Yep.
Youngest son Nathan’s birthday today.
I remember it well. We lived in
Mansfield and he was born at the hospital in nearby Fort Worth. The next day I took his two older brothers to
the Independence Day Parade. I vaguely
recall someone saying something about it all being a celebration for their new
baby brother. Can’t remember who might
say something like that …
I actually went to the doctor yesterday …
for a physical. I can’t remember the
last time I had one of those things.
Maybe back in school sports when they ran you through like cattle and
told you to cough. It has been a while. The sweet but somewhat distracted nurse who
did my vitals made the mistake of asking me, rather off-handedly, if I was
having any pain. My answer kind of took
her aback. I quietly replied,
“Constantly.” She almost dropped her
clipboard. “But I thought this was for a
well check-up.” I reassured her, “This
is about as well as it gets for you guys.
Everything else goes through my rheumatologist.” She was a bit more alert after that little
interchange.
My doctor came in, and I wished him well on
his new venture in life. He and his wife
accepted a year’s contract to work in family medicine at a clinic in New
Zealand. Small farming community of
about 5000. People, not cows. I reminded him that the first time I saw him I
told him he would be leaving before long.
Every doctor I have ever had at UTMB has left town. I thought it was just me, but his reply was
telling. “You know, I can almost say I remember
you saying that. But it’s only because
just about everybody says that.”
Hmm.
There was no treadmill test or anything
like that. You can’t get that unless you
are having specific symptoms. He told me
a physical for anyone over 40 (I think he was being generous there) meant
looking for the things that will kill you.
Basically, that meant cancer and heart attack. For a woman it’s pretty involved. Mammogram and pap smear. I wasn’t sure why I was getting the
procedures for women, but it was kind of interesting. For an old man (No, he didn’t really say
that, but the guy looks like he’s about 16 years old, so he was probably
thinking it), it means two “simple” things: Cholesterol and Colonoscopy. OK. I
expected the cholesterol one. Chris
warned me there. He went into a lecture
about colonoscopies, and I told him I had had one of them already. He asked if it had been more than ten years
ago. Knowing that I was surely dangerously
close to that milestone, I sheepishly replied, “I couldn’t tell you. I was pretty much asleep the whole time.” Guess who has a colonoscopy ordered? And a blood test for cholesterol? I actually was supposed to get that blood
test this morning. But I forgot until the third chunk of pineapple had just
made its way into my mouth. The test is
a fasting one. Not today. My official results were, in a nutshell, I am
fairly healthy for an old guy … except for the pain. Most of the problems I have seem to be a
direct result of the rheumatoid pain (in the joints) or neurological pain (in
the back and neck). Or the medication I take
to try to control it all. Sigh. At least it’s mine.
Psalms
107:9 says, “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his
wonderful deeds for men”
Father, thank you for that good report from
the doctor. Travel with him and his wife
on their journey to New Zealand. And thank
you for that youngest son of ours. He
has been quite the exciting gift through the years. Amen.
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