Okay, I'm old enough that doctors want to do all these tests and evaluations.  Since they've gotten pretty 'aggressive' with their recommendations, I decided to have at it and get them all done.  This has meant being put in that little exam room to wait for my turn on the doctor's schedule... when I was younger, I used to just sit on the chair quietly and wait.  Apparently, as I've aged, I've also become high maintenance.  In the last week, I've riffled through not less than three exam rooms. 

You'd be surprised what you find in those drawers and under those little sinks.  Depending on the type of doctor, this could be a good source of supplies for the farm (wraps, tapes, gloves, etc).  I just wish I had thought about that before I went.  Next time, I plan to take my biggest purse with me.

I also found out that if you're gonna stick something onto that wall mounted x-ray light board thingy, don't use the piece of paper that you're supposed to hand to the doctor.  I could NOT figure out how to get the papter back out of that thing!  I couldn't see any kind of release mechanism and only dared to push so hard on it for fear of breaking it.  (okay, the glass did end up a bit off center... but I'm not certain that it wasn't that way before I started playing with it).  In the end, the paper was sort of chewed up at the top edge where I yanked it out and the crinkles were mostly smoothed out.  But if anyone knows how those things release, let me know. It always looks cool when the ER show doctors just slap that thing up there, then pull it down again.  Maybe next time I'll take a heavy plastic with me to play with.

Those health background/surveys are also getting harder.  When I was young, I could just go down the 'no' column.  Now, I'm older and working a farm... so its not so easy.  Headaches, backaches, trouble sleeping, blurred vision...  Are they trying to rub it in or what?  And here's a new one that I just didn't know how to answer "Loss of Urine".. huh?  I personally don't really try to track those things, so can't say that I've ever lost it... obviously there's been a change in medical treatment (or a new disease) that I haven't heard of.  Near the bottom, there was the phrase "Family History" and a long line.  What was I supposed to put in there?  I put "mother 1ea, father 1ea, sibling 3ea".  I'm pretty sure they could have guessed the first two, but I guess they need to be thorough.

Finally, I think they should be required to send you some sort of letter aftewards.  Every office said I would only be notified if there was a problem.  Wonder how many people have died because there WAS a problem but all the nurses thought the other nurse did the notification.  So in the end, I've been bouncing around all these offices and (hopefully?) won't even get a "glad you were here, see ya next year".  If they gave out some sort of nice certificate, they might have an easier time getting people to waste a week running around getting poked, prodded and zapped.