Starting down the slippery slope
Aug. 3rd, 2006 09:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
susandennisI'm home from the doctor's office and not quite sure how I feel about having gone.
On the up side, the doctor was great. She was very respectful and understanding and not offended (that I had dissed her profession for years) or shocked - at least she didn't seem that way. I took a copy of my Living Will/Healthcare Power of Attorney and she asked me good questions about that... 'if you had to be intubated briefly to save your life but would absolutely recover, would you want that?' Nope. And again she was not judgmental at all and seemed only interested in understanding what I wanted and not hellbent on changing my mind.
She listened to my heat and lungs and poked on my tummy and said it was good. She took my blood pressure and said it was high. Really high. So then she got all doctory.
And the slippery slope begins.
See my thought is that once you start taking pills and getting exams and taking tests, it's only a matter of time before you are locked into and totally dependent on the health care system and you are no longer a stand alone entity. I don't want to be totally dependent on anything except my TiVo.
She wanted me to go to my nearest fire station every day to get my blood pressure checked. I allowed as how that really wasn't going to happen. So I signed up for going back to her next week to get it checked.
She also talked me into a physical. She was able to do this because she really did listen.
"Would you object to getting a mammogram?"
"Well, not per se but the only reason to get one is to find something that needs to be treated and I'm not interested in being treated."
But, she carefully countered with the comfort argument... hurt prevention is something I can get my arms around. Mainly I was so appreciative that she was hearing what I was saying.
So, next week I go back for a blood pressure check and in September, I'll go back for a physical and then as she said 'we'll see'.
On the up side, the doctor was great. She was very respectful and understanding and not offended (that I had dissed her profession for years) or shocked - at least she didn't seem that way. I took a copy of my Living Will/Healthcare Power of Attorney and she asked me good questions about that... 'if you had to be intubated briefly to save your life but would absolutely recover, would you want that?' Nope. And again she was not judgmental at all and seemed only interested in understanding what I wanted and not hellbent on changing my mind.
She listened to my heat and lungs and poked on my tummy and said it was good. She took my blood pressure and said it was high. Really high. So then she got all doctory.
And the slippery slope begins.
See my thought is that once you start taking pills and getting exams and taking tests, it's only a matter of time before you are locked into and totally dependent on the health care system and you are no longer a stand alone entity. I don't want to be totally dependent on anything except my TiVo.
She wanted me to go to my nearest fire station every day to get my blood pressure checked. I allowed as how that really wasn't going to happen. So I signed up for going back to her next week to get it checked.
She also talked me into a physical. She was able to do this because she really did listen.
"Would you object to getting a mammogram?"
"Well, not per se but the only reason to get one is to find something that needs to be treated and I'm not interested in being treated."
But, she carefully countered with the comfort argument... hurt prevention is something I can get my arms around. Mainly I was so appreciative that she was hearing what I was saying.
So, next week I go back for a blood pressure check and in September, I'll go back for a physical and then as she said 'we'll see'.
