The Waiting Room - 8:41 AM

I go to the doctor today. I've dreaded this since I made the appointment on Friday. I'm beginning to feel sick now. I'll go in. He'll ask what's wrong. Do you think it would offend him if I said, "You?"

I would have been a lot better if I could have gotten in on Friday. I wouldn't have had enough time to get worked up about it. But they didn't have any appointments available. Big surprise. They never have anything available when I call. When John calls, they practically work their schedule around him. I swear I'm cursed. But the Monday appointment did prevent me from seeing the physician's assistant who almost misdiagnosed my case of strep when I last went in.

I really have a bad track record with women doctors (or P.A.'s). I always thought I'd be partial to women, but I can only name one woman doctor I liked. She's in geriatrics now and still in Nebraska, so it's a bit difficult to see her, since I'm not geriatric or in Nebraska. She was one of the best doctors I ever had and one of the few I trusted. Other female doctors I've seen have been rough (cramming an elephant-size speculum in my vagina since I must be stretched out from having a child) and don't listen to me (it's not strep, we could check for cysts but I didn't feel anything, or it's just allergies).

I'm seeing a man today. I saw him before when I had my blister that turned into cellulitis and lymphangitis. He wanted to hospitalize me. He took my condition seriously, but how can you ignore puss-y reddish-purple skin, bright red streaks up my arm and a lump the size of a golf ball on my elbow?

I think I love you - 3:15 PM

It's a bit early to be determined, but so far, this doctor is great. I seriously thought I would go in today to be told, "You have back problems. Deal with it. Lose some weight." That was my typical doctor's visit unless I had something that would show up on a culture. Whether it was dizziness, abdominal pain, a head cold, a crunchy knee or headaches, I always got the deal with it and lose some weight answer. I admit I need to lose some weight, but I'm not that big (even the government says I'm overweight, not obese), and not every condition is caused by fatness. I hate to think what people with worse weight problems have to go through. They probably get told they wouldn't catch that flu bug if they would lose some weight.

Unless they go to this doctor. He came in, talked to me, listened to me, felt my back, stretched my legs up over my head in a way that would have hurt no matter what, considering my flexibility is lacking greatly, and diagnosed me. He talked to me about treatment options and what I could look forward to with this condition. He recommended a course of anti-inflammatory medication, muscle relaxants and physical therapy. And he wants to see me again in six weeks for a follow-up. A follow-up! In these days of drive-thru, HMO healthcare, this guy wants me to come back and make sure I'm doing better? I either have really good insurance, or he's a great doctor. I tend to believe the latter, since I've been in that office and seen that model-of-bedside-manner P.A. who was too inconvenienced by me to wait for the strep test to fully develop.

So I'm taking some drugs and going to physical therapy tomorrow. I've never been to physical therapy before. I don't know what to expect, and I'm a little nervous about it. I have heard more than enough generic horror stories. I don't imagine it's going to be the most comfortable experience, but it can't be much worse than trying to get in and out of the truck this morning. I'm rather looking forward to it. There were some pretty nifty machines (which I might be calling instruments of torture tomorrow) in that office. I suppose we'll see.

I'm so happy with my visit today that I think I might actually schedule that physical I've been putting off for many, many years. I wish it would make me want to go to the dentist and the eye doctor. It wasn't that great a visit though.