Color me doubtful Next Door Neighbor is, as her son said "Doing okay" because yesterday I spied what looked to be a care team of two visiting nurses exiting her unit.
As for me, first priority for yesterday was to get the button on the phone fixed, but before heading out for technical assistance I turned to Google where I learned it’s not unusual for that button to fail.
It just picked the worst possible day to fail on me.
A so-called easy fix was to go into the settings, remove "swipe" replace with "one tap".
That worked because, shortly after changing the settings, a call came in from the medical center and I had no problem tapping in.
Individual on the line was calling to schedule an appointment with my doctor to go over the test results.
Good luck with that, thought I.
As she began checking the doctor’s schedule, I could hear her on the line going "hmmmmm?"
"It looks like your doctor is booked very far ahead".
"Ha! Welcome to my world", thought I.
It’s so difficult to get in to see my doctor that I’ve not seen her since August of 2022, and I won’t even both you with how it was the visit solved nothing.
It’s not that she’s a bad doctor, it’s just that the medical center’s system is broken and fixed to particular procedures I'm guessing the doctors have to follow if they want to continue to be employed there ………… us members are fast food and pushed through with various medications. Focus is never on solving what brought us there in the first place.
Like the time I had an allergic reaction to something. Luckily, I managed a one-day appointment with a doctor new to the Center who examined my legs, arms, said, "I don’t know what that is, but here, let's give you a shingles shot".
I kid you not. A medical professional uttering the words, "I don't know what that is" and left it at that. Didn't call anyone else in. Didn't try to research.
I walked out with what I came in with.
I’ve had to research symptoms, find holistic ways to cure what ailed me then and since.
And when I did have a problem holistic could not help and called or texted the doctor’s office, I’d run into Know-It-All Beoches whose job it was to shield the doctor from being bothered. This created such a problem for me last time that I had to go to the clinic down the street for care and later file a complaint against the doctor’s care team.
So, anyway, "Let's see if I can book you with another doctor" said the woman on the line.
More "hmmmmm?"
Finding no doctor available in the near future, I was asked if I’d be comfortable with a video visit.
That would be no. Too much technology for me who didn’t even know the TV wasn’t working because the cable box had been turned off.
The call ended with my being scheduled for a phone visit next week to go over the test results …… not with a doctor, but with a "physician’s assistant".
That sounds like code for a Know-It-All Beoch, but it doesn’t matter, because it’s going to be the usual bull crap whether coming from a doc or an assistant.
I already know the tests are not going to solve the mystery of fading in/fading out. I’ll probably get the standard pat answer they give everyone, that it’s due to aging, so eat healthy, get in some exercise, maybe even lose some weight.
In the interim, watching my BP run high first thing in the morning, then fluctuate from high to low to high during the day (165/74 …… 146/61 …… 124/54 …… 141/63), my instincts are telling me to avoid the stimulates I’m so fond of for the time being, like coffee, jalapeno peppers, chili peppers, anything that might cause BP to spike.
Other than that, it’s business as usual, with still the occasional lightheaded sensation, as I wait to hear what this Physician’s Assistant has to say on Thursday.
Thanks for all the good wishes and concern.
I'm not a fatalist, but I'm good with whatever.
On the other hand, perhaps I am a bit of a fatalist because for quite some time, I've been going through the motions, taking life as it comes, having fun with it, but not all that vested in it. I equate myself to the character Beth from the TV comedy-drama "Good Girls".
One particular scene Beth did sums up how it's been for me for far longer than I care to admit.