Doctor Anxiety

I haven't been to the doctor since circa 2007. And that was for a cough that lasted three months - or six - and wouldn't go away. I hadn't really been to the doctor for a check up for anything resembling an exam of any sort since I was approximately 16.

Mostly, I just hate doctors. They only schedule about 10 minutes with you, so if they find anything remotely wrong, you have to keep coming back again and again because they can't fix you in one sitting. Sometimes they are so bad at their jobs, they plug in your conditions to their more expensive version of WebMD, and tell you what you have based on the software's recommendation. And most the time, they are waiting for you to show up and diagnose yourself, so that they can write a prescription that treats the symptoms, without actually discovering the root of the problem.

Be that as it may, I had to go to the doctor yesterday. I was so anxious, that my blood pressure was super high the first time the nurse took the reading. (She came back a while later, and it had gone down, so it's hard to say if I really do have high blood pressure, or I was just really stressed about being at the doctor. I'm going with the latter.)

It wasn't that bad, though.

First, I weighed about six pounds less than I was expecting. Then, I filled out the form explaining the things that I wanted to have checked, and without actually looking at it (at first) the doctor mentioned those same things. I was happy that she seemed to be knowing what she was doing! Then, the doctor validated the way I have been taking my pills, so I was pleased with that.

I still had to wait for 20 minutes before I was seen. And then another 15 when I had to change into my "gown" - by the way, it does not take me that long to get undressed - and while 15 minutes doesn't seem like a long time, it is when you're sitting there undressed in an ugly hospital gown, waiting.

The actual exam took three minutes. And then she wrote out orders to have blood work done, and I was on my way. This is the first female doctor I've ever seen who I actually liked. Usually I hate women doctors. Although, I've hated the men doctors as well.... so never mind, see above paragraph.

This morning, I went and had four vials of blood extracted from my veins. It will take approximately four days to test for all sorts of hormone levels and other things, and then I'll be one step closer to understanding why my body hates me. Hopefully we can mend this relationship soon... because it's really starting to wear me thin.