I'M BAAACK!

I walked into the doctor's office today and announced to him that I am now back to being my old self! What a relief, I thought to myself.

Him? He rolled his eyes (well, I didn't see him do this but I am sure that he did.) Actually he doesn't remember me from visit to visit, but I mainly was there to show him that my blood pressure was now in the healthy range and I probably wouldn't be pestering him anymore. He lifted up his eyes from the laptop he was carrying and said he'd see me prn, doctor-talk for "as needed." Out he went. And out I went to face the rest of my life.

First on the agenda is to start walking the neighbor's dogs again. I haven't been doing it until I had some assurance I wouldn't pass out while the doggies were in my care. Furthermore I'm sleeping through the night. I've scrubbed my kitchen floor, done grocery shopping and have started eating again. Not that I minded losing 6 pounds, but having that feeling of morning sickness at age 75 is a good indication that all is not well.

My good doctor did apologize for prescribing two medications that had wild side effects; the first I discovered belatedly for myself when I ran a computer search on Norvasc. The other I was alerted to by my pharmacist, who made sure I was aware ahead of time what might occur with chlorthalidone, a diuretic. He was right. I am not normally allergic to medications, but these two just about did me in. To add insult to injury, an Urgent Care doctor thought I was stressed and added Xanax, causing me to sleep for three straight days.

The mirrors at the top of the blog represent who I might have been at any one time during this past month -- or maybe not me at all. I must say that Jerry was a trooper through this all, and he's happy that I'm back.

Dear old Doc Evans, the old family doctor who cared for me from 1975 to 2000, who brought me through appendicitis and various and sundry occasional illnesses by his diagnostic skills and his warm bedside manners, would have been far more available to shepherd me through a month like this past one. He was a board-certified internist and a cardiologist. And he made time for me. I am sorry that I can't have that kind of rapport with my present doctor, who is equally certified and equally kind. He just is not available in the same way. Doc Evans was then, and my new doctor is now. There just is not time now in medicine for warmth and niceties. This is not what the doctors want either, but it's mostly the best they can offer.

At any rate, in the long run I'm probably none the worse for wear. I'm tackling 2011 changes a little belatedly but have some ideas about what I'm going to do for myself. What I've held in front of me like a carrot during this past episode is that I have friends to go visit - my friend Fran and my friend Pauline and my neighbor Bev and a stitchery group and my Los Angeles cousins -- and if I ever get brave again, my cousin in North Carolina.

But for today, I can't wait to get over to those dogs!