My friends seem to be travelling like there’s no tomorrow. Sweden was the destination of choice for Brittany. Katie and her husband went to the Baltics and Sweden. Chris went to Italian wine country. Alan and his wife are spending a month in Italy. Gina and her husband are toottling around Naples. Susana and her husband did Greece and Italy. Rulon and Heather did Peru. Not to be outdone, Tim and Michelle are done with Peru and heading for Ecuador as we speak. Rachel and Kate went to Crater Lake (which I missed after I cut short my 2019 bike tour).
I went to the doctor.
Yep. Aren’t you jealous?
I started with a fine case of Covid-19. My symptoms were mild but I was put on Paxlovid and told to keep away from people for 10 days. I fully recovered in a matter of days.
My doctor noticed that I hadn’t had a physical in several years. So I did that. My blood work came back with problems. Going for a physical is like getting your oil changed. Once the mechanic gets a look under the hood, you’re screwed. Well, in my case, my blood work showed elevated glucose levels, borderline pre-diabetic, in fact. The doctor told me to lay off drinking sugary sodas and fruit juices and eating carbs (of the non-whole-grain sort). I have complied pretty faithfully.
Alas, my blood work also showed elevated and rising cholesterol, and my LDL – the especially worrisome component – was way high. He told me to try changes to my diet, including eating salmon twice a week. Ok, just shoot me now.
So I’ve been doing some research, which is to say I’ve been watching two funny Canadian doctors on YouTube. I no longer drink OJ at breakfast. I have had about six cookies since early August. I feel really guilty whenever I eat red meat. Or oil. Or butter. Or eggs. (None of which I eat to excess anyway, but still.). The Canadian docs mentioned an odd study of ten people that found that Brazil nuts are almost as good as statins for lowering cholesterol. Damned if I can find any. Almonds will have to do. Also, eating lots of fruits and veggies is supposedly helpful but too many fruits can spike my blood sugar. I am doomed.
According to the Canadian docs, your cholesterol level is 80 percent genetics. So even if I ate salmon and Brazil nuts and oatmeal for every meal, I’d still have crappy blood cholesterol. Long story short, I go back for follow up blood tests in November. After the sure-to-be disappointing results, I’ll finally go on a statin and celebrate my genetic misfortune with a pepperoni pizza and some egg nog.
(On the plus side, my hemoglobin levels were still somewhat high, a benefit of riding at altitude for a month. Also, my weight – even now – remains well below my pre-tour porkitude.)
If you think my insides are bad, you should take a look at my outsides. My doctor did and referred me to a dermatologist. I booked an appointment for early October.
Since I was at the doctor anyway, I had my pandemic-delayed second pneumonia shot and my first shingles vaccine shot. I felt a bit like the family dog. Woof.
After the physical and the vaccines, I needed some good medical news so I went to my ophthalmologist. (If your insurance will pay for an ophthalmologist you should go to one instead of an optometrist. That way, you won’t have to find an eye surgeon when your retina detaches or your lenses fog over. Ask me how I know.) My intraocular pressure is under control thanks to my daily eye drops. And my optic nerve is in tip top shape.
Confident of not going blind, I decided to go to the dentist. I love my dentist but this visit he took a panaromic x-ray of my teeth. Surely he’d find all kinds of nasty dental disasters, right? Nope! Perfection! Okay, when you have as much hardware in your mouth as I do, perfection is a term of art. But not one tooth, crown, or cavity is on the verge of falling out.
On the way home I took a trip to the pharmacy and had a flu shot. It’s a good thing that vaccines don’t make you smell bad because otherwise I’d be reeking.
After a few weeks of relative medical calm, I went to the dermatologist. He apparently was having a sale on liquid nitrogen because he froze 21 lesions off my face and ears. Are we having fun yet? I thought I should get a prize or something but all he did was send me home with another prescription, for anti-dandruff shampoo, to be used on my face. My face has dandruff. Will wonders never cease?
In a couple of weeks, I’m going to get my bivalent Covid booster which has been delayed because I had Covid in late July. After that, it’s time for my blood to be re-tested and for my second shingles shot. Then comes the real fun.
In early December I’ll be having a colonoscopy. Don’t you wish you were me? I’m pretty sure NASA could learn a thing or two about propulsion from the folks that make the colonoscopy cleansing medication. I’m not looking forward to this procedure but it’s not my first rotorooter rodeo. (Come to think of it, the effect of the cleansing medication kind of looks like riding the mechanical bull in Urban Cowboy. Just try not to get thrown. Eww.) I think it’s my seventh or eighth time taking the fantastic voyage.
Once I get the colonoscopy scheduled, I will be setting up an appointment with a back surgeon. My spinal stenosis has steadily worsened since I came home from my tour. I suspect the epidural I had in April has worn off. I’m not in constant pain but, unless I am bent forward, I can’t do anything on my feet without discomfort. If the surgery and post-op rehab goes well, I’ll be all set to jump on my bike and do a tour in the spring.
Maybe I should have my head examined.
A Few Spokes Shy of a Wheel 
Good Lord. You sound like a medical experiment with all those tests and drugs. I can understand the FOMO. If it makes you feel any better I had FOMO for your entire bike tour. Hoping for clean bills of health soon for you. Until then, eat the salmon. Who doesn’t like salmon!?
The best part of the colonoscopy is the prep. The guy who invented Golytely” was brilliant in the naming, on two levels. I just had my flu and new COVID vaccines, had the first of the new shingles vaccines a few weeks ago, and have my next colonoscopy scheduled. No FOMO for me!
Wow! A lot of medical things happening!!
Guilt? Really. You went to Catholic grammar school and earned a PhD in guilt. Cut yourself some slack. You ride a bike 50 miles a day. Most people your age spend their day watching tv and eating junk food. So you have elevated cholesterol. Who doesn’t? And lesions on your skin? You spend hours a day out in the sun. You need a body condom to prevent lesions doing that. Colonoscopy is good for 5 years. And soon you can tell them to forget it. Eat lots of salad and just cut the red meat down to half the portion. Why drive yourself crazy? That will shorten your life too.
Whenever I wrote something at work, my boss would give it to someone for editing and commenting. They felt compelled to do something even if it was just to change “also” to “too”. There’s some of that going on with doctors.
I am mostly concerned about my blood work. My cholesterol is 277 BTW. It was 259 last time I checked. I am concerned about the trend which is odd considering how much exercise I get. My last several colonoscopies found polyps so he put me on a 3 year cycle.
The back issue is messing with my quality of life. I walk around like a 85 year old. No bueno.
Your experiences sound eerily similar to when I was abducted by Aliens in Roswell.
I suspected as much!
Prior to the COVID era, I volunteered for a study to lower cholesterol by consuming huge quantities of walnuts. Unfortunately, they put the program on hold and when they resumed it, my doc had put me on statins so I was no longer able to participate. It would have been interesting to see if walnuts would have done the trick. I might ask my doc if I can drop the statins and try the walnuts on my own.
Well since I can’t find Brazil nuts at any store near me, I’ll add walnuts to the mix. Now if only I stopped eating all the bad stuff (that tastes good).
OK, just saw those videos you mentioned. I’m definitely going to ask my doc if I can try alternative methods of lowering my LDL. And per your numbers, mine aren’t even that bad.
It’s funny that not one doctor mentioned my cholesterol when I had my DVT and pulmonary embolisms.
Why did I think you had numbers? NVM, will still ask doc about dumping the statins. She’ll probably lecture me about getting advice from YouTube.
I actually put them in a comment yesterday. 277 total. Something in the 180s for LDL. The Canadian docs are following their version of the CDC from what I can tell. My doc does the same here. My doc’s recs were not as lengthy as the Canadians but there was substantial overlap.