Thursday, May 21, 2009

Lest you think that I don't observe my own health habits, here's the latest. I've developed a juicy head cold since I got back from South Dakota, so perhaps I got in the line of fire of infected droplets from Mr. Sneeze-in-the-hand who passed not five feet away from me at the Rushmore Memorial. On the plus side, however, I logged well over 4,000 steps* at the office today, leaving the exam room every time I needed to sneeze or cough and then, of course, washing my hands. Unfortunately, I joined the chunky mom and child in the Keystone, SD restaurant by snacking through the day on Milky Way bites (dark chocolate covered!) and chips.

My bro', whom regular readers know as a strict grammarian and my sharpest critic, wrote a limerick in response to my previous post:

A very old guy in Custer
Said it's not beer that loses your luster;
Read your own blog,
Be a stick, not a log,
(And drink coffee to make certain, buster.)

Last week, I received an endoscopy report (complete with color pictures) on one of my patients who underwent the test two days prior to evaluate her upper abdominal pain. She had a mass in her duodenum that looked scary, like something you might see growing on the Great Barrier Reef. The comment section of the report said "Pt. should call the office in 7 days for the report."

Seven days waiting for a biopsy report? Sounds like the week from hell as there's nothing worse, I think, than waiting for test results on a mass found where no mass ought to be. An hour later, the path report came over the FAX--no cancer!! I called her to let her know, although I advised her to call the GI doc to find out what the next step should be. Her response reminded me of a line from Dennis Prager's "Happiness is a Serious Problem":

"...ideally, we should awaken every day and be as happy about our good health as if we had just received the wonderful news that a lump was diagnosed as benign."
_____
*I wear a pedometer every day. I'll refund the co-pay of the first person who shows up in my office for their physical wearing one! People tell me all the time that they don't need exercise as they 'run around all day at the office' or 'park at the end of the lot.' I've often wondered how many steps are involved in said running and parking.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have been no where near the sneezing youth in South Dakota but have an atrocious head cold that came on so abruptly I was sure it was the dreaded H1N1. But, I digress. Some months ago I took you up on the pedometer challenge and was astonished how FEW steps I actually take despite my perception that I run around all day. Getting to 10K a day requires effort, as in a couple of laps around the park. Turns out it's only 14 steps from my desk to the printer. So I am lucky if all my "running around" at the office yields me 200 steps a day! Evidence vs. perception. . .

Cilicious said...

As you know, I recently came back from a visit to France. I basically was resigned to gaining a few pounds on the trip.
The French are good about portion control, but I knew I'd be having plenty of pain au chocolat, not to mention some mousse.
In fact, I *lost* a couple pounds, and I am sure it was all that walking we did.
But both myself and the spouse ended up with colds upon our return. Probably all that recirculated air.

Mauigirl said...

Sorry you caught the cold - feel better if you haven't recovered yet! I'm a little late catching up so hopefully you're good by now.

Exercise really does matter - we walked more than usual when we were on our recent vacation at the Cape and I actually lost a pound! I was trying to be "good" but wasn't completely successful. So the walking must have made the difference. I should try the pedometer, I keep meaning to do that. I'm sure I'm nowhere near the 10,000 step mark though.