Getting to my doctor's appointment yesterday was an adventure, but an adventure wasn't what I wanted. I only wanted a bus ride.
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| CRANKY OLD FART #252 leftovers & links Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2022 |
The app said to take the #99, which is cool. It goes right by my house. Then it said to get off at the Burien Transit Center, and walk eight blocks to to my new doctor's address. Eight blocks is actually my new normal daily walk, because I've been trying to get off my fat ass more lately, so it oughta be OK, right?
The doctor's in Burien, and I'm in Burien a lot, know my way around. From the address I could sorta sense where the doc's office was, so I didn't bother with Google Maps, and that was impressively stupid.
It was dark and I got twisted and made a wrong turn, but didn't know I'd made a wrong turn until I'd walked several blocks uphill in the wrong direction.
My 8-block walk became 14 blocks, including three blocks up that damned hill, which left me more than winded. I'm out of shape unless the shape is round, and I had to stop and lean on a dumpster for a few minutes before continuing up the hill.
Retreating took me one block down a pretty steep road, then another block down a crazy steep road, a street so downhill diagonal they surely block access whenever it snows — and it was snowing. And it was dark, 'cuz this doctor does nighttime appointments and mine was for 7:45 PM.
Got to the doc's at 7:48, with sweat dripping down my face, so of course when they wrapped my arm and pumped the ball my blood pressure was high enough to fry chicken. "It's high because of my long, hurried walk to get here," I explained, but—
"Ah, no," said the doc. "The first number might be from walking, but the second number is a long-term reading, and it's gonna kill you."
At that moment I became a vegetarian again. It's been 20+ years, but I've been meatless and more healthy before, and I can do it again.
A health sentence beats a death sentence.
Dr Choi is an older Asian man (older meaning, maybe ten years younger than me), very chill and relaxed. He made a few jokes, but not so many it was like a comedy club.
His best line was when I mentioned that I'd put on a hundred pounds or so because my last job had me work from home during the pandemic, and being at home put me too close to the refrigerator.
"Ah, another casualty of COVID," he said.
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This doc is in private practice, so there's no pharmacy, and he asked where I wanted my Rx's filled. I said Fred Meyer, just because it's a grocery that's easy to get to.
"Most expensive prescriptions in town," he said, and pulled up a webpage showing side-by-side the price for my pills at every local drug store.
Holy Stromboli, the difference wasn't just a few dollars. One of my meds is $4.28 for 90 pills at Safeway, or $88 at Fred Meyer. For my three drugs total, the difference was more than $120, so I'm getting my prescriptions at Safeway.
Forever I'll avoid Fred Meyer pharmacies, but how long is forever? Fred Meyer is owned by Kroger, and Safeway is owned by Albertson's, and Kroger and Albertson's are merging.
Anti-trust no longer exists, so every company is trying to merge with every other company and make America into One Big Corporation.
Here's my review of Dr Choi:
① In all my years of being fat, he's the first doctor I've seen who didn't lead with, "You need to lose weight." Having eyeballs, I already know I need to lose weight, and my mom handles my nagging, so thanks for not mentioning it, Doc.
And ② I don't remember any other doctor ever giving a hoot about the cost of the meds being prescribed. Uninsured, I paid $195 to see him, which is actually reasonable when a sack of corn chips costs $4.99 — and he saved me $120 on the pills.
I like Dr Choi so much that if ever I get employed and insured, seeing him would be worth $195 every time, even "out of network," so I'll be back.
Verdict: BIG YES.
Something always has to piss me off, though, or I wouldn't be me.
There's a bus stop directly in front of my doctor's office. Three bus lines stop there, and they all go to the Burien Transit Center. Metro's trip-planner app told me to walk eight blocks in the dark and snow, instead of waiting a few minutes at most, for a connecting bus that would've dropped me across the street from my destination.
Headed back, I waited just three minutes for an F bus that took me to my #99 that took me home, where I sent the bus people a very Karen email.
Merry Christmas to my flatmate, Robert. Switching to healthier food means
I'll be giving him all the TV dinners and pot pies and real pies and ice cream
from my freezer.
My menu for today will be lots of raw carrots, maybe a salad with light dressing, and unsalted tomatoes for desert. It'll be pretty much the same menu every day, from now on, and that's OK — I like carrots and salads and tomatoes.
But in a few days I'll be in ice cream withdrawal, and I guess there won't be any two-hamburger lunches at Mrs Rigby's.
Later today, I'll post a batch of movie reviews, and a full report on a dull day of dealing fish from 1995. I was a vegetarian then, you know, and work was a mile walk, coming and going. I didn't complain about it, so yeah, I can do this.
News you need,
whether you know it or not
• San Francisco restaurant wins lawsuit, gets COVID coverage
How many hundreds of thousands of companies paid pricey premiums to be covered against disruption of business, only to have their claims denied when they were closed by COVID? One restaurant sued the criminals at The Hartford, and won.
• 2022 Lancet report warns of the effects of climate change on human health
And it never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, because climate change isn't 'coming', it's underway. It'll kill billions, and we're not doing squat about it.
And it never stops, never stops,never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, because all cops are bastards, or they know who the bastard cops are and do nothing about it, which is the same thing.
• Illustrious resumé of incoming New York Congressman is work of fiction
And it never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, because Republicans are the enemy of common sense, common decency, simple truth, and democracy.
• Fugitive cow located at Long Island golf course
Clicks ahoy
• What was Christmas like for America's enslaved people?
• When Leonard Cohen lied to Bob Dylan
• Mystery links... like life itself, there's no knowing where you're going, so click and click and click a third time.
• How neighborhoods used restrictive housing covenants to block nonwhite families
• An interview with Emily Powell, owner of Powell's Books
Powell's, if you're unfamiliar with it, is the world's finest book store.
• Chestnuts roasting on an open fire
• Taking stock of the world's oldest soups
♫♬ Mix tape of my mind ♫
• City of New Orleans — Arlo Guthrie
• Fuedin' Banjos - Don Reno & Arthur Smith
• The Magnificent Seven — Elmer Bernstein
• Second Sight — Luther Wright & the Wrongs
• Whiter Shade of Pale — Procol Harum
The End
12/20/2022
I'm glad you decided instantly to change what you eat. My father was stubborn and argued and didn't eat healthy and he's gone. You can't eat like a teenager when you're old. Please stay smart and eat healthy. If you can go vegetarian you will live longer.
ReplyDeleteI still have 11 cans of tuna fish on hand, so I'm temporarily fishitarian. Maybe permanently.
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