I climbed out of my car slowly, searching the parking lot for anyone else. No one in sight. Great. That means the doctor isn't busy and will be able to see me right away. I hate visiting the doctor, she always gives me bad news. And she always wants to put me on some new medicine, which I am very leery of taking. I pray today is different. I just want to receive some good news for a change.
Dragging my feet, I walk into the doctor's office, sign the clipboard, and take a seat waiting to be called to register with the nurse.
I look around at the empty waiting area. It's clean, smells of chemicals, and the walls are an extremely bright white. Medical magazines fill the racks hanging on the wall under the television playing medical clips. Nothing I want to invest in while I wait.
"Ms.Guy?"
"Good morning, " I greet the round, dark-haired receptionist, Patti.
"Good morning. I'll take your information before sending you back. I have to tell you that Dr. Hernandez is filling in for Dr. Ravi who was called out of the office for a family emergency. Do you still wish to be seen?"
"I will see him. My address, insurance information, and phone number haven't changed." I told her hoping to push the process along.
"Okay. Thank you. Have you been out of the country in the last two weeks?"
"No."
"Been in contact with anyone who has a fever or has been sick?"
"No!"
"I need to check your temperature before you can go back. Can you lean forward, please?"
I bent over the counter so Patti, who stood on her tiptoes, could take my temperature. "It's normal, " she announced, returning to her computer screen.
"How's your family?" I asked. Patti had been the receptionist for over ten years. We chatted occasionally when the waiting area was empty.
"My son lost his first baby tooth. He wrote a letter to the tooth fairy and she left him a dollar, " Patti laughed.
"The tooth fairy makes bank nowadays. She left my niece five dollars. I wish she was my tooth collector when I was little."
"I've heard of kids receiving crazy amounts for one tooth, " Patti's widen. "My boss' daughter got twenty dollars after her tooth fell out. Our tooth fairy is poor."
We both laughed.
"Ms. Guy!"
"I hope your visit goes well, " Patti called as I walked through the doors leading to the back rooms.
"Step on the scale and then I'll take your blood pressure." The nurse rolled the blood pressure machine next to the chair beside the scale.
"You've lost three pounds since your last visit. You can take a seat, " the nurse told me.
"Okay, but what will the next patient sit in?" I joked.
"You are too funny, Ms. Guy."
She placed the cuff on my arm, wrote down the numbers when it was done, and then led me to the room I'd see the doctor in.
"The doctor will be in when he is done with the patient before you."
"Thanks, " I said sitting in the chair instead of on the examining table.
I tried to work on my Wattpad story but my thoughts kept drifting to what new ailments the doctor would come up with for me and I stressed myself out.
"Good morning! How are you today?" Dr? Hernandez greeted as he came into the room.
"I am good. How are you?"
He paused for a moment, looked at me, and smiled. "No one's ever asked me how I was doing before. I am fine. Thank you."
"Glad I could be the first, " I grinned.
"so, " he said, taking the seat by the counter. "What has been going on?"
"I've been doing a lot of belly dancing, " I teased, pointing to my mask.
His eyes widened in surprise, then he burst out laughing. He roared loud enough for the next patient waiting to see him to hear.
"You are entertaining." He picked up his Ipad, searching through my medical history. "How have you been feeling? Your blood pressure k a little high. I think we should increase your medicine by twenty-five milligrams."
"I'm not comfortable taking more medicine. I don't even want to be on what I am on now, " I rejected his suggestion.
"We can try a strict diet and exercise for a month and see if it helps. If not I strongly suggest increasing the medication you are already taking."
"I'll try the diet and exercise, but let's do it for three months. A month is not a long time, " I countered offered.
Dr. Hernandez was writing in his chart with a smile.
"Also, your A1c was at eight, I'd like to describe something to help lower your numbers. Let's start you off with metfor..."
"Shouldn't the diet and exercise help with my numbers?" I asked, brushing off his attempt to medicate me with more poison.
My doctors kept giving me prescription after prescription and instead of getting better I often felt worse. I almost died from the first blood pressure pill they put me on. And the side effects we're sometimes worse than the illness. So, now I said no, no, nope whenever they tried to give me something new.
"Technically, it should help. But.."
"Good! Then we shall give it a go, " I persisted, causing him to shale his head.
"I see you've lost a few pounds. I would feel better if you could take off twenty more pounds. You are in the morbidly obese range and for your heart, we need to take some of this weight off."
"I agree. I can't mice like I used to. I could run like a rabbit when I was younger, now I move like a tortoise, " I told him.
He chuckled, giving me that is that lady for real look.
"The medication I want to put you on for your glucose would help you lose a few pounds, " he mentioned, trying to persuade me to try it.
"The diet and exercise should help as well, " I reminded him.
Laughing, Dr. Hernandez said, "I bet you keep your doctor on her toes."
"Oh, I do. I do. She sees me and I see the sweat form on her forehead."
"I love it. If you want to see me on your return visit that is fine by me. Come back in three months and we will see how things have changed, " he said, handing me visit review.
"Okay. I will schedule an appointment on my way out."
"aif things haven't improved we can discuss putting you on the new medications, " he shook my hand, preparing to exit the room.
"Or we could not and say we did."
I heard him chuckle as he entered his next patient's room. Good luck. I hope they are more cooperative.
"See you at our next dance, " I called to him.
I could hear them laughing as I walked down the hallway.
