3:00 snapshot #1528

[urbpan]

At a traffic light in front of Jamaica Pond, on my way to my doctor's appointment.



Not sure how much to say without friends protecting the post--my new doctor is aware I have a blog and it's not exactly hard to figure out how to find it. Then there's the issue of my insurance company using my blog to make me pay more--is that a thing? Sure could be I guess. I should probably keep stuff like this private. Oh well.

My doctor is very nice, again young but not as alarmingly young as my last few.
I have high blood pressure--or it was measured as such, three times. I admitted to being anxious, and I think she was trying to give me time to relax, but when the cuff went on I could feel my heartbeat. Have I developed an anxiety response to getting my BP read? How stupid.

I discussed my depression and anxiety and she actually listened.

I mentioned drinking and other habits and she gave me a reasonable threshold to follow, and told me 3 times not to smoke tobacco, and I told her there's no risk of that (I don't like the smell anymore).
I discussed early onset Alzheimers and she proposed checking my genes for risk factors.

The examination took an hour and was mostly talking.

I got an EKG and it was cool to be laying down with electrodes stuck all over me connected to bundles of wires. I wish I had a picture of THAT!

They are going to run a million blood tests but only took 4 vials of blood, and I didn't pass out or feel faint afterward. I told the phlebotomist "Nice work!" and she barely acknowledged. She was cranking out blood draws faster than one every 5 minutes.

Sometimes I compliment people and they think I'm being sarcastic. I don't know if that has to do with me, or the fact that sincere compliments are kind of rare.

Comments

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I've been reading my BP with a little home device for a couple days and it's lower than when I was at the doctor but still a bit too high. I'm hoping to talk to my doctor about it and discuss whether medication is necessary at this point.