Went to the doctor for the first time in 15 years today...

Well, in actuality, I first went 2 weeks ago to get my ear checked out: I hadn't had an ear-ache since 1983, so this was unusual. While making the ear checkup, decided to go ahead and make the first general physical checkup that I'd had in 15 years.

Ear got taken care off with a prescription for sulfite drops and a wash to get rid of ear-wax.

Body didn't get so taken care of. My new general practitioner attempted to do a pap smear; whatever instrument she inserted into me made me scream with pain (well, I wasn't actually "screaming," more like saying "Owwwww" really loud)! So she stopped after 4 tries. And then tried to cover by saying, oh, since I'd never had a pap smear before, that's why it hurt... I had to RE-explain: I've had many pap smears in the past, just not any since 2006---and I don't remember any of the earlier ones HURTING me like this!

Post unsatisfactory check-up, I was sent out to the main desk for "lab work" (blood tests). Where I was informed that it was an hour wait. No, I didn't want to wait around for an hour.

I had been concerned about potential diabetes (my left ankle has been swollen for a couple of years) and about anything else (cancer, liver disease) the blood tests might show. But I wasn't going to wait around for an hour on top of my initial appointment. Screw the list of 20 things that the doctor had put down to test for. (Half of them were tests for sexually transmitted diseases---which since, as I explained to the doctor, I hadn't had sex in a very long time, weren't actually necessary.)

After 15 years of no health-care, I came away from this brand-new encounter with "health-care" thinking that the system was trying to milk money out of my insurance company, and out of me, without actually taking care of me.

I WOULD ultimately like to know what my blood tests reveal... But like hell I'm going to sit in a waiting room for an hour! So I guess I'll never know. And I guess, sans blood results, I'll just come into the office whenever something happens (rather than the currently touted "preventive care").

p.s. Twelve hours after my unsuccessful pap smear today, my cervix still hurts, and my abdomen hurts. What the hell?