In hindsight, it all seems somewhat spooky. It had been over 2.5-years (January 2009)
since my last physical and the doctor did not chew me out for waiting so long. I also had long quit taking the blood pressure
and cholesterol pills (since when the prescriptions expired), and he did not
even mention it.
It might have helped that yesterday I weighed in at 195 with
my boots off and clothes on, which was 25-lbs. less than what I tipped his
official scale at during my last visit.
Further, my un-medicated blood pressure was now 110 over 82, which is
not bad for any wheezy 60-year-old geezer.
He also seemed pleased that I had abstained from smoking for 4-years; he
was genuinely unconcerned that I was still addicted to nicotine gum. I had him check a lump on my left side
(between the skin and ribcage near where I earlier suffered broken ribs), which
he pronounced as a lipoma and not something to be concerned about. He asked
about my level of physical activity and was pleased with my answers. He did the requisite prostate and junk exam and
then had the nurse draw blood and jab me with tetanus, flu, and pneumonia
vaccines.
This morning I got the call from his office about my blood
test; everything is normal and no follow-up visit or medications are required.
Well, so far so good.
Maybe those health pundits are right about weight loss and habitual
exercise. There
are a limited number of pages left on my life’s calendar so I guess I better
keep working on making the best of them.
