What Pisses Me Off: Visiting the doctor!

I recently (and reluctantly) decided I had to visit a doctor. I had a lingering infection in my lower gum which I could control, but not get rid of completely. I had not seen a doctor for any medical reason for a lot of years, as I am very proactive where my health is concerned. I have no intention of waiting for something to go wrong.

I decided that I would visit the doctor I had been seeing since he began practicing over 30 years ago. But alas, he was on holiday. So I made an appointment with another random doctor. With a deep breath, I entered the room. A delightful young female doctor greeted me. I told her my problem. She inspected my gum and a script was written.

Looking at her computer screen she gently asks “how long is it since you had a check up?”

Oh dear! I cringed. Maybe I could have walked out, but she was so nice. I stayed and answered all her questions as best I could. She filled in a form on her computer.

When it came to “risk of having diabetes” questions, I answered everything with a “no”.

“You have a one in 15 chance of having diabetes”, she said.
“How on earth did you come to that conclusion?” I asked in astonishment.
“The size of your waist”.

I burst out laughing. That waist size includes a lot of people, I thought.

My blood pressure has never been a cause of concern, so I passed that test. Finally, her printer spat of a list of things my blood had to be checked for. Pathology was right next door, but I had to fast overnight.

First thing the next morning, I presented myself for blood letting. But as I was being tested for diabetes too, I had to drink a disgusting bottle of drink and wait another hour to give more blood.

The next afternoon I got a call from the doctor’s receptionist. “Can you make another appointment within the next two weeks please?”

We made a time for the following morning. No way was I going to wonder any longer than necessary. Prognosis: low in Vitamin D (I regularly sit in the sun, so this was a surprise) and a little high in the cholesterol department.

“Would you like to see a dietician?”

“No thank you”. She gave me a diet printout spruiking the Heart Foundation spiel. I refuse to eat anything low fat, so that hit the rubbish bin. There were other specialists I qualified to visit, but I was not interested – even if it was all free.

Just as I thought I was done with the doctor, a call came a week later; I still had to go back for a pap smear. I regularly had them when I was younger, and mammograms between 40 – 60yrs, but I figured that was enough. In 10 months I will be 70, meaning I don’t have to have them anyway. So I wondered: will I or won’t I?

But I then remembered: I’m going to visit China very soon and would need a tetanus booster as I’m going to visit China very soon. So yet another appointment with the doctor have to will be made very soon.

Do you see a doctor regularly, or are you keen – like Jeanie – to avoid it?

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