Doctors, doctors everywhere

Evidently the reason I retired was to have enough time to go to all my doctor appointments. Once again, I feel good and healthy, all these appointments are routine, but there sure are a lot of them. I went to the dermatologist last week. No problems, she said nothing even looked suspicious. Good for me.

Nick will have his post-surgery recheck next Wed. He seems to be doing great. He says the area of the hernia is still a little sore. He’s not picking up anything heavy – that I know of, and I really think he’s being careful. And I’m so glad the surgery’s over with.

 

I went for my regular checkup last week too. My doctor was pleased with everything except my blood pressure. She increased my medication, and all was a little better for a while but now it’s shooting back up and I have no idea why. Saturday at noon it was 180/100 – ridiculous! If it’s still up so high today I’m calling the doctor back.

 

Last Friday I went back to see the sleep doctor – wearing the damn Cpap with it blowing air around is a little like dealing with Chinese water torture. I went in and told them all the problems. I put on the mask and showed them the problem. They made some major adjustment, tightening the mask and that night it worked! It was the first night I was able to wear it all night, more than four hours, since I started wearing it. I hope this works now and I can get the benefits they keep promising from using this thing – more energy, weight loss, lower blood pressure – I could use all these things.

 

And now to the most important doctor visit of all.  LJ and Collin’s cat has glaucoma in one eye. The doctor explained that the pressure would be very uncomfortable, and he felt that the eye should come out. But here’s the deal – the cat is sixteen years old and has other health problems and the surgery would be around $4,000. Now remember LJ lost his job this past summer and was out of work for a while before taking a job for lower pay. Collin broke his leg during that time (when they had no insurance) and he didn’t work for six months. To say money is a little tight would be an understatement.

 

One might ask if paying $4,000 for surgery on a sixteen-year-old cat a wise investment. One might, but I sure as heck didn’t. It was totally up to them and I don’t know what I would have advised anyway. Obviously, it’s not practical from a purely monetary standpoint, but this is their cat and they love it.

The eye was removed this past Friday. It was scheduled the week before, but the vet forgot to tell the boys not to give him some of his medicines before surgery, so they postponed it a week. The doctor said it was his fault and that he would cut $650 off the bill. I don’t understand that, but it makes me happy. I also sent a little to be applied to bill, after all it is my grandcat.

 

I guess my life is now a lovely swirl of doctor visits – at least all my doctors are nice and I do like them. But that doesn’t mean I have to see them all the time. I’d prefer a more casual, see you next year, relationship. Now if I can just get my BP down maybe I can relax a little.