Tuesday, April 8

Up at 7 a.m. to get ready to go to the doctor. This was a routine six-month check-up that included a fasting lab blood draw...always something to look forward to.

The appointment was for 8:45, and I arrived a few minutes early. I didn't have to wait long before my doctor's nurse fetched me to an exam room (after the dreaded weigh-in). While she took my vitals, we chatted. She told me that the doctor gave her a gift certificate for Christmas for a trip with our state's premier nature photographer, who is teaching a class on Saturday at a river in the northern part of the state.

Wow! This is a great gift! I've always admired this photographer, who has shown his work and given talks at the college where I swim. She's very excited about the trip, and I'm anxious to see her photographs when I see her again. She has promised to bring them to the clinic when I visit next.

After the nurse was done with me, she escorted me to the lab for the blood draw. Waited a while after that before the nurse returned to take me to an exam room. The doctor wasn't long seeing me. After the usual exam, I pointed out that the thumb on my right hand is wonky. It snaps oddly at the first joint.

She examined it and said I have tendinitis. I had a choice of having a little surgery on it to "unknot" the tendon, or wear a splint for a couple of weeks to see it it mends on its own. I chose the splint. She also prescribed OTC naproxen...two tablets a day with food...to reduce inflammation.

I commented that I wished the problem was in my left thumb, since I use my right thumb so much. "Well, that's why you have the problem in your right hand," she laughed.

I guess the tendinitis prompted her to check on when I'd last had a bone density screening, since Mother has osteoporosis. It has been seven years since my last screening, at which time, my bones showed to be normal and strong.

She said I am doing all the right things for my bones...exercising, taking vitamin D, calcium, and gloucosomine, etc., but I am still a candidate because of genetics, being a light skinned Caucasian, being older, and having hypothyroidism, so I need to be screened periodically.

She is also a candidate for the disease, since her own mother has osteoporosis, and her mother has always been an athletic woman, who lives a healthy lifestyle.

She went on to say seeming to be the picture of health is not always an indicator that there are not hidden health. She used her brother as an example. He is older than she is, and is also health conscious, but he was recently diagnosed with colon cancer.

So I asked if she herself has had a colonoscopy, and she said she had one when she turned 50. We laughed then at how goofy everyone is after the procedure. It takes hours to get rid of the medication that makes folks ask over and over again, "What did the doctor say?"

Besides repeating herself, she said her husband told her she drove him crazy when she programmed their TV music channels to country music. Neither of them are country music fans, so he didn't know why she did this, but he suffered it until she became alert several hours later.

It was around 10 a.m. by the time I was finished at the clinic. Earlier, Hubbie and I agreed to meet at the hospital cafeteria for breakfast. He was there waiting for me when I arrived shortly 10. The hospital is right across the street from the clinic.

We got biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, and sausage for Hubbie, plus cups of coffee, for $4.10. It was a good meal for a minimal price.

We returned home about 11 a.m. Sis was packed and ready to head home. We invited her to go with us to a luncheon program at the hospital, but she was anxious to get on the road.

Mother was dressed and ready to go, though. So we headed back to the hospital, this time to the conference room. Hubbie and I weren't really hungry so soon after breakfast, but we ate lunch anyway.

The lunch included chicken breasts in a mushroom sauce, wild rice, and sauteed veggie medley, plus rolls. We were surprised that there was no fruit this time. It was a good meal, though the rice was underdone.

The program today was about becoming an organ donor. Both Hubbie and I are listed on our drivers licenses as donors, though as we age there are limited organs that can be harvested. Still, the speaker pointed out that everyone, from infant to elderly, can be donors. And there is a long list of people waiting for "gifts," as he put it.

Back home afterward, Mother and I watched Monday night's episode of "Dancing With the Stars."
Hubbie preferred to run errands.

None of us was very hungry at suppertime. Mother chose cereal and toast, and Hubbie and I had sandwiches and chips. Hubbie accompanied Mother home afterward, and then he and I watched one-hour shows on TV.