...and those of us alive who have health-care must try to visit doctors for the first time in 15 or 20 years to find out what's wrong with us before it's too late---unlike that unfortunate friend who just died of a stroke! (How quickly my beloved Sandra turns into an anecdote.)
BTW: I'd made this doctor's appointment over a month ago, before I found out Sandra died (2 weeks ago).
And so I got undressed and poked and prodded and lectured about drinking and smoking, and blood was drawn and I peed in cup, etc. At least THIS doctor knew how to do a pap smear.
(Unlike the doctor I went to 18 months ago who tried 3 times and couldn't ever do it right without me actually SCREAMING with pain from whatever very sharp instrument was poking me---and I'm not THAT wimpy! This last doctor in the other office---clearly a young DEI hire---then gave up and sent me out to the lobby to sign up for my blood tests, where I was informed that I'd have to wait there for 2 or 3 hours...And no, I couldn't make an actual appointment to come back---you were just supposed to show up for blood tests whenever, first come, first served, and wait however long they had you wait. Bullshit. I immediately went home. I don't count this whole horrible experience as a doctor's visit. p.s. It's not because of my "menopausal, thinning vaginal walls" that the attempted pap smear hurt so much! You just didn't know how to do it properly!)
The place I went to today was fine. I'd written down a list of things I was worried about, and they (assistant and doctor) did listen, and the doctor did her stuff and signed me up for other places to go later where I'd never been (like for a mammogram, etc). And I got all bloodwork done without waiting, and got the first of two Shingles shots. (Other shots strongly suggested: Tetanus and for Pneumonia and another Covid shot---Why? I declined all three of these, and was kind of bothered by why they were even touted.)
In my future lies a mail-in home colo-rectal sample kit, a visit to have 2 irregular moles removed, my second Shingles shot, and whatever else goes on at the Mammogram place. And can't wait to see what my bloodwork tests result in!
Sigh. And Yuck. I hate all of this because I'm somewhat suspicious of messing with a natural physiological system (my own body, which is naturally getting slightly more run down in my 50s) in favor of constant prodding and poking and testing---perhaps only because the doctor's office gets a lot of money from my insurance company! I honestly don't know that all of the intrusions (either with instruments or potential prescriptions) are necessarily a helpful thing for my body.
I dunno---I'll go along with all of this initial testing because, honestly, I've been trained mentally by the media (and their medical and pharmaceutical sponsors) that you're "supposed to" have all of this done. A mammogram every 2 years after age 40. A pap smear every 3 years after age 21. I could be an anomaly, in my 50s, that I haven't had any physical tests done for nearly 20 years and nothing has been seriously wrong with me so far. Or is it just that most people's bodies work the same way and that we all don't need constant medical exams---all the proposed scraping and blood tests and vaccines, which are all very invasive to our bodies? (Given the current highly entwined monetary relationship with doctors and insurance companies, I honestly can't tell if any doctor is making an honest assessment. I mean, telling me to get a Tetanus shot was pretty blatantly a bid for insurance money...)
Anyway, I came away from today's doctor visit somewhat assuaged that I was getting some checkups that I supposedly "officially" needed to get. After all, it had been about 20 years, and I'd been feeling a bit decrepit. So we'll see what the blood tests say. Or else I'll decide to go on my "natural" way as I have been doing for the past 20 years... Heaven forbid I actually get cancer and have to spend the last 10 years of my life in doctor's offices and hospital rooms being injected with things.
One thing I noticed in the office that was a bit odd to me: In the room where I got my blood tests were a multitude of rainbows and "love = love" banners. I mean, all over the place, 20 or more. The whole small room was a Pride-fest. I'm bisexual (primarily gay) myself. But... What in the world does a doctor's office have to do with your sexual orientation or any opinion of gayness? The human body is a physiological thing when it needs blood tests or a pap smear, or whatever: A lesbian female vagina is the same as a heterosexual female vagina. (Transsexuals who have "built vaginas" are special cases---but surely they have "special doctors" who know their intricate cases. And surely they care more about professional medical skills rather than childish "virtue signalling" rainbows scattered about the room.)
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