Poked and Prodded

[pshaw_raven]

I recently set up a bunch of appointments on the off chance we lose ACA benefits sometime soon. I'd needed to do some of these anyway, and some are much more pressing, like getting things lined up for an IUD replacement. As some of you may know they now advise colonoscopy screening starting at age 45, so I did the initial consultation for that. I'm not thrilled with either the gastro or my GP - the crazy way he makes notes on my chart led the doctor there to ask, "So what are you taking for your cholesterol?"

My what?

After we establish I don't have high cholesterol, she asks, "How well controlled is your diabetes?"

Wait, I don't have diabetes. Do I? Starting to panic now.

Same thing with NASH apparently. So I just forked out a bunch of money to see them in person, when I don't actually have any complications. My GP just notes shit like "HYPERGLYCEMIA - intermittent high readings well controlled with lifestyle." So the other doctor just sees "hyperglycemia" because she's skimming and assumes I'm diabetic. That was no fun at all, and left me much more anxious and off-balance than I should have been.

But we've also been able to open the house again because the temps have dropped. Finally. One of the absentee owners out here showed up recently to mow the grass on his lot. I always get discouraged when I see someone try to build out here because I don't want any more neighbors. But nine out of ten will start clearing or doing something and realize they hate being this far from a town, on an unmaintained road, with no real infrastructure to speak of. This guy really wants to live out here and all the above is a positive in his book, so I'm okay with him. He just stopped work on his parcel when covid hit because he wasn't sure what was going to happen and was kind of afraid to extend himself on building here. He's feeling a lot more confident now and is even starting to draw up building plans. He says he wants to leave as much of the forest as he can, which is what most of us end up doing.

As long as the county values the presence of Camp Blanding we should be fine out here. Blanding's requirements make it so that people can't put up a bunch of obnoxious street lights, you can't build on a parcel of less than five acres, and they have a few other rules that help them run maneuvers, and help us not have to live around a bunch of ugly-ass McMansion low-density housing. If Blanding were to shut down, Lennar would probably swoop in and turn all this into a fucking subdivision.

All that being said, I wonder if I'll start seeing the bear more often now that fall is actually here.

Comments

[theradicalchild]

Doctors can definitely still be incompetent at times. My mother's cancer this year had originally thought to have been pancreatic, but it turned out to be lymphoma, which was mercifully treatable. My main issue with the healthcare system is the near-total lack of communication and coordination among different kinds of doctors, since I have a clusterfuck of mental and physical conditions that necessitate I see several, and I'm on a cocktail of different kinds of medications as a result. I've been keeping track of potential drug interactions of drugs.com as well in case some of my meds have any kind of interactions.

[pshaw_raven]

Now that I've had one such encounter, I'll be ready to deal with this in the future. It just really caught me by surprise. Happily, I don't yet have a lot to keep track of but I started a spreadsheet with who's seeing me for what and my current blood test results.

[cdayzee]

I recently set up a bunch of appointments on the off chance we lose ACA benefits sometime soon.
I noticed a lot of people are doing this & even 'buying out' their prescriptions for like birth control so they'll have a year's worth.

Could you do Cologuard in place of your colonoscopy? That was the only positive thing my last PCM allowed me to do, thankfully. Otherwise, I would've continued to avoid it like the plague only because my body doesn't do well with anesthesia. For some reason, it takes it literally & thinks we intend to go permanently night-night. I'm kinda scared to mention this next time I invariably need surgery because then the opposite will happen & they won't give me enough yet I'll be immobilized & only screaming in my head. In which case I'd prefer what I've been experiencing. It's a no-win for me, I swear. But I digress.

Geez - after 2 incorrect 'diagnoses', I would've questioned if he was reading the correct chart! And the fact that he was just skimming it :smh:

[pshaw_raven]

I don't think they want me doing an at-home test, and since the procedure itself is inexpensive I might as well. I don't seem to have any real problems with anesthesia, but I've only really been "under" once. When I woke up the guy asked me if I knew what day it was, and I said, "You mean today?" Which Fox verified for them is 100% the sort of thing I'd say.

Since my only med right now is a very cheap blood pressure pill I'm not as worried, but I'd recommend anyone who is start buying what they can. We have no idea what havoc those tariffs will create.

[cdayzee]

"You mean today?"
I love it! I've never been asked that lol :P

I like your icon btw ;)