In For A Service

I went to the doctor last week. I thought I should have the PSA blood test again as it's been two years since I had one. I don't have full knowledge but as I understand it the reading can be much higher than previously which means you have a problem. I'm talking prostate cancer. My follow up appt is next week when I find out the result.

Doctor also said I was a year overdue for another colonoscopy so I'm booked in for that next Tuesday, meaning next Monday is total food fast day allowing me clear soup or bonox only, and nothing at all, not even liquid, on the Tuesday before the procedure, which is scheduled for 10.45am. Also on the day before you have to eat pills and drink 'stuff' to open and empty the bowel. A hell of a lot of fun I don't think.

Doctor also asked why I hadn't been getting prescriptions for the cholesterol lowering medication and the tablet for high blood pressure that I'd been on. I told doc that at $70 per month and a trip to the doctor every six months for a prescription it was getting a bit expensive for someone like me who pays $2500 p.a for family health insurance and a medicare levy on my tax, so I decided to take my chances on the understanding that I was going to die one of these days anyway. I wasn't trying to be a smart alec but I think doc thought I was. She took my blood pressure which was high of course, it always is on her machine, and she included blood test for cholesterol level. I walked out with a prescription for a new combined cholesterol /BP medication for double the strength I need which I can break in half and take a half a pill each day, therefore further reducing the cost. It will now only cost me $16.50 per month. I haven't taken them yet as BP is OK when I test myself at home, and I'll wait to get the results of the cholesterol test in any case, which I find out at my next appt which is the day after the colonoscopy.

Doc said saving money on the medications wouldn't be of much use if I had a heart attack and died. She said for every 4 people who didn't take cholesterol medication who had a heart attack, if they had, one out of the four attacks would have been prevented. Maybe so, but thinking about it later I realized that's a misleading statistic. What about the twenty other with high chol. who didn't have a heart attack? So are we talking about one in four or one in twenty-four? In the meantime I've saved $1500 and three trips to the doctor since I stopped taking them. I don't want to sound foolhardy but I realize that my life could end on any given day in many different ways.

As they say in racing parlance, there's a lot of ways to lose your money.