Congress or Guy Fieri?

Number 28

Dale and I debated whether we should watch the Jan. 6 hearings on TV. We agreed it was our civic duty, but we also agreed we’d switch back to the Food Network the minute one of us got disgusted. Not that we haven’t already overdosed on Guy Fieri, but he’s typically more palatable than Congress.

Winner, winner. Insurrection dinner.

Bottom line. We were riveted. My beer got warm, and that’s saying something. We rushed to assemble dinner during the 10-minute break. Dale was furiously chopping cilantro for the fresh Pico de Gallo that would accompany our carnitas tacos, and I thought, oh no, he’s going to cut himself.

“It’s back on! It’s back on!” I hollered to Dale, who stayed steady with the knife but was sweating like he was a finalist on Guy’s Grocery Games. I set up the TV trays, and we were back in our seats in time to watch the second hour. I did not leave my chair, not even to get another beer.  

Now I’m kind of wishing we could download the whole season and binge watch it this weekend.

Postscript: I failed to mention the footage was also heartbreaking, and we look forward to the day when the former guy is held accountable for his actions.

My annual physical was this week. We talked about Covid. I said we were recluses the first two years, but now we are venturing out. I’m assuming we will get it. I was thinking about Paxlovid, the antiviral pill and wondering if I would need it.

She didn’t think so. My immune system has mostly likely recovered from two bouts of cancer. I’m 66, and she said that’s still in the lower end of the age-related risk. I have high blood pressure, but that’s it. Still, because of my cancer history and the unknowns related to that, we agreed I would call for the pills if I should happen to test positive. She agreed with our plans to venture out and said we can’t live in a bubble forever.

I told the doctor I liked the neurosurgeon she referred me to for my back, even though I told him the only reason I kept the appointment was in case the shit hit the fan and I needed an existing patient relationship with a neurosurgeon. Not a good situation to be in, but I like to plan ahead.

He got my vibe, and we agreed surgery bad, exercise good. Keep doing what I’m doing.

My only beef was in the post-visit summary, there was a line about advising the patient to lose weight. At 5’7” and hovering just above 130 pounds, I figured it was a pre-populated form, and he didn’t bother to customize it. I was miffed.

She agreed and said normally the doctor double checks the form to ensure the parts that aren’t relevant are deleted. Then she told me a funny story.

One of her patients was having problems with his testicles. She examined him and found nothing unusual. Using her customary medical jargon, she wrote, “Testicles unremarkable.” But she didn’t delete it from the summary patients receive, and apparently, he was more than a bit upset to read that.

Anyway, so far, so good on the annual physical. For some reason, my cholesterol was the best it has been in years. I haven’t made any big dietary changes. The only thing I can think of is that I’ve been eating a lot of nuts. On the golf course, I snack on a mix of walnuts, almonds and dried cranberries.   

Speaking of golf and nuts, I played with a someone this week who might be certifiable. Some seriously crazy stuff coming out of her mouth. I decided to pretend she was my dear eccentric friend and that it was all very amusing. It was actually all very annoying, but my pretense worked! I did not get upset or blow my game, and I found myself warming up to her.

Could this be a new life strategy?

9 thoughts on “Congress or Guy Fieri?”

  1. I think that is an amazing life strategy! And I can confirm it works. I had to use it recently for a very annoying classmate in one of my ElderCollege courses. She was triggering me something fierce and I was letting that affect my experience in a class I really was hoping to enjoy and get a lot out of.

    I don’t have cable so I can’t watch the hearings but I have been seeing tweets etc., and I think I would be riveted too even though I am Canadian.

    Good news about your physical! “Lose weight” is the go-to for just about every doctor for just about every complaint…as a result many women deemed overweight do not have their health concerns taken seriously. I wonder if male patients are treated the same way. I suspect not.

    Deb

    1. I think you’re right about the lose weight thing. I was heavier in my younger days, and I could have been bleeding green lava, and they would says, “Well, if you lost a few pounds …”

  2. We also weren’t sure that we would watch the entire hearing but we did. It was as shocking to watch and hear about it now as it was when I watched it live back on January 6. It sounds like a case is being made. I’m looking forward to seeing how it proceeds. It’s kind of hard to spin documented and recorded facts.

    Electronic health records were supposed to make things better. However, I find notes on every one of my patient visit records online where a doctor will write that we discussed such and such and neither of us even broached that subject. Must be one of the subjects that they are supposed to talk to their patients about in order to get points or something. I’ve also had wrong blood sugar numbers put in my records when I have the correct numbers machine printout right in front of me. That came from being mistakenly diagnosed with pre-diabetes and 3 months of 4X a day testing that showed me in normal blood sugar range and new tests that also showed that I have normal blood sugar. And…I had an Achilles tendon surgery which is news to me. Nothing about my ACL surgery so we know that the person inputting the info chose the wrong box. My medical records are so messed up, heaven help me if I ever land in the hospital and they pull my records. I’ve tried to get them corrected, to no avail.

    Interesting life strategy for communicating with annoying people. I’ll have to remember that!

    1. I agree the program didn’t come across as spin. Just hoping something finally sticks to that miserable excuse of a human being. And that this is never allowed to happen again.

      Interesting about the electronic records. Now that you mention it, I’ve seen other inconsistencies. I imagine trying to get them corrected would be futile.

  3. Well, I am enormously jealous about your weight. I am 5′ 7 1/2″ and if/when I let myself go I hover in the low 160s. Each spring I work at getting my act BACK together, to be honest because we go to Hawaii, and with inhuman willpower I drop around ten pounds before we go.

    I have been working on this now for 2 1/2 months and have only lost six pounds. I was living on 1200 calories a day, but no weight came off in an entire month, so I have dropped to 1000 a day.

    I lead a normal life with gardening and housework, and yes I know I should do exercises but they are against my religion. 😀 I would have to do so much boring exercise to get it to effect my weight that I would rather give up food altogether.

    I stopped complaining to my doctor some time back because she always played the “exercise” card. But I saw her this week and she had put on a ton of weight and was bursting out of her clothes. I was a polite little girl and, of course, did not mention it, just snickered quietly to myself.

    I’m guessing that if you’re 130 lbs. you are excellent at regularly exercising your body. That’s okay, I’ll keep reading you anyway.

    1. I weighed 145 for years, but something changed after my mastectomy, and I dropped 15 pounds over about five years. Maybe hormonal? I also retired shortly after that and spend most days walking, golfing and swimming, so maybe it’s just a matter of more exercise. I honestly don’t know, but I don’t think there’s a magic number. Just try to love the body you’ve got. There’s no replacement.

  4. When you wrote “speaking of golf and nuts” I thought you were going to mention testicles again 🙂 My husband (speaking of nuts and testicles) got one of those default advice bubbles checked on his recent doctor visit about increasing his exercise. He bikes, walks, and ocean swims regularly. Pissed him off and he wanted it fixed. He found that it was impossible to change once there.

    1. How funny! I do play golf with a guy I call, “Johnny Two Balls.”

      Your husband’s experience is starting to sound all too familiar. Get it right, people! You might not care, but we do.

  5. I’m sorry, I know that the first part of your post was about seriously serious stuff, but I can’t stop sniggering about that man reading that he had “unremarkable testicles” and being offended. And just when I’d pulled myself together, you mention “Johnny Two Balls” 😀 😀 Seriously, what’s a girl to do?

    My surgeon told me – while I was still coming out of anaesthetic after knee repair surgery no less – that I’d need to have a knee replacement. I was a tad pissed off as that’s what I assumed would be the requirement ahead of time, but he’d talked me into the repair instead. Some 2-ish years later, I’m wondering whether or not to go down that route now, or whether suitable exercises and lifestyle changes instead will be enough. I’d love some neutral advice, but don’t believe I’d get it from that surgeon. I’m a bit grumpy about it in truth, but old age may be something to do with that!

Comments are closed.