I have a friend who goes to the doctor when she has the slightest pain. As a result, she is taking lots of different medications for different ailments. One of which is very costly to prevent any more deterioration in her body; so she is told by the doctors; although, there were never any clear diagnosis.
I have an obsession of staying healthy, if only to keep the doctor away. I have a long list of why I avoid doctors, but I will cut it short since it's a blog; not a biography.
Years ago, when I had back pain, the first doctor I saw, said I was probably pregnant. Since that was his diagnosis for back pain, I wondered how many male patients he had that became pregnant.
I had 3 ruptured discs. I avoided going to any more doctors for months after that exam. My left leg atrophied during that time. In those days, I would have to undergo a myelogram which I had heard, when done incorrectly, would result in death. So naturally, I was just extending my life by avoiding a doctor. I was only 26 years old and felt I had not lived.
After three months, my husband found a doctor that I could trust and I had the surgery. It was a success. I had two pregnancies in my 30's with no back pain.
Yes, there were and are some excellent doctors.
When I had my first cesarean, it was unexpected since the doctor ruptured my mucus plug, prematurely by a few weeks, during an examination. The baby was 'breech' and the doctor did not want to take any chances; so it happened so fast.
When I had my second cesarean, I was just as hysterical as I was during my first cesarean: having to be cut open while still awake; although, I was numbed up around my belly. The doctor wanted to make sure there were no drugs in my system while the baby was inside me.
After the baby was taken, the anesthesiologist was instructed to knock me out completely so the doctor could sew me up. Before I went under,
I heard the doctor tell the nurse, "Thank GOD! She shut her mouth."
I was terrified. I couldn't stop talking, knowing that I was being cut open at that very moment, like a stuffed pig. I thought they were going to be my last words on earth.
When I had my first office visit after the delivery, to see that same doctor, I told him that I heard what he said in the operating room. Of course, he denied it. I asked him if he had ever had surgery (obviously, not awake). He said he had. I asked him,"Was it FUN?"
More recently, when I went to the doctor, he told me I needed a colonoscopy since I had not had one in 6 years. I don't do mammograms, pap smears or colonoscopies anymore. The last two mammograms I had was nothing more than flatting my breasts, into pancakes, with excruciating pain; only to be told, twice, that there was a mass of something that turned out to be nothing.
If I need that kind of torture, I can lie down in the street and have a car run over them.
The first and last time I had a colon exam, in the doctor's office, I passed out. The doctor said I had a difficult colon passage. I wasn't his typical anus.
I can't remember when I had my last pap smear but I am sure it's been over ten years.
I always tried to be as clean as I could be when I went to the doctor. Bathing just before the exam, and once, when I was younger; taking extra precaution by using too much baby powder.
During the exam, the doctor pushed his rolling chair back from me and said to the nurse, "I need to come up for air."
What a waste of time, all those years of pap smears, and nothing; just some guy looking at my vagina.
So why do I avoid doctors? Probably because I don't feel the love or get any respect after I have taken all my clothes off.
But besides that, my father died of pancreatic cancer. It could be in my DNA. I could get lung cancer even though I never smoked. I have been around smokers all my life. There is no getting away from ailments or infectious diseases. Doctors are not gods, and I don't want to be obsessed with going to them or taking multiple exams because they will ALWAYS find something.
Those who do go to the doctor, end up taking a pill for every ailment they have or getting surgery for something they don't need; or getting other complications, as a byproduct, from surgery they do need.
I think we are all mindful of our health, but we don't go out of our way to do anything about the pain or bad habits we have acquired over the years, until it's too late. Nor can we stop what is predestine in most of our DNA, as I understand chromosomes can be changed for breast cancer candidates.
If I am going to be obsessed with my health, it might as well be on what I eat and how I exercise.
And in the end, it's my mental well-being that's most important to me because without a mind, what good is a body.
No comments:
Post a Comment