By John Toth
The Bulletin
I drove to the doctor’s office for my annual physical recently to make sure that your favorite columnist remains in good shape for a long time to come.
I’ve done this with the same doctor for 10 years. I know his routine by heart. He sits down in front of the monitor and goes through my chart. I limit my conversation at this time so that he can pay good attention to what he is reading.
When he asks me a question, I answer it. Then when he is finished, he does a short series of exams, including one that I’m not really fond of.
Men know what that is, so I’m not going to go into any detail. Ladies, it is the opposite of the exam that you have to endure.
This time we somehow got sidetracked talking about current events and the state of medicine in the USA. When he finished listening to my heart and lungs, he told me that the nurse would be back to give me the shots he ordered, and then I needed to go down to the lab to have blood drawn and get another shot at the pharmacy.
Yes, I got shot up with all the stuff that is supposed to help prevent me from getting sick. I hope they work, because as publisher, I cannot miss too many days due to illness. The last time I called in sick, Sharon, my co-publisher, was not picking up the phone.
The doctors knocked on the door as the nurse was finishing with the shots.
“Mr. Toth, I forgot to do one of the exams,” the doctor said.
“I know you did,” I replied. “I didn’t remind you for a reason.”
“Do you want me to do it? It won’t take long,” he offered.
“No, it’s not one of my favorites. Let’s skip it this year,” I said.
He agreed, but did say that he would order extra lab work to cover it.
The doctor was in a hurry, but I pulled him aside for a minute.
“This is the 10th year I have come to see you for a physical. Do you remember what you did during the first one?”
He obviously did not. I’m one of the many patients he sees every day.
“You talked me into getting a colonoscopy,” I said. “You would not let up about it and talked me into making an appointment with a surgeon and to schedule it.”
He probably did that with many other patients. I hope he pushed as hard as he did with me, because he convinced me that I was playing with fire if I did not get one.
I was. They snipped five polyps out, three of them the kind that would grow cancerous. Had he not talked me into getting the procedure, I would have either died by now of colon cancer or struggle to survive on chemotherapy.
One of my relatives recently lost her fight with colon cancer, and she was struggling daily with chemo.
The good doctor looked uncomfortable. This was no big deal to him - just doing his job.
“I know I have thanked you before, but I want to thank you again for what you did,” I said.
I stepped aside, and he went on to his next patient. The nurse wrapped up her work, and I went to the lab and pharmacy.
I felt good saying what I said. I hope it made his day. I know it made mine.
By the way, since then I’ve had nine more polyps snipped out, and in two more years, I’m sure I’ll have some more they’ll be removing. As long as they do, that’s fine. I don’t mind the fasting and preparation. It beats chemo.
The tech drawing my blood pulled out five vials that she needed to fill. That’s a lot, I told her. Yes, the doctor ordered an extra one at the last moment, she replied. Lucky me.
“Do you want me to wrap your arm or just use a Band-Aid,” the tech asked after she was done.
“Why bother? You left nothing in there,” I joked.
No complaints - it was for a good cause.
Dear reader, get your numbers checked and go through cancer screenings, because we humans are vulnerable creatures. And then live a long, happy and healthy life. See you next week.
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