Rising Pressure

The first thing they do when I walk into my doctor's office is take my pulse and my blood pressure. They put the machine on me yesterday and it read my BP at 182/88. "That's kind of high, isn't it?" I asked the nurse, the fear in my voice well within reason.

"These machines are always high," she assured me, clearly lacking the concern I felt she should experience. Well, okay, but 182 over 88? "The doctor will check it again when you see him." And he did, at a much better 138/74. Not terrific, but not particularly dangerous either.

The nurse is right though: their machines do always seem to be high. I've noticed that for years at my doctor's, and my BP is always better when they measure it old school during my exams. So my question is, Why do you use such inaccurate equipment? Why bother, if you don't like the results which are spit out?

The blood pressure machine I have at home (I take my own BP most mornings on my PCP's suggestion) typically has me in the 130-140 over 75 or 76 range, so I trust when he checks it the old fashioned way. But if the unit I bought at a drugstore in Cedarville, MI (my old one conked out when I was up north last year, not that that's important for you to know yet it does help pad my blog) for all of forty bucks is reasonably accurate, why can't the Detroit Medical Center find one more reliable than what it's got?

Maybe there are some questions which simply aren't answerable. Like, why can't the Cocoa Puffs bird eat his cereal in a calm, rational manner? 

Say What?

So this past Monday I went to the Detroit Medical Center for a hearing test. I SAID I...the results weren't bad, but the ENT will call me in a day or two with more detail after he analyzes it.

My reward to me for being such a good boy at the doctor's office was a visit to the Chick-fil-A at Harper Hospital's food court. 

I love Chick-fil-A. Their chicken sandwiches are absolutely the best you can get. But their drive throughs, although generally ran very well, can be daunting. There tend to be long lines of cars. But in the DMC you just stand in line and they run you through pretty quickly. So there are advantages to aging and having to see more doctors more routinely, aren't there?

And of course, right after my all right hearing test, I had to ask the cashier to repeat herself. Not once, but twice even. I couldn't hear her very well.

Yes, there was background noise, which was part of why I wanted to get my ears checked. I've been having issues hearing folks in crowds. But there I was thinking that I wasn't hearing all that poorly and I can't hear what I'm being asked by someone three feet in front of me. Uh, irony?

 

Introverted Extrovert

I went over to the Detroit Medical Center yesterday for a hearing test.

A hearing test.

Hearing. Test.

I SAID I WENT TO THE MEDICAL CENTER FOR A HEARING TEST.

Okay, we're past that. Anyway, in the parking structure I passed a car with a license which read INTROVERT. And I thought, you can't be much of one with a vanity plate.

HEARING TEST. I WENT TO THE DETROIT MEDICAL CENTER FOR A HEARING TEST.

Marty's Two Cents

I have literally never, ever had someone give me their two cents worth. It never happened to me. Until yesterday.

In my snail mail was an envelope from the Detroit Medical Center which, from the outside, sure looked like a check. Curious as to what it could be about, I of course opened it, to discover that it was indeed a check made out to me for two cents.

There's no explanation other than 'Refund for Cosgriff, Charles'. The pay line proudly proclaims: ZERO dollars and TWO cents. There's a reference number, but I have no idea what that could mean. I'm not told which doctor I overpaid, or for what service I was so egregiously overcharged. Still, I'm two cents richer. Maybe I'll go to Europe or take a cruise. Honey, we won't lose the house after all.

Anyway, I must hurry to the bank. I only have 180 days to cash it or it becomes invalid.