Happy Easter

Sy's first Easter. He's so photogenic, isn't he?

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.....

Nice Spring Weekend

Finally. Finally after all the waiting, I was able to get out over the weekend and do 4 out of the 5 things I really like to do to relieve stress.

Saturday was the one a month Saturday I didn't have to work, so I slept in. Well, if 8am is sleeping in...it is for me. :) And yes, I went fishing with a friend. I know the water is still real cold, the fish are still real lethargic, but I still got out there. And I didn't get skunked. One small pick and one small perchy. It just felt great to get out on a boat and float around for awhile. I then got home to a text message on my phone, "going to Nicole's....call me when you are done fishing, maybe you can come down for something to eat." That was from my wife, and Nicole is my sister-in-law. I thought about it for a bit, and decided, yes, I was hungry. What a GREAT opportunity to ride my motorcycle for the first time this season. Whooo Hoooo!!!! Granted, it's not too too far away, but it was still a nice ride.


I got there, to find out they didn't start cooking yet.....or shall I say GRILLING yet!!! YES! If you remember this post, it was now MY turn. "Out of my way, I'm grilling on that new grill of yours". And of course, we HAD to get a picture.



Nice bike ride home after dinner, and a great night sleeping, knowing I didn't have to get up too early the next day. Ahhhhhh, so THIS is what stress release feels like huh?

On Sunday, my friend Darren and I went Geocaching. Inside Francis Slocum State Park. We had 5 to find on our list, and we hiked, and walked, and searched, and found them all. It felt like we hiked 73.6 miles, when in all actuality, it was more like 4.5 miles, but it felt good. And I saw some pretty cool stuff in the woods.




I never knew half this stuff was there, and I didn't realize Slocum was THAT big.
Returned home around 3:30-4PM, and proceded to strip off my clothes VERY quickly because there were MANY ticks on me. They are out already, and they are bad. Clothes in the washer, tick check, cooked some dinner on my itty bitty grill, watched Bob's Burgers and Family Guy, took a shower then went to bed pooped. What a GREAT weekend. And here we are, Monday morning, the weather is still beautiful, and I'm SOOOOOOOOOO not wanting to be here at work. Oh well, it should make THIS weekend more enjoyable.

Thanks for reading, thanks for listening to Magic 93, and if you couldn't see the gratitude in the above post.........