Doctor's Make a Difference

Of course they do....but the title of this post is for a different reason. I should say, their "opinion" makes a difference, along with their attitude, and ability to understand the patient.

In a nutshell, I was going to a doctor in Scranton for many many years. It had gotten to the point where when I would leave his office, I felt like I had about 6 months to live. "You are NOT healthy"! "You are overweight"! "You need to excercise more because you don't have a healthy heart"! "What's wrong with you? Why do you do these things to your body?" "You need activities to lower your stress"! etc. etc. I would leave more stressed than when I arrived.
So after years of my wife telling me to switch doctor's, I figured it was time. First because we live in Luzurne County, and all the health stuff was up in Lackawanna County. I really don't feel like driving that far. Second, if I really was THAT sick, I'd prefer to be sick close to home and not worry about HAVING to go a hospital up that way. So, a new doctor it is. And it's my wife's doctor as well.
I had my first appointment with him a few weeks ago, and it went OK. Yes, just OK because of fear I guess (white coat syndrome) and because I thought all doctors were the same. He wanted me to have some blood work done, and he started me on a script for Hypertension. Follow up appointment was today (Wed).
They checked my blood pressure when I got there (118/80), weighed me (lost 6 pounds since last time I was there), heart rate (98...nerves lol), and the nurse chatted with me for awhile until the doctor came in. Quick side-note, he's YOUNGER than me. THAT is weird. I'm so used to doctors being OLDER. Anyway.....
He looked at my pressure reading..."GREAT!! We did what we attempted to do". Looked at all my blood work "These numbers are fantastic!!! I'll go over them all with you if you want." "Sure", I said. I never had a doctor do this before. He showed me EVERYTHING was in range of target, and then told me...........ready for this............."Let's do one more quick blood test in three months to see if your liver and kidneys are flushing the blood pressure meds properly, and if all stays the same, I won't need to see you again for six months. You're one healthy guy!" I almost cried. Happy tears that is. I asked him about exercising with my busy schedule and what can I do? His response, "simple, take four, rapid, twenty minute walks a week to get your heart rate up over 120 and you'll be perfect!" Really? That's it? I do that when the weather is nice anyway. It takes exactly 20 minutes for me to walk up the hill and back down here at work. And I usually do more than 4 a week anyway. "Yep, that will bring the bad cholesteral down even more and you're good to go."
I have one question....what the hell was that other doctor smoking? I really want to know where he got all his info from. Was he looking at a different Tom Jenkins file (they have 4 on file up there)? Was he looking at my dead Dad's file?
My suggestion to anyone who doesn't like to visit the doctor.....FIND A NEW ONE!

There's my gratitude for the day today. And if the specific doctor I visited today is reading this......THANK YOU!!!!!


And for those who just like to look at pictures.....