Saturday, August 1

Doctors Appointments Can Be Fun

Every time I go to my doctors (yes, plural...I have a few I go see every three months now and a couple more thrown in just for good luck) I try to have fun with them and make them laugh. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Like the time I went to my neurologist and they have you do that walking test to see if you are off balance. They make you walk across the room and then back a couple times to get a general sense of how you are. The doctor asked me to do this and I started limping across the room, then spun around really fast and almost fell down. You should have seen the doctor's face. It was awesome. I started to laugh, then he realized what I was doing and laughed as well. That was funny.

Or the time my primary care doctor had pushed around my knee and asked me if it hurt. I said a little and she said she was going to push on my other knee and to tell her when it started to hurt. She barely placed her finger on my skin when I immediately started yelping, loud. She jumped up about a foot off the floor because I startled her, but then I started laughing. She laughed too, and within a few minutes we were both crying from laughing so hard. That was funny too.

Or the visit after my surgery where it was truly confirmed that I had cancer. The doctor said "So you've got the big 'C' huh?" to which I exclaimed "Yes. And it's ALL OVER MY BODY!!". His eyes bulged and it looked like he was having a heart attack. Ok, he didn't think that was funny, but I sure did.

Today was no exception. I had two separate doctors appointments today and I tried to make each one of them laugh. By now, these doctors know my sense of humor and they try to prepare themselves for whatever little joke I am going to play on them. This time, however, it was my turn to be teased. One of my doctors was explaining how on a previous blood test it showed that my thyroid antibodies were pretty much non-existent. At that time they were listed at less than 20.0, which is good. I kept looking at the test result and trying to figure out how he could tell that. Finally I asked him how he knew that, and he started to smile a mischievous smile. That should have been my clue. He said "Do you remember math?" (I just cracked up thinking about that right then). What kind of a question is that, I thought. Do I remember math? I looked at him blankly. He said "Remember in grade school when they should have taught you about the greater than and less than sign? That's how I know. That little symbol right there? That's a less than sign." To which he then started to laugh. Once I recovered from the shock I started to laugh too...hard. I said "You would think I should remember that, huh? But I don't. I can never figure out which way that stupid crocodile wants to face!" For those of you reading this who have no idea what I'm talking about, when they taught us about the greater than and less than signs they taught us about a crocodile who is hungry and always goes for the bigger number, hence the bigger mouth for either this <>. Anyway, it was funny.

So yes, my doctors appointments went well today. I had more blood tests taken, a thorough review of my chart and explanation of test results, and a detailed explanation of what is going to happen in the next three months for my next round of tests. It is a safe bet that my medication dosage is going to be increased, but to what level we don't know yet. He'll figure out what that is going to be once he gets my blood tests back which should be in a couple of days. After that I will be able to start taking the new dosage and HOPEFULLY start feeling better. Then in three months the real fun begins. More tests, followed by some more shots, followed by even more tests, and...oh yes, even more tests. All I'll want for Christmas this year are test results to come back quickly, and come back clean! Woo-hoo!!

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