who was with Mrs. Professor first, and someone outside began to scream. I don't know if it was a child or a cat or teenage girls competing to see who was the shrillest (I've been in the same car with that contest), but it continued, and my immediate thought was, "Oh, damn, I hope that's not zombies!" Because, really, what can you do about zombies barefoot and in a johnny? |
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| Way The Christ Too Much Information; Or, Monday At The Meat Mechanic |
[Jan. 26th, 2009|03:46 pm] |
Had my annual checkup this morning. Nothing exciting resulted, happily. She sent me for a chest X-ray for the hacking cough I've had for three months, now; she sent me for an EKG for the heart palpitations that had stopped after the operation, but seem to have started up again. We discussed more exercise, less coffee, and getting more than five hours of sleep a night.
After 50, one accumulates more standard tests. I got a standard test that reminded me of an ad I heard on the radio this morning. (We have the bedroom radio tuned to WBZ-AM, both for the weather and traffic every ten minutes, and because it's irritating enough to make us get out of bed just to make it go away.) They were advertising a book to tell you all about the Prostate Pills for your Prostate Problems. By the end, I was nearly helpless with mirth.
I can't say that I was helpless with mirth after the exam, but I was reminded of my absolute confusion at the unending discussion of anal sex on the 'web. I've never, really, seen the attraction. I did, though, get to tell my doctor about the current right-wing fury at having to undergo tests for occult blood. No one, they seem to think, has the right to accuse them of having Devil Rectum.
Though, if they did, it'd certainly be a new market for Preparation H.
So I'm cleared for three more months. I've been irradiated, EKG'd, and had my bloodletting. She gave me nasal spray to see if it would help with the cough. I have a nurse visit in a month to check on my slightly high blood pressure. I'm supposed to get more exercise and sleep, and less coffee and alcohol. There are a long list of things we still don't understand, aren't indicative of anything desperate, and that we're watching watchfully.
I have done my due diligence to the Meat, and may now safely abuse it for another quarter. I believe I'll try an application of beer, bacon, and beans, and see if that has a salubrious effect – or simply enhances the irredeemable consequences of the magical fruit. |
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