Showing posts with label Doctors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doctors. Show all posts

Friday, 28 March 2014

Disappearing Doctor and a Sugarless Surprise

Since I just cleared a world in Candy Crush and I'm currently waiting for 3 friends to send me passes to the next level, I decided I'd kill some time by blogging.

It was an interesting week at work. It was very busy. And not just for me. For a lot of people. Ah, the joy of year end (the fiscal or financial year that is). The ending of this year and getting stuff done for the start of the next one kept me equally busy I'd say. Part of it was my own fault. I requested today off since I had one "use it or lose it" vacation day left and I'm not the type of person to let a perfectly good vacation day go to waste.

My day off was a long and rather interesting one. I've been having problems with my knee for several months now. I very much dislike going to the doctor so I'm a big proponent of "walk it off'". I think it stems from the time when I was 6 and I feel and severely sprained my ankle and broke 2 tiny bones in it and I limped around the house for a day and a half before my mom decided I wasn't faking it and took me to the doctor. So I've been "waking it off" for the last few months, only problem is that it's becoming increasingly more painful to do so. Sigh. Time to see the doctor. Knowing that I had today off, I decided that it would be best to go on my day off so that I didn't miss any additional work. I called the doctor's office on Tuesday and made an appointment for Friday. I asked for the earliest appointment they had. She said "10am". And I said "that's the earliest?" and she said "Yes, the doctor's usually in by then". Sigh. I took it. We had a little bit of freezing rain earlier so I wasn't sure what I was going to encounter on my way to the bus this morning. Thankfully, we didn't get much and it had warmed up already and all the snow we got overnight was starting to melt as well as any of the frozen stuff that feel earlier. I make it to the corner in time to see my bus go by on the other side of the street. Damn thing was 3 minutes early. Sigh. So I wait for the next one and arrive at the doctor's office 5 minutes late (not too bad). I go up to the receptionist, tell her who I am and that I have an appointment with my doctor at 10am and apologize for being late. She just looks at me. And then says "You have an appointment?" Me - Yes. Her - hmmm. Then - the doctor isn't here. And I can't see your appointment in the computer. It looks like it's all blocked off. Me - I called on Tuesday and made an appointment for today. I called at 10:30am. Whoever I spoke to (btw - I know it was her that I spoke to) told me the doctor would be in a 10 and gave me that appointment time. She just looks at me. Then the computer. Then me. Then she says "I don't know where the doctor is. We're expecting him today.". WTF. What kind of doctor just goes MIA?? Beauty part? This isn't the first time this has happened. I told her ask much. She just shrugged at me and gave me a helpless animal type face. Thankfully I don't fall for that kind of BS easily so I just sighed and said "Can I see the other doctor?" And she said "Of Course!" and merrily starts typing away at the computer, gives me back my health card and tells me to take a seat. My doctor is based out of a Walk in clinic so there's always another doctor there except on weekends. Thankfully, the place wasn't busy. I only had to wait about 20 minutes. The walk in doctor was an old dude with a really thick accent that I could hardly understand. He wiggled and twisted my knee all over the place (which hurt) and asked me twice if I had a drug plan (which I do have, thank goodness). He wrote me 3 prescriptions. One is a powerful anti-inflammatory that I have to take twice a day. 2nd one is for a medication to protect my tummy from the anti-inflammatory (it appears to be a drug who's main purpose is to treat ulcers and really bad heartburn). Ok then. The 3rd was the one I asked for, which was just a repeat on my regular meds. Bugger only gave me 3 months worth of that one so I have to go back to see my doctor.  Trying to be good and giving the guy one more chance, I made an appointment for a physical in May. Have to wait and see what happens there.

So after the doctor's office, I went to Curves. It was monthly weigh-in day. I've never been there that early in the day and I'd only eaten breakfast at this point so I'm sure that helped with the weigh in a little bit. Anyhow, it went very well. I'm down 3 inches. I lost a little or stayed the same for every part of my body except my biceps. They increased thanks to the muscle I've built. The best part was what the scale had to say. Down 8.5lbs in the last month. YEEHAW! That's roughly 2lbs a week. The only thing I've changed in my diet is sugar. I've removed it. And apparently that's having some very positive results. I even managed to say no to my biggest temptations yet: The crazy awesome looking and very amazing smelling Ferro Rocher cupcakes that a very awesome co-worked baked for KayD's bday. I was tempted. Boy was I ever. But I held out and the result on the scale today made me very happy about that decision. I know damn well that 1 cupcake wouldn't have an impact on the results I saw today, but it's the principle of my quest that matters. The wonderful photo that appears on tonight's blog are the delightful cupcakes. You'll understand the temptation once you see them. Honestly, they were pretty epic or so I was told by those who ate them :)

After Curves, I celebrated my weight loss by sharing a deep fried snack platter appetizer at lunch with a buddy of mine. It was good. I eventually paid for it (some indigestion this evening...prior to taking the new meds) but it was yummy. This was followed up by a tour of the Canadian History Museum (aka Museum of Civilizations). It used to be my favourite museum in Ottawa but they're currently renovating it and changing a bunch of stuff so a lot of it was closed off to the public which puts a bit of a damper on it. I'm sure it will be awesome once it's done but that's not for another few years. It was still cool to see the Canadian Hall, which is may favourite section. They have re-creations of buildings and homes, schools and churches and they have real artifacts in each area. And some very life-like mannequins that are rather creepy.

By the time we were done at the museum, the fog had really rolled in. That's what happens when warm air hits cold snow and a cold river. And it was pouring rain too. Traffic wasn't too bad and I got dropped off at the mall so that I cold get my prescriptions filled. I remembered to by lottery tickets yet forgot to buy milk. D'oh! Now I don't have milk for my morning tea/coffee. Dammit. Guess I know what I'm doing first thing tomorrow. Either that or I'll be drinking green tea.

All in all, it was a very interesting day and enjoyable for the most part. It would have been nicer if I could have walked the museum rather than limped it, but hopefully these meds help and I can get back to normal. If not, I'll be seeing my doctor (if he shows up) sooner than my planned visit in May.

I should toddle off to bed (aka curl up in bed and read for another half hour or so) as I need to get a lot of stuff done this weekend. Another busy week ahead!

Good Night!

Sarah

Amazing, right??!!



Tuesday, 4 December 2012

My, What Beautiful Eyes You Have

Ok. So that's not exactly what Little Red Riding Hood said to the wolf but I'm allowed to have some creative licence here.

One of the screws on my glasses came loose today and nearly feel off. This is the 2nd time in the last couple of months that this has happened. Which means, it's time for new glasses. In order to get new glasses, I needed to go for an eye exam. Since my last eye exam was in early 2009, I was definitely due for a visit.

I lucked out. Unlike general practitioners, optometrists seem to be readily available. I was able to get an appointment for the same day. Turns out it was a very nice lady with a very unpronounceable last name. LOL. I underwent a new test that I hadn't had before where a puff of air is blown into my eye to test the pressure. That was kind of neat. And I had a very wicked photo taken of both eyes, so that they can see the inside of the eye and retina. It looked a lot like an egg yolk with veins in it. Or Mars with a lot of rivers. Not sure if I'm going to be able to eat eggs for a bit. All in all, it was a painless and quick visit and ended with good news!

Not only are my eyes perfectly healthy, by my vision has improved! Yeah, that can happen. News to me. But the doctor said that it does happen and that why my eyes are getting blurry at night or if I've read for too long. My prescription it too strong and the extra strain is making my eyes tired. Who knew?

I picked out 2 new pairs of glasses tonight (it was a buy one, get one free promotion) which is awesome. This way I can leave one pair at work and have one pair at home and not have to keep taking a pair back and forth. And I'm pretty excited about them too. One set of frames are really awesome and kind of funky. The other pair are more reserved and sophisticated. I still only need to wear them when I'm on the computer or reading but I was told that I can wear them anytime really. So that's good to know. I can't wait to get my new glasses.

Tomorrow is a special day. It's the last French class!!!!!! Just one more. I can do it. LOL. It should be a good class I hope. I think it's mostly just review. Yee-haw!!!!!!

Good Night!

Sarah

This has nothing to do with eye exams, it's just a funny photo!

Tuesday, 4 September 2012

Strike 2!

I had my re-scheduled doctor's appointment this morning. It was my 2nd attempt at a physical. Here's what happened:

I get to the doctor's this morning and check in with the front desk, where the receptionist promptly tells me: "He's not in this week." WTF??? I asked why no one called me and she gave some BS answer about the doctor not giving them any warning and only told them in the afternoon of his last day that he was taking a week off. Whatever. My guess is that she forgot that the doctor was taking a week off and accidentally booked me in. Moving on.

So the receptionist says that she can get me in to see the other doctor. I ask how long that will take and she tells me that it will be 15-20 minutes and that she'd put me ahead of those waiting since I had an appointment (my doctor's office is also a Walk-In clinic). Ok fine. I get shown to a room right away and I had to wait 20 minutes to see the other doctor. I did manage to finish reading my book during this time, so it wasn't a lost cause. 

The other Dr. (I have no clue at all as to what her name is!) came in and went over my blood test results with me. Good news; I'm perfectly healthy! Well, except for the being extremely overweight part, but on paper, I'm perfectly healthy. Everything is good. My iron was good, my kidneys are working well, my cholesterol number is normal, my sugar is good. No signs of diabetes.  The Doctor then asked how my blood pressure is. I told her that I had no idea so, she took my blood pressure too and said that it was good. That was kind of impressive. I figured that with how annoyed I was, it would have been through the roof. Guess reading my book calmed me down.

 Before she left, the nice doctor lady told me to book another appointment with my doctor for my physical and pap. I almost laughed in her face. That's so not going to happen. I've lost 2 mornings so far. I'm not taking any more time off work. This is by far, the most dysfunctional doctor's office I've ever been to. It took me 3 years to get a doctor and it doesn't seem to matter. I think I have to renew my efforts and see if I can find a better doctor, one who actually gives a shit and cares about how their office is run. I wonder if there's someone I can complain to about this?

My next trick will be finding an eye doctor (not so bad) and a dentist (scared to death of them!). This should be a blast :) Stay tuned for those adventures.... LOL.

Good Night!

Sarah

The relaxing view from the dock at Steph's cottage