My Trip to the Doctor's Office

I have been very bad about going to the doctor. A lot of that was because of fear about how I would be treated because of my weight. But, I have been reading a lot of fat-positive blogs and books over the past few years and finally I was able to get to the point where I felt that I could handle it if I was treated badly. So, I made an appointment a while ago and went in today.

I still have to get some lab work done but all in all, I have been officially proclaimed healthy. I have to have a minor surgical procedure done on Friday to remove some scar tissue that is bothering me on my leg and I have some symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome which apparently is a major cause of infertility. But, I don’t think I’ll be having any kids anyways so I am ok with that. It does mean that I’ll have some medication to take twice a day which I think is a royal pain in the ass but I guess it is less of a pain in the ass than the symptoms I have (which I wont get into as it is well on the TMI side of things) . I have done some research on the web and there is a correlation between obesity and polycystic ovary syndrome but no one knows if it is obesity that causes the polycystic ovary syndrome or if it is the polycystic overy syndrome that causes the obesity. My doctor did say that treating this would probably cause me to lose some weight.

All in all, I thought the staff at the doctor’s office were very professional and considerate. No one made any comments about my weight. I also didnt get any subtle bad feelings. No one made a big deal about getting out the big blood pressure cuff for instance. The doctor was really good and listened to me and explained things well when I had questions. This was especially helpful when I talked about my knee issue from a fall I had in January. Basically, I should keep walking a lot as that will help it heal better. She thought I might have torn some cartilage but not badly enough to have it removed. For someone of my weight, it is especially important to have the cartilage there as it provides cushion for the joints. She did not get on my case at all about losing weight and just said that certain skin issues I have could be solved by losing weight. But when I said that wasnt going to happen, she accepted that and gave me alternative things to try.

I had the dreaded PAP smear and pelvic exam which is just about as horrible of a process as I can imagine. I heard that at the local medical school, they have professional patients whose job it is to get pelvic exams by medical students. I’ll tell you what, whenever I have a bad day at work and hate my job, all I’ll have to do is think about *that* job to know that things could be worse. MUCH WORSE. Can you imagine a job where you had to lie on your back with your feet in the stirrups to let a bunch of inexperienced students root around your hoo-haw all day? YUCK. I guess it would force a person to get real comfortable with her vagina though.

All in all, while I still wouldnt say it was a pleasant experience, it wasnt as bad as I had imagined. I like this doctor. The doctor’s office is only a couple of blocks from my house which is nice too.