I just passed my annual health check-up - or, in this case, bi-annual. Last year I didn't get summoned to one; and considering all the chaos connected with the one in 2020, perhaps just as well. (In 2021 I just sent online requests to have prescriptions renewed.)
I've just been re-reading some blog posts of mine on the topic from 2020. They're full of illustrations and references to Alice in Wonderland, plus some quotes from 'Very British Problems'. Like:
and
(Very British Problems)
As you'll remember, 2020 was the first autumn of the pandemic, before the vaccines - and doctors did not really want to meet patients! (Probably the lab assistants would have preferred not to either, but as they've not yet invented a way of drawing blood via the internet, they had to!) The contact with the doctor that autumn was by phone calls. We'd never met in person, and Swedish wasn't his first language, which did not help. On the whole, I think it was more about him being disorganized, though - giving contradictory instructions, not calling when he said he would, not making proper journal entries - and then also not being there to follow up things he started (like changes in my medication). Anyway, for me it meant a month of chaos, getting worse before it got better...
So now, when summoned to a 'regular' check-up again, with yet another doctor I'd never met before - there were mixed feelings involved, and I kind of steeled myself for another 'combat'...
As usual, the first step was to have blood drawn for tests, a week or two before the appointment. So I did that, one early morning a couple of weeks ago. From back in 2020, I recalled getting told off by a stressed receptionist for unthinkingly walking straight in through the front door, which was held up for me by someone leaving. I should have stopped outside and called in from my mobile, and assured them first that I did not have any cold symptoms... (There was a sign outside saying so, but entering when someone holds up the door for you is kind of a reflex...) This time, I carefully stopped and read the sign - but now it just says that if you have got cold symptoms, don't enter, but call in first. To my surprise, the waiting room was all empty when I came in. And the receptionist (no idea if the same one as two years ago) was sitting at her desk. So I just walked straight up there, without first taking a queue ticket... Got another telling off, because in spite of there being no queue, I should have taken a ticket anyway!
Ah well, I got my blood drawn - and a bruise to last two weeks; but never mind...
Today, it was time to go back and meet the new unknown doc, and get the results. Compared to two years ago, the experience could hardly have been more different. This doctor seemed to be of calm and composed nature. He looked at his computer screen and said (without bothering about details) that all tests were fine. He then checked my blood pressure, and that was OK too. (Which my own cuff at home has kept reassuring me in between; but it does always tend to rise as soon as I set foot in a doctor's office. It did now too - but not too much!) He asked about my asthma (under control) and I told him I still had some unanswered questions about my allergy test results from two years ago. I explained, and he agreed with me that what I was wondering about (tree pollen) seemed not to have been tested for. So he ordered a new such test, which I got taken at the lab on my way out. (Different lab ass and only a small bruise this time.) I also asked for my various prescriptions to be renewed, and he said he'd do that. (I logged in and checked later this afternoon, and he had done that.) That was it. So I suppose that for now, I can just "get on with my life" this time! (Phew!)
13 comments:
this time was really so much better! I am so happy for you that now you have a year to look forward to unless something Comes Up! which we all fear and hope will not. we all tend to forget that docotrs are JUST PEOPLE and all people are different. I have yet to find a doctor that i really like and certainly do not trust them to take care of my needs, it is up to me to stay on top my needs and push the ones that can do it
I'm glad that is over, and that the doctor seemed to be alright. Let us know how the tree pollen test comes out! You take allergy meds? Which ones? I take three different ones.
I remember your 2020 tale of woes. That doctor seems to have been completely overwhelmed by all the different procedures the pandemic had thrown at him, not seeing patients in person but having to adapt to new ways of handling it all. And poor you having to try and work things out for yourself!
Good to know this time was different, except for the (once again) telling off and the bruise. And the best: Your test results are good :-)
You're right of course, Sandra. Still, the doctors are the ones with "power", and for us as patients their communication skills ('bedside manner'/empathy) matter as well as their medical skills.
Meike, I was relieved both that my test results were okay, and to find doctor-patient communication working better this time :)
Ginny, I've had allergies since my teens, starting with summer hay fever and obviously later extended to tree pollen as well. I've previously not bothered to get tested for exactly which ones. But the doc in 2020 (going through my list of prescriptions) wanted a test. But it seems he left out testing for tree pollen - maybe just by mistake. But as I've started wondering more about cross-reactivity (pollen allgery vs reactions to certain foods) lately, I decided to ask for an additional test. Won't answer everything but may be helpful.
I remember reading your post about the doctor's visit, it's much the same here with medical centres, they prefer people phone ahead if they aren't well and interestingly enough my youngest was at the doctor's last week for a checkup and there was a woman sitting nearby (with a mask) who was coughing, the doctor came out and told all the staff to get their PPE on as she had tested positive for covid, I don't think she had phoned ahead so we are crossing our fingers we don't get it again.
Amy, all health care staff here now wear masks again but patients in the waiting room were not required to. I think they probably let people with cold symptoms in through some back door, that's why one is to stop outside and phone in if one has such symptoms, not enter by the main entrance. I didn't wear a mask on these recent visits as there were very few people in the waiting room on both occasions and no problem to keep distance. And no one coughing. Corona numbers are rising again here too but few people getting seriously ill now (if vaccinated).
Glad to hear that you've been given a clean bill of health - so no more worries. Fortunately, I have been able to phone the local health centre to renew my medication, though I'm sure at some time I'll need to have the annual blood test. It will all depend upon how many people have the latest virus.
CG, yes, it's understandable that some of the usual routine procedures may have to wait a bit these days; or handled differently. In general I do appreciate all the medical staff doing their best to deal with a still very stressful situation. But then so are most of us who are in need their services...
Glad all went well. I used to be very into Alice in Wonderland and am still into both books themselves - they're incredibly unbelievably clever. And, I still think Lewis Carroll was a very nice and extremely interesting person who I'd love to have met.
Jenny, I have your book (The Mystery of Lewis Carroll); been a while now since I read it, but I appreciated it! I didn't 'get' Alice back in my childhood but now I keep returning to it...
At last I've re-read this and got around to commenting because I was fascinated that you have what, in the UK, we call 'white coat syndrome' ie your blood pressure rises when you enter a medical facility. That is very common. I, on the other hand, suffer from the opposite. As soon as I'm in a medical facility I feel safe and my BP drops.
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