Health Care At Last!

So we're finally broke enough to get welfare.  I've had zero medical care since corporate America chewed me up and shat me out about three years ago.  I've had zero infectious disease since I've not been cooped up in an office breathing other people's air, touching other people's keyboards, or sharing cells in a call center.  But now we're covered and we're catching up on those over-fifty type things we're supposed to worry about.  Dig that generationally appropriate Bugs Bunny bandaid I'm sporting.  Nobody ever messed with Bugs without paying a heavy price.  Mel Blanc, one of the most under-rated actors ever.  Anyway, they gave me a tetanus shot and threw in an adult pertussis booster, since we have baby Logan in the house.  My arm swelled up like Popeye and I felt kinda crappy for a couple of days.  I did it for little Peewee!

Speak of the devil!  That child loves to be nakey.  I don't know where she gets it ;-)  Logan recently had her 3-month checkup, can you believe it?  Her growth is in the 80th percentile for girls her age.  She's doing great, learning to coo and starting to roll over, switched to soy formula and gulping it 6 ounces at a pop.  We'll do a feature on Logan and relatives again soon.

This is the view of Clifton from the window of Good Samaritan hospital where Marcy had her colonoscopy.  They snipped out one polyp and the biopsy came back OK.  She also had a mammogram at Mercy Mt. Airy.  They had some concern about one of the images so they called her back for a retake.  After a closer look they decided it was granular tissue, not to worry.  Marcy goes back to her doctor later this month for a followup.

OK, back to yours truly.  My blood pressure had been reading pretty high at those machines in Kroger and the doctor verified that.  They did an electrocardiogram in the office and showed me a big spike on one of the charts that was about twice as big as they like to see.  They said it was a sign of left ventricular hypertrophy, basically an enlargement of part of my heart from pumping against that untreated high blood pressure all this time.  To determine the extent of the enlargement, they sent me to Mercy Fairfield for an echocardiogram of my heart.  I had seen sonograms of Logan in utero, and this was pretty much the same.  They even have a doppler funtion that can shade different directions of blood flow red and blue to make sure the valves are working properly.  Really neat.  I guess I'll get the results when I go back to my doc later this month.  By the way, my doc prescribed lisinopril for the high blood pressure, and it seems to be working well.  The Kroger machine recently said about 104/74, the lowest reading I can remember in my life!

After the echocardiogram I figured I had fasted long enough so I stopped back in the doctor's office to have blood drawn for my lipid profile.  From my own past tests and current family conditions I expected my cholesterol and/or triglycerides to read high.  I've even been trying to write a song, "My Cholesterol Is Higher Than My Credit Score," but my doc called and said it was fine.  Must be from eating lots of olive oil, avocados, nuts, whole grains, and sushi.  I still need to get the numbers when I go back so I can compare to my credit score, just for kicks.  I also have appointments scheduled for an eye exam and my own colonoscopy - I can't wait!  I'll keep you posted.