Part of the Health Care System

Vero Beach

NoLL

Well now I'm officially part of the health care system. I went for my "Welcome to Medicare" physical. That's the first time I've been to a doctor in 6 years. Things went well. I'm healthy. No problems found. Strange though, the Doctor said my EKG was "normal variant" but it looks like a heart attack. He advised me to carry a copy of my EKG in my wallet. In case I have an accident, I can show it to the EMTs to show that I'm not having a heart attack.

My only medical complaint is that my left heel gave me great pain three times in the past 6 months. Each time the achilles tendon swelled. Each time, I had to lay flat for a week or more to recover. I told the doctor that each time it happened after walking several miles. His medical advice was startlingly direct and to the point. He said, "Well, don't do that any more."

I was curious about general practitioners here in Vero. I read a recent article that said general practitioners (GPs) make only 30% as much money as specialists to. Since Vero is a very rich town, it crawls with wall-to-wall medical centers, and medical specialists like flies. I wondered what the GPs would be like. I learned the answer while waiting. The waiting room was full of brochures for botox, laser hair removal, eyelash enhancements and so on. Aha! this GP boosts his income by selling cosmetic treatments to the wealthy. Well, why not? I don't think those kinds of things burden the taxpayers, and it makes it possible to have GPs in a place like Vero Beach. Libby's turn comes later this week.

p.s. I repaired the Drinking While Driving post. The pictures were missing.