I had a doctor’s appointment today. It was a follow up to a follow up from my general practitioner. If you all remember, in mid-December, a month after my dad was in the hospital with a broken hip and Lily died, and just a few weeks after Tammy, I had covid and the flu. On a follow up checkup in early January, my blood pressure was through the fucking roof and had anxiety and depression, so we took some steps to work on that. Went back in the first week of March, and had a follow up today.
Long story short my bp is now back down to a respectable 120/66, and my resting heart beat is about 58. Both of which are pretty good for someone as fat and old as me. Combined with the lifestyle changes I am making this year which will hopefully lead to some significant weight loss, I might be able to get off blood pressure meds altogether by the end of the year and be healthier than I was a decade ago. That would be nice, and I feel like it is something I owe to Joelle. Can’t show up to a wedding half dead with one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.
All of which is to say that the only reason this is happening is because I am lucky enough to have health care through my employer, and not only that, have had it long enough that I am not afraid to use it and understand the importance of checkups and follow up appointments. And that it is still fucking crazy to me that we do not have some sort of universal health care so that everyone in this country could have the same sort of health outcomes. It would be cheaper, the country would be stronger, people would live longer and happier. Health insurance needs to just be abolished.