health

My doctor propped her elbow on the exam table and rubbed her temple with her thumb. “Life is hard,” she said. I was sitting in a chair across from her, elbows on the exam table, too. “Yeah,” I winced, “and I don’t know if the pills are helping.” We shared a silent moment, looking each other in the eyes. She’s a cancer survivor. A mother. My doctor for two years, and the first physician to ever treat me like a friend. “I’m cutting the prescription in half until the specialist gives you a diagnosis.”

I got the most ridiculous letter in the mail on Monday. The author was a doctor whose care I came under last summer (2008, to be clear). She said she hoped the letter found me well. She informed me that due to 60 days of inactivity, she was closing my file. At first I was dismissive, ridiculing the correspondence because I'd actually been inactive for over 6 months and the bitch was LATE. But, the more I made fun of it, the more I thought about what it meant. My file was closed. It was CLOSED. And that stupid piece of paper morphed into a certificate of accomplishment.

Please pardon the agitated nature of the previous post. I hope that those of you who've been through clicker training (or may have started it and then...) can sympathize. Here's a brief progress report: We all seem used to the click click click associated with feeding and treating Charlie. Hopefully on Monday Trainer Tim will think we've sufficiently "charged the clicker" and by the middle of next week we'll be embroiled in another clicky challenge. Fingers crossed. Public Service Announcement: Look, Something Shiny! is about the shiny new thing on my mind. Right now it's Charlie.

Your throat is scratchy and you're feeling like a cold might be overtaking your system. But then a bug in your ear compels you to grab the thermometer out of the first aid box. Crap--Temperature slightly elevated. You don't panic and settle in with a cup of tea and some TV time before dozing off for the night. But the next morning the soreness is worse, you've got a bit of a headache, and the mercury is still showing a mild fever...

What do you do?

Let me make this easy on you: GO TO THE DOCTOR

I'm feeling very encouraged health-wise. After wearing the same loose-fitting cowskin boots and driving/bussing everywhere for three weeks, the inflammation in my right heel has subsided significantly and I'm planning to begin walking to work on Monday. Which means I'll be getting the exercise I'd been counting on for the Shiny New You 1/3 Year Challenge. Watch out! The Nyco train is a-rollin' once again!

So I've been walking to and from the office (2.2 miles one way) Mon-Fri for about four weeks and the health benefits have been amazing. My blood pressure is at a new low of 98/64, my resting heart rate is 65 bpm, and I've lost over 5 lbs. That's all great news, right?!

Ready for the bad news?

Yesterday a doctor diagnosed me with retrocalcaneal bursitis in my right foot.