November 2007

I got a call on Monday, asking me to come in to the Doctor’s office. Given that the Doctor and I had already agreed on two weeks from my last appointment, I was justifiably worried that they found something that needs to be taken care of as soon as possible.

I go in, pay my co-pay (which is annoying, and seems like a trap, when you’re just returning for results, makes you think that hmm, there might be more to this visit), and go to see the doctor. He, in his rather downplaying manner, tells me that I have high cholesterol (no surprise here) and high triglycerides. He then mumbles a few things (did I mention that I would prefer a doctor who natively speaks English, instead of English as a second language?) and tells me “That’s all.”

For those of you who know of my legendary patience, you’ll find the next bit surprising.

I ripped that doctor a brand new number two.

I let him know that I hate how I was left wondering if there was something critically wrong that I was asked to come in long before the two weeks was up, and then he just tells me something this simple. At some point, two F-missiles roared out of the launcher; he got mad, and wanted to start yelling at me.

I let him know in no uncertain terms that he’s not going to yell at me. He said he didn’t have to take it, and was going to leave the room. “Fine, then leave. I don’t really care,” was my response to him.

Of note, this doctor also downplayed the Acid Reflux thing last Friday. Everything I know about it, I learned from people who have had Acid Reflux.

… and now, a week later, I come back to finish writing this post. Since then, I’ve been in the hospital. This past Thursday, I went to the hospital in an ambulance, complaining of chest pain. It felt like a web of pain that focuses in the middle of my chest. I still get traces of this pain by just sitting down and doing nothing in particular. Honestly, the doctor I had on Friday tried to do a stress test on me, wanting to get my pulse up to 165 beats per minute, but I failed that test due to my blood pressure skyrocketing to 230 over 115. While it came back down to normal about 10 minutes after I stopped doing the test, it worried the doctor, so he wanted me to make an appointment to have another test done — this time, they want to do an Adenosine Thallium stress test, since I failed on the Bruce protocol (timed treadmill) test.

Honestly, I am pretty worried, since some of my symptoms match up with one of my fears: a pulmonary embolism.

I don’t really feel like posting this, but I need to get back into the once-a-week or better habit of blogging my thoughts. So, I present to you a few tidbits of what’s going on in my life.

• I saw the doctor on Friday, missing a day of work. The doctor states that I have another throat infection, AND that I have Acid Reflux. No connection was noted between the two. I now take a prescription for the stomach acid I have. It makes sense, too — the food they feed us here isn’t all that healthy, as it is laden with calories.
• Speaking of calories, I’m steadily gaining weight. It’s a combination of being stressed out — which leads to me drinking sodas steadily again — and not smoking. I stopped smoking because I can’t find a cigarette that is as satisfying as my old brand of clove cigarettes (Sampoerna). Additionally, I don’t get enough exercise, and I know it.
• Moving on to exercise, I’d like to get some more of it. I really ought to go to the YMCA up the street from here and get a membership there. I should also replace my bicycle, since this one’s needing some repairs that are probably going to be expensive…
• Onto expensive things: I’m falling behind on my budget and plan to get out of here, simply by stopping to eliminate old debts. I’m working on getting rid of my student loan’s debt by just paying on it in lumps. I refuse to deal with this company in the way they ask, because I think they’re trying to pull the wool over my eyes. Why would I need to tell them the names, addresses, and phone numbers of three people that really know me, just to pay the debt?
• I made a comment via Twitter the other day, mentioning things afflicting me: “Acid reflux, Carpal tunnel, hypertension… What’s next? A thyroid disorder!?” — these are things listed not only in alphabetical order, but also in order of most recent afflicted by, to least recently. A thyroid disorder would be what I expect next, though it’s going to break the chronological order, most likely.
• Oh, and speaking of the thyroid, the Doctor took blood samples Friday, and asked me to come back in two weeks.
• The doctor also wanted to set me up to see a psychologist or psychiatrist, which I think might help with some of the depression I face. There, now it’s in the world’s eye, and I can’t deny it any more.

There… now that this is done, I’m going to go eat breakfast. Yes. At 4 pm.
Ciao, and Chow.

Just a quick post here before I call my taxi today.

I just found out that if I miss the 8 am bus to work, and try to catch the 8:30, I run the risk of really not getting there on time. Since the 8 am route causes me to catch two buses (#6, #37), and would get me there at about 8:45, it’d be fine. However, the 8:30 would require three buses (#6, #15, #37), and it is supposed to put me at the bus stop at 9:23 AM.

Any desync between the three buses could mean I won’t get there on time. The #37 is the one that likes to run at whatever time it feels like, it seems, so I’m just gonna call the taxi in a minute here, and head downstairs.