Tuesday, June 30, 2009
A Very Valuable Day
(1)
I'm back a bit early this week with some good news: I really like my new doctor; she was very straightforward and direct, and took advantage of our 'get to know you' appointment by learning about some of my health habits and making recommendations based on my health profile. For example, Diet Pepsi is a no-no; water is better. I committed to reducing my Diet Pepsi intake to one or two per day. She was also diplomatic: booze is bad news, but she did not press me in the matter. I volunteered to consider reducing the weekly booze night to 6 beers... maybe... eventually... The most interesting result of the visit: I am not diabetic, based on historical tests of (?). She removed the 'diagnosis' but ordered blood and urine tests for several possible problems. Amazingly, she gave me a printed list of all health problems Kaiser currently 'charges me with' including 'delusional disorder!' This is the very first occasion on which a Kaiser physican has made me aware that my old (early '90s?) diagnosis of 'delusional disorder' was known to every physician I have dealt with since that time. No wonder none of them took me seriously! She even gave me a 'referral' to the kaiser Mental Health Clinic concerning said disorder, and I explained to her that (mental health professionals) and I 'do not get along.' But the referral does open the door to a possible negation of that ancient 'diagnosis...' hmm... we shall see...
I was wrong about the 'glaucoma' diagnosis. It was actually a 'Cataract' diagnosis. A meeting with Kristine today (after that with Melissa) corrected my error. I remember researching both. What was the cause of the mistake? Booze-related memory problems? Probably. Kristine explained that (thump above) cataracts are age-related somewhat like grey hair, hence no 'prognosis.'
To sum up, today was a very valuable day. I rarely get to meet two beautiful people in one day.
I'm back a bit early this week with some good news: I really like my new doctor; she was very straightforward and direct, and took advantage of our 'get to know you' appointment by learning about some of my health habits and making recommendations based on my health profile. For example, Diet Pepsi is a no-no; water is better. I committed to reducing my Diet Pepsi intake to one or two per day. She was also diplomatic: booze is bad news, but she did not press me in the matter. I volunteered to consider reducing the weekly booze night to 6 beers... maybe... eventually... The most interesting result of the visit: I am not diabetic, based on historical tests of (?). She removed the 'diagnosis' but ordered blood and urine tests for several possible problems. Amazingly, she gave me a printed list of all health problems Kaiser currently 'charges me with' including 'delusional disorder!' This is the very first occasion on which a Kaiser physican has made me aware that my old (early '90s?) diagnosis of 'delusional disorder' was known to every physician I have dealt with since that time. No wonder none of them took me seriously! She even gave me a 'referral' to the kaiser Mental Health Clinic concerning said disorder, and I explained to her that (mental health professionals) and I 'do not get along.' But the referral does open the door to a possible negation of that ancient 'diagnosis...' hmm... we shall see...
I was wrong about the 'glaucoma' diagnosis. It was actually a 'Cataract' diagnosis. A meeting with Kristine today (after that with Melissa) corrected my error. I remember researching both. What was the cause of the mistake? Booze-related memory problems? Probably. Kristine explained that (thump above) cataracts are age-related somewhat like grey hair, hence no 'prognosis.'
To sum up, today was a very valuable day. I rarely get to meet two beautiful people in one day.
