Tuesday's Trip

Today is my annual checkup at my family physician, Dr. McClellan. However, as I believe I had previously mentioned in the Blog, this will be a bit unusual, as Dr. McClellan is retiring and turning his practice over to a female doctor, Doctor Pop. I have already decided that if I liked her I will stay here, but if not, I'll find a closer doctor (which would make more sense, really!)

So, I left work at 2:00 PM and began the long trek back up to Richmond. I knew that I-94 was down to two lanes for construction from like Harper to 23 Mile Road (some 8-10 miles) but what I didn't know is that is was also only two lanes from when I got on it from I-96 to Connors. Not good. Slow going! I had added in an extra half hour for construction, but now I hope that was enough.

I got to the doctor's office at 3:20 for my 3:30 appointment. Whew! Dr. McClellan introduced us and chatted for a bit, but then left her alone to do the exam. She was a very pleasant, competent-sounding, attractive woman in her mid-forties (but I'm always bad at guessing women's ages). She asked if I was German and I said, yes, I am a first generation son of a German emigrant. She sounded a bit like my Aunt Meize, so I asked if she was German as well. She said, no, she was Rumanian. I said, "Well, it's not German, but it's pretty good!" She just smiled, but Dr. McClellan almost hurt himself laughing.

So, I got even more blood drawn (the lab forgot to do the Hemoglobin A1C test), a flu shot (which cost me $44 instead of the $25 I could have paid at CVS, but I never asked the price) and EKG (passed with flying colors). However, the EKG machine was having a problem finding all the leads. After about 10 minutes, I suggested that maybe I was dead. Finally, in desperation (or maybe to get back at me about the "I'm dead" crack), the nurse dry-shaved several spots on my chest. Ouch! Well, there goes my social life for a while (wait a minute, I don't have a social life, lol!)

After reading and reporting on the EKG, the Doctor got back to work. She said my heart, lungs and carotid arteries all sounded great. The blood work I had done earlier was all within limits, but she did adjust two of my meds, one to get my bad cholesterol a little lower and the other to get my fasting sugar level down even more. We agreed to meet in three months to see if the medication modification did any good. She suggested I try and lose a little weight and then we parted. I think I have a new doctor.

On the way out I talked a bit more with McClellan and asked him if he was going to do anything special in retirement. He said he wasn't really retiring, he would still be teaching, just cutting back some. He figures he has about one year's worth of work, cleaning out the basement, one year cleaning out the garage and another year to clean up his barn. He said he has a sailboat in the barn that hasn't been in the water for three years, and he'd like to get back to that. He used to like upland game bird hunting and might try that again and even though it's been years since he last went, he might try deer hunting again. I wished him well and got back in the car, heading for home. Well, not directly. I went to the Smoke House and got four pounds of hunter's sausage. No way am I gonna drive this far and not go seven miles farther for hunter's sausage!

So, now my goal is not to get to my appointment on time, but to get home before dark (sun sets at 6:40 PM these days). I changed my route, now knowing the constructions zones. I still have to go through the first one, but this time I get on I-696 and take that to Telegraph, then home. I was home by 6:20 PM.

I'm hungry, but don't feel like cooking. Checking out the fridge, I decided dinner tonight will be mostly leftovers: the last (may I say, perfectly seared) pork chop from Saturday's god-awful dinner, the last of the baked butternut squash and, as a new side, some wide egg noodles, with butter and herbs on them. Excellent!

Jake had researched bringing a new cat into a home with an existing cat and found two interesting things. It can take two or three weeks for all the hissing, yowling and hostilities to calm down. And, you are supposed to pay much more attention to the old cat as you do to the new one (I have been doing the reverse, thinking it was important to get Caley used to me and the house). So, tonight, I ignored Caley except for a quick hello, picked up Scruffy and put him on the bed with me when I went to watch TV and petted him for over an hour. At first he tried to escape (smelling Caley, I suppose) but he eventually laid next to me without me touching him, until he finally got up and went into the back room (kitty litter box, I'd guess).

After his departure, Caley jumped up, curled up and went to sleep. And, so did I at 10:00 PM.