Dr. visit - annual physical

 I had my routine annual physical exam this morning. Ugh.

For starters, when I arrived, I discovered they have changed the layout of the clinic. There are several different doctors offices and various other things, and it used to be you checked in at your particular place. Now everyone checks in at the same place right when you walk in the door at the main desk (which makes some sense). Of course, even though I had supposedly checked in online, I still had to fill out three more papers when I arrived. 

I finally got called back for my 8am appointment around 8:15. My vitals were not the best:

Weight: 159 (not terrible, but I've put on about 5 pounds in the last month)

BP: 148/96 (what??)

HR: 60 (this was the only good thing)

The doctor was of course concerned about my blood pressure. I showed him my at home results. Until this morning it had been normal - minus an occasional hiccup here and there - except it had actually been 153/86 at home this morning before I went to the doctor. I don't know why I get such anxiety before going to this doctor. I've been dreading it for weeks now.

I also tried to tell him that I haven't been feeling very good for a few weeks. Sinus pressure, can't seem to clear my throat, ear ache, cough, etc.. He suggested I start using Flonase for allergies. He never even looked in my ears or at my throat! I'm also supposed to take my BP every day for two weeks and email him the results.

Otherwise, he ordered me to get a lab done for cholesterol, get the flu/covid/rsv vaccines, and next year I need to do another Cologuard.

He listened to my heart and lung and rechecked my BP, and that was it. I was out the door in 30 minutes.

This visit wasn't as bad as some of them have been. I still don't have a lot of confidence in him though. He constantly shakes his one leg when talking to me (which makes me nervous), and at first he asked me why I'd never completed the Cologuard test he ordered. I assured him I had, and he finally found the results apparently somewhere they shouldn't have been. He was also surprised that my heart rhythm sounded 'normal' because he said the EP doctor still had me listed with persistent afib. I dunno... maybe it's not him, but the whole Lutheran Health Network just doesn't have a very good reputation. Maybe it's their whole system. Or, maybe that's just the way the entire healthcare field is now. I wish I had a doctor who would talk to ME, and listen to ME, and not just look at their computer and see what tests I was due for. Whatever.

All in all, I was glad to be done with this. Hopefully my BP will fall back to a normal range, my labs will be okay, and life can move on...