I'm not sure when I picked up the annual physical exam habit. It probably began with my first office job, as I worked for Blue Shield in Hawaii and we had awesome medical benefits; everything was 100% covered. After days of examining and explaining coverage for hundreds of horrifying diseases (and subsequently rushing home positive that I had the same symptoms of whatever disease seemed most prevalent that week), I looked forward to my annual exams where my doctor always assured me that I was okay. Dr. Ikeda was a booming, reassuring sort of physician who'd clap a heavy hand to my back and laugh, "There's nothing wrong with you!" in a way that made you feel as though there wasn't anything wrong. Even the time I had bronchitis and his hearty back clap set me off into a spasm of uncontrollable coughing.
Most of my jobs have been with health insurance companies so I've always enjoyed good benefits. Every year when I took my "birthday holiday" (a floating holiday, basically), I'd schedule my exam and all was well. When I worked at AIG, my benefits were pretty crappy and annual exams weren't covered so I stopped getting them. The last year I worked for them, they finally offered an HMO for employees, so I went back in for a physical. It's not that I enjoy them, mind you, but that I've become accustomed to having them and they are so reassuring when one is healthy.
Last physical, my pap smear came back "abnormal" although when I went in to get it rechecked as recommended, whatever it was was gone and my current doctor chalked it up to an anomaly. This year when the test came back abnormal, she called me on the phone and referred me to a gynecologist. And so last week I went in to have "the procedure."
It's kind of funny because as I checked in, there across the claim form was the word "procedure" in big letters. This was only to ensure that the front desk staff didn't take a co-pay, but it felt like a scarlet letter. I didn't have very long to wait, and it was very interesting to observe The Procedure via a monitor beside the bed. In The Procedure, the doctor is using some funky lighting to get a good view after turkey basting something into you so bad cells show up easily. And sure enough, there they were, a little cluster of bad cells. The doctor got out her pruning shears (at which point I stopped watching the monitor) and took a biopsy so we'll know what these bad boys are up to.
As a side note, I wish doctors would stop saying, "You'll feel a little pressure" as they're pressing all their body weight onto the C-clamps they have inside you because it's not a little pressure, it hurts a lot.
Anyway, she said we'll know in a week or so what's going on but whatever it is, it's something I'll always have. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Well," she said, "that means when we say 'come in right away' we mean right away. And if you change doctors, you must tell the new one that you've had The Procedure so they can keep an eye on you."
Well. On the bright side, I already go in every year for an exam so it's not going to seem weird to be going in every year for the rest of my life. What it does do though is make me want to ensure that all of you go in every year as well. If I didn't go in so often, who knows what The Procedure might have eventually found?
Most of my jobs have been with health insurance companies so I've always enjoyed good benefits. Every year when I took my "birthday holiday" (a floating holiday, basically), I'd schedule my exam and all was well. When I worked at AIG, my benefits were pretty crappy and annual exams weren't covered so I stopped getting them. The last year I worked for them, they finally offered an HMO for employees, so I went back in for a physical. It's not that I enjoy them, mind you, but that I've become accustomed to having them and they are so reassuring when one is healthy.
Last physical, my pap smear came back "abnormal" although when I went in to get it rechecked as recommended, whatever it was was gone and my current doctor chalked it up to an anomaly. This year when the test came back abnormal, she called me on the phone and referred me to a gynecologist. And so last week I went in to have "the procedure."
It's kind of funny because as I checked in, there across the claim form was the word "procedure" in big letters. This was only to ensure that the front desk staff didn't take a co-pay, but it felt like a scarlet letter. I didn't have very long to wait, and it was very interesting to observe The Procedure via a monitor beside the bed. In The Procedure, the doctor is using some funky lighting to get a good view after turkey basting something into you so bad cells show up easily. And sure enough, there they were, a little cluster of bad cells. The doctor got out her pruning shears (at which point I stopped watching the monitor) and took a biopsy so we'll know what these bad boys are up to.
As a side note, I wish doctors would stop saying, "You'll feel a little pressure" as they're pressing all their body weight onto the C-clamps they have inside you because it's not a little pressure, it hurts a lot.
Anyway, she said we'll know in a week or so what's going on but whatever it is, it's something I'll always have. "What do you mean?" I asked. "Well," she said, "that means when we say 'come in right away' we mean right away. And if you change doctors, you must tell the new one that you've had The Procedure so they can keep an eye on you."
Well. On the bright side, I already go in every year for an exam so it's not going to seem weird to be going in every year for the rest of my life. What it does do though is make me want to ensure that all of you go in every year as well. If I didn't go in so often, who knows what The Procedure might have eventually found?
posted by Owl Chick at 12/02/2002 11:08:00 AM
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