Getting Physical
Most of the things on my 60 By Sixty list are fun and exciting, but not all of them. As I was approaching my 59th birthday last December and finishing my list, I realized that in 2020 I had neglected routine healthcare. I had no physical and no mammogram. The only thing I did was my regular dental cleanings. Because I skipped out on these appointments last year, I added a complete physical, mammogram, and colonoscopy as numbers 55, 56, and 57 on my list.
The irony of the COVID life in 2020 is that we were all worried about getting sick but we didn’t want to go to the doctor and most doctors didn’t want us to come into their offices.
The bummer part of stating that I would have a complete physical meant that I would need to find a new primary care physician because my last one retired. More than going to the doctor, I despise finding and “breaking in” a new doctor. 2021 is the year that that had to be done. At the recommendation of a trusted friend, I made an appointment with “a new guy.”
As I walked into the office building for that appointment, I realized that I was more anxious than I usually am when going to the doctor. I don’t normally have any anxiety around medical procedures. I don’t mind shots or blood draws. In my quick elevator ride up three floors, it dawned on me that my added uneasiness was because I am getting older. And when we get older, doctors start finding things that are wrong with us.
I found this thought process rather humorous because I was diagnosed with Systemic Lupus at age 36. I lived with some fairly miserable symptoms of that for fifteen years, symptoms that involved weekly iron infusions for eight years on top of other weird autoimmune responses that would randomly come and go . Despite all of that, I was never worried or scared about having lupus. I probably should have been. It can be a devastating illness. I think that at the point that I was diagnosed, I was so happy to know there was a real reason that I felt so bad that relief rather than fear was where my head went. In my early fifties, the disease calmed down. Other than mild fatigue every now and then, I have been healthy and felt good for almost ten years. So, there was no real reason for me to be concerned about what the doctor may discover. Still, my blood pressure rose.
When all was said and done,
I liked the doctor.
All of my lab numbers were excellent.
I still have the lupus markers but am currently asymptomatic.
I got a clean bill of health from the new doctor with his recommendation being keep doing what I am doing.
And an order for a mammogram
And another for a colonoscopy.
I hate the thought that from now on every time I have a physical it will be accompanied by increasing levels of anxiety. I guess this is one of the curses of turning sixty. Fortunately, from where I stand today, the good of getting older still far outweighs the bad. Hopefully I’ll still feel this way after the mammogram and colonoscopy.
Stay tuned. 🙂
