A few days ago I posted an entry talking about how my stomach was annoying me and I was wondering if it was acid reflux or an ulcer or something. Well, that prompted me to go to the doctor to get checked out and it was a pretty good trip.

By the way, this is a new doctor for me so I went there a few minutes early to fill out the requisite paperwork – which wasn’t so bad. Also, my appointment was for 9:30am and I was called into the examination room at 9:32am. Talk about fast and speedy!

The nurse took some of my blood for blood work and then took my blood pressure, which was exactly where it should be. The first sign of good health was that I didn’t have high or low blood pressure (I normally have low blood pressure). The doctor then came in and talked to me about my stomach and since I hadn’t had the annoyances in the last week, he thought that it might not be a big problem. However, just to be sure that it didn’t have anything to do with my heart, he gave me an EKG. I never had one of those before, but it’s an extremely quick little procedure.

The nurse told me that this procedure checked to see if there was plaque build-up around my heart and whether or not my heart was beating correctly. Again, I was happy that the test showed no build-up and that my heart was beating normally. More good news. The doctor wound up giving me some preventive medication for a twenty day period. I’ll go back and talk to him when the medication is complete, but I don’t have any symptoms of the heart burn or a possible ulcer any more.

Since I was in the mood to see doctors on Friday, I went over to the optometrist to get my eyes checked. You’re supposed to get an eye exam every year or every other year if you’re younger. It’s been six years since my last eye exam, so I thought it was time to get back to the doctor. Again, this was a new doctor for me and while I had a very pleasant experience at the general doctor in the morning, I had a horrendous experience at the optometrist.

I went to the “Eye Doctor” next to the ShopRite in Neptune, Monmouth County. It was the worst pre-examination experience that I’ve ever had at a doctor’s office. I arrived at 3:15pm for a 3:30pm appointment – I figured I would have some paperwork to fill out (which I did) and then there would be a small wait before I saw the doctor. Oh no…

My paperwork was completed by 3:20pm and I wasn’t called in to see the doctor until 5:00pm. I repeat. My paperwork was completed by 3:20pm (for my 3:30pm appointment) and I wasn’t called in to see the doctor until 5:00pm (1 hour and 45 minutes after I arrived). Folks, it was pathetic. I’m not sure why the place was running so slow or if it was a problem of overbooking, but the atmosphere was just as bad as the wait. For nearly two hours I sat in a “waiting room” listening to vagrants on the outside of the doctor’s office hooting and hollering in public – like ANYBODY wants to hear that crap. It wasn’t so much better on the inside with kids running around and adults hollering inside the store like children. It was like I scheduled my appointment during the time when they let the animals loose.

What was most perplexing about the entire experience was that the optometrist was amazing. He ran a number of tests on my eyes that I don’t remember ever having before. And (just as in the morning) I received a completely clean bill of health for my eyes. The doctor did give me a new prescription for my glasses, but the funny thing is that the prescription is for a lesser strength lens than I currently have. In other words, my eyes have gotten better over the last six years! Ha!

In the next week or two I’m going to try to get to the dentist. That way all of the major appointments are taken care of and I can wait another year or two until I go back for another check-up!