Getting an annual physical at the doctors

[ultrarunner]

After cancer food taste and tolerance often affected.

For my sister in law who was very lucky it’s tomatoes she can’t tolerate.

Having much of intestine removed also means no way to gain weight… she is always looking for the positive…

 

[dstig1]

Eddie,
You're spot on. But I feel it extends to almost everything these days, from home contractors to auto mechanics. The big issue with many of these folks is the drive to increase profits, a core metric that most companies use to measure performance. The constant push to upsell services, charge more for services etc.

I hear that. I start from the assumption that everyone is trying to scam me and then work backwards if they seem actually legit.

Had a coworker tell us at lunch how this contractor came through annually and checks out the utilities for them on a service contract - plumbing, HVAC, electric. They are the least handy people on the planet so they "pay the nice man" to handle these things. Well the guy came through a few months back and said he found corrosion on the main electric panel and it should be replaced. My BS meter starting going off so I asked did she see any corrosion? no. Is there any water or condensation on the panel? No. How about I come over and take a look?

Now to me residential electric is butt-simple. No offence intended to any electricians as I know you really earn your paychecks on industrial and commercial stuff which can get quite intense, but single family residential stuff is pretty basic. Took the panel cover off (looked perfect) and looked for anything at all that might be called corrosion. I saw one ground screw in the buss that had a spot of surface rust where the screwdriver had scraped off the zinc and that was it. Panel was only 20-25 yrs old new construction and perfectly fine. But they were going to stick them for 5-7k to replace it. I told her to never let them in her house again.

 

[CalG]

Annual physical tomorrow at 1 in the afternoon...

Wish me luck ;-)

 

[scootr]

Annual physical tomorrow at 1 in the afternoon...

Wish me luck ;-)

Stop drinking now and get a good night's sleep
And good luck.

 

[newbury]

I feel sorry for everyone that doesn't have somebody that knows what's going on in the medical world, and who to avoid. It's all about who you know if you want to get the best treatment.

And most of the suburbia I'm in feels the same about home improvement contractors, plumbers and roofers.

 

[tractortroof]

Not to mention when they kick your loved ones out of the hospital in COVID paranoia, so that no one is there to double check all the prescriptions etc.

Florida passed a law that they cannot do that

 

[ultrarunner]

It was worse… at one time minors having essential surgery were not allowed to have a parent or guardian with them for check in, recovery or wait in the closed waiting room.

It was crazy how fast things changed.

My section is mostly elective surgery but we started doing emergency or critical because the main hospital was overwhelmed with patients in the halls and foyers… there truly was no more room…

 

[Jstpssng]

The first time that I went to the ER room there was no waiting. I was skinning a deer and had a 4 inch boning knife go to the hilt in my leg. My jeans were soaked with blood from my thigh to my knee, they walked me straight to the exam room.

 

[Oaktree]

Some of us are not sociable.

For whatever reason, I've gotten more sociable as I've gotten older. In my younger years I would never chat up a stranger in a store (or wherever), but am more likely to now. Not that anyone would consider me a social butterfly by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm much less of a hermit than I once was.
Personally, I find friends more important than family members. You choose your friends.

 

[Oaktree]

I hate to sound this cynical, but I've really become disenfranchised by today's healthcare groups. They're obviously "for profit" entities and many providers get incentives to create more visits, push referrals to a specialist and maximize billing. All of this is done with virtually no re-course by the patient.

So how do you hold the gastro specialist to be honest and not push for an increased procedure interval? (2 years instead of 5 or 10?)

I'm not just disenfranchised by healthcare, I see the same stuff happening with automotive repair/maintenance and many other services. However, I think with healthcare you're at an even larger disadvantage as a consumer.

The gastroentrologist I've been using is a private practice, and he seems to be honest. I was on the "10 year" plan until my last visit. When it came back clean, he told me given my age (late 60s at the time) unless I had problems he probably wouldn't need to see me again.

I do agree that the healthcare system is about as obtuse as it can be, especially when it comes to fees and random charges on the bill, not to mention all the "independent contractors" who don't bill thru the hospital. I thought Obamacare® was supposed to take care of that, but clearly it didn't. Fortunately, I'm on Medicare now, and the insurance company pays what they pay and that's that.

 

[Oaktree]

And most of the suburbia I'm in feels the same about home improvement contractors, plumbers and roofers.

At least in suburbia there are more to choose between. Out here in the boonies there might be one or two reasonably competent contractors (who are generally booked up well in advance) and a bunch of glorified handymen who have a paintbrush and know where they can borrow a ladder and call themselves a painter. Had one I interviewed for a work project maybe 10-12 years ago who was like that. Asked him what he used for paint, and his reply was whatever's on sale. Uhhh, yeah. He didn't get the gig.

 

[MattB4]

For whatever reason, I've gotten more sociable as I've gotten older. In my younger years I would never chat up a stranger in a store (or wherever), but am more likely to now. Not that anyone would consider me a social butterfly by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm much less of a hermit than I once was.
Personally, I find friends more important than family members. You choose your friends.

Talking and interacting in a pleasant manor with others is a necessary skill set. But, if by nature, you are a loner (and not one because of mental problems, addiction or circumstance) you simply do not bother with making friends. You might have friendly neighbors, acquaintances and even people you do things with. However you do not lean on these folks.

Yes it is handy to have someone available to feed the cat if you need to travel.

 

[tractortroof]

The gastroentrologist I've been using is a private practice, and he seems to be honest. I was on the "10 year" plan until my last visit. When it came back clean, he told me given my age (late 60s at the time) unless I had problems he probably wouldn't need to see me again.

I do agree that the healthcare system is about as obtuse as it can be, especially when it comes to fees and random charges on the bill, not to mention all the "independent contractors" who don't bill thru the hospital. I thought Obamacare was supposed to take care of that, but clearly it didn't. Fortunately, I'm on Medicare now, and the insurance company pays what they pay and that's that.

Obamacare apparently resulted in making the middle class pay everything. If I see one more commercial saying that you can have full coverage health insurance for $50 a month…. Whatever haven’t to fraudulent advertising being a crime??

 

[dmccarty]

I spent a couple of days reading this discussion.

This has to be one of the best conversations on TBN, though it went all over the place, which is maybe why it was so good.

Toooooo many good comments to comment on.

 

[CalG]

Well. I guess I passed the annual physical today. I even made an appointment for another one next January! Optimism abounds!

As a concession to not sending a snake with a camera up my hinder parts, I need to send a "dump in a box" off to some lab where they seem to find interest in that sort of thing. In a couple years, I'll be too old for that stuff.... ;-)

I celebrated the event by digging 5 inches of soaking wet, packed in snow out from the business end of the snow blower...and dosing two of the tractor's fuel with anti-gel. It's supposed to get cold here next week..;-)

 

[dmccarty]

..

December 24th, stopped in on the way back from Church to visit them to make sure everything was ok. Found out my neigbor had lung cancer, stage 4.

...

He smoked regularly.

I was at a grocery store a couple of months back and went to check out. I was in one line but another line had fewer people with less items so I changed registers.

You know how that ended.

The guy in front of me in the new line only had a few things....

But he wanted a pack of cigarettes. And there went my getting out of the store faster. He was face timing with his wife/girlfriend and she is the one that wanted/needed the cigarettes. There was some back and froth with the cashier about the cigarettes, burning more time, and the cashier went to get a pack but came back with a cartoon. The girlfriend/wife only wanted a pack so back went the cashier.

By this time I was talking to the man and giving him a bit of grief. I told him that his lady really owed him for everything he was doing while she sat in the car. He agreed and told her what I said on Face Time and then held the phone up to me so I could tell her. It was all in good fun and he had apologized for making me wait which really was not an issue since I was not in a hurry. I knew I was really asking for it, and when I left the store, they had waited for me so she could say hello. We were laughing all through these conversations.

Now what shocked me was the cost of the pack. I think it was around $10!

Years ago, I knew two people who worked in our cafeteria who smoked. I was shocked when they told me a pack was $5!. A two pack a day smoker was spending $300 month years ago. Now it would be $600!

The other day I had to return something to another grocery store and I was looking at the prices of the cigarettes. At first I was seeing $50-60 a carton, then got to the big name brands and they were $80-100! I mentioned this to the cashiers and they said which is the most expensive brand? I thought that was a stupid question because I could SEE the prices. But she lifted up a panel and there were cartons for $100-120!

Unreal what cigarettes cost and I don't think NC taxes them like other states. Not to mention the health issues.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

Very good friend passed early this morning stage 4 lung cancer. She started at 12yo, Marlboro. She did make it to 87 though.
$8,750/year for smokes.

 

[masseyrider]

Here in Ontario Kanuckistan a large pack is pushing $20. Blows me away when I go get a couple lottery tickets thinking I'm pissing money away and some body ahead of me blows $40 on 2 packs.
The kicker is the smokers you do see are usually the people that look to be the least able to afford the nasty addiction.

 

[EddieWalker]

Isn't there a huge black market for cigarettes' in the high tax areas like NYC? People can drive across the border to Canada, or other states, and buy them for a lot less, bring them to NYC and sell them for a profit and still be cheaper then what they sell for in that city.

 

[deserteagle71]

As a concession to not sending a snake with a camera up my hinder parts, I need to send a "dump in a box" off to some lab where they seem to find interest in that sort of thing. In a couple years, I'll be too old for that stuff.... ;-)

I had an appointment with my doctor yesterday and told him it had been 10 years since the last time I had a colonoscopy and was surprised when he told me that since I was well past the age of 75 it wasn't recommended. News to me...I didn't realize that after a certain age you didn't need them.

But we compromised and I'll be doing the "dump in a box" thing also.............just to make sure.