Clean Bill of Health

I hadn’t had a routine physical in years, so a few weeks ago, I decided it was time.

I’d never even met my primary care physician because I’d simply picked her from a list when I enrolled in my HMO last year. As luck would have it, she was absolutely wonderful. She wasn’t anxious to throw a prescription at me for any little symptom I mentioned. Instead, she made me feel completely comfortable, listened to my concerns, thoroughly answered every question, and was genuinely interested in me, my health, and my well-being. It was amazing.

After she examined me, we talked about my few aches and pains, mostly just my lower back and left knee, which she examined and then offered me a referral to a local chiropractor, as I requested. Then she said I should have some lab work done. As hard as it is to admit, I’m of the age where it’s time to start monitoring all that stuff: cholesterol, blood glucose, thyroid, etc. So, a few days later, I had blood drawn and have been waiting patiently for the results.

Well, the results are in…and I’m darn healthy! My cholesterol total is 142 (it should be under 200) and the breakdown shows that everything (triglycerides, HDL, LDL) is right where it should be. My thyroid and blood glucose are also smack in the middle of normal ranges. Yay!

Now, the last thing I need to do is have a mammogram. I’m 32, so it’s pretty early for me to start, but since I have fibrocystic breasts, it’s difficult to tell through regular breast exams if everything’s normal. Plus, things have been a little, shall we say, out of whack lately and the doc said this was the proactive thing to do, just to be sure.

So, in about two weeks, I’ll go for a mammogram and breast ultrasound and, hopefully, “the girls” will turn out to be perfectly fine.