Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Pain & The Good Doctor

Went 15 rounds with Dr. Feelgood yesterday.

And lost.

Had a physical. She gave it to me good.

Been taking blood pressure medication for a couple of weeks now, but the pressure ain't where they want it to be. The number that pushed them over the edge at the beginning of this saga was 162. Two weeks later it hit 180 so it became prescription time.

The medication has only got it back down to 162. Prior to all this drama it was at 132.

So immediately Dr. Feelgood begins ranting about how we are going to have to up the dosage.

And change my lifestyle.

Unfortunately last year at my last physical I was brutally honest with her. About alcohol. About exercise. About diet. About stress, depression and anxiety. She caught me at a weak moment. So now she has all those arrows in her quiver and she drew them all out and fired away yesterday.

She became quite testy. After sternly lecturing me she gave me the following advice: Eat healthier, exercise regularly and drink less.

What a quack.

Then she decides to throw the whole goddamn book of modern medical community wisdom at me. Tells me I need a flu shot. And a tetanus shot.

I argued strongly with her about this because I believe these things make you weaker. I doubt there is any empirical evidence that proves the value of this approach.

I get the flu shot from an argumentative standpoint even though I disagree with the approach. But a tetanus shot? She somehow went round the bend and connected it with the possibility of my contracting whooping cough. In both cases she used fear as her weapon: "With your history of asthma, either of these conditions could lead to death. The odds are minimal but it is still a risk."

Please understand where I am at. 2013 has beaten me down to a wisp of who I once was. I am exhausted, bewildered, depressed, lost and confused.

I agreed to both shots. I cannot believe I did it. I despise this bullshit but she would not let up and I am so fatigued, so weak, so vulnerable. I gave in just to shut her up.

Please forgive me.

I woke up today with two Snoopy band aids on my shoulders, one on each one. Snoopy.

What the hell is wrong with the medical community today?

More proof: The technician or aid or whatever the hell she is that took my vitals, gets me up on the scale. I don't take my shoes off. This is the third time I have been there in a month so obviously I wasn't expecting to take my shoes off. I did not on the last two trips.

She tells me to take off my shoes.

We go into the sterile little examining room, she begins to go over my chart and says: "Wow, you have lost four pounds since the last time you were here. And we just had Thanksgiving. That's amazing."

This did not inspire confidence in me.

She ended up being the one to administer the shots. I was praying for heroin.

On top of all this I have been struggling with muscle issues on the right side of my neck, across the right shoulder, down around to the shoulder blade, down my triceps and even onto my chest.

This has been building for six months and I have let it go. The pain now is disturbing. I have not slept for the last three nights. Two of them I spent on the recliner searching for  the least painful position. There is no sitting, standing or prone position I can adopt to ease the pain.

Advil does not help, nor does whiskey or pot.

I talked to her about this and now I am scheduled for physical therapy.

In addition she scheduled me to have a tube stuck down my throat to check up on acid reflux damage. Apparently they were supposed to do this simultaneously with the colonoscopy I had last year but they forgot.

2013 has not been my year. All of the distress has been job related. This job has ravaged me physically, health-wise and psychologically.

A lesson has been learned.

The only good news I got yesterday was that my prostate is fine.

We had a good time arriving at that conclusion.

1 comment:

  1. So, you think your doctor is a quack for telling you that a healthy diet, regular exercise and less booze would be good for you. Where do you live, under a rock!?!?!?!?

    This is all stuff my 6 year old knows.

    If you do not take her advice for yourself, think of your wife and kids. Do you really want to put them through the alternative if something happened to you, whether it resulted in your death or your inability to care for yourself?

    For once, use some commonsense and listen to a person who is trained in their field to help you.

    I feel sorry for your family. They will be feeding you and wiping your ass because you thought your doctor was a quack.

    I think you are the quack!!!

    A New Reader

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