Yearly medical check up

It's that time of the year again, and I have been holding it off for weeks until today, and that is doing my yearly physical exam. With the downturn of our economy and the cost of medical care, gas, utilities and weekly grocery bill, I thought to myself, I should skip my annual check-up, but deep inside myself, I felt that being healthy is more important and it helps evaluate my health status, which includes a physical exam, and routine screening tests to ensure continued health, or identify early, and often treatable stages of a disease. Of course, in reality it's such a waste of money and my time, going from my family doctor to do all the necessary test, and later or a few days later, I will have to drive to St. Mary's hospital to do my mammogram and also X-Ray. It is just so scary, not knowing or maybe regretting it when it's already too late. Seeing my doctor once a year for an in-depth checkup and chat, should have a beneficial impact on my health quality, costs and outcomes that goes way beyond disease detection and health screening. So, after so much conflicting emotion going through my brain, I thought, 'what the heck'! If I am sickly and in poor health, I would not be able to take care of my son nor would I be able to work to earn money. So, here goes.

I was right on the dot, when I arrived at the Doctor's office. I waited for 10 minutes in the lobby, and I was called in by a petite friendly nurse. First, she weigh me, check my height, told me to go to the the bathroom and provide them with my urine sample, and right after she took my Blood pressure . Next is cholesterol check which I dreaded most because they will have to stick a needle in my arm! The nurse was having a hard time trying to drain blood out of my left arm, and she had to do it again on my right arm! Double Ouch!! Next, Dr. Tucker had the pap smear done, and it was not as bad as how I was imagining it would be. The nurse than took me to another room to do a bone density test. While she had one of my foot and ankle all 'greased' up with something that looks like ky jelly, and put it in something that looks like a 'foot machine' and waited for awhile, and it keeps saying 'error'. She tried to re-start it again but it never did work. So, that was out of the way, and I thought I would be doing my treadmill but they told me to come back on the 24th. Everything was done at this office, except the mammogram and the x-ray, which I probably would do them tomorrow. It's a lot of hassle, but it's worth it, for a better healthy me!