I Get Most of My Injuries at the Ballpark

I've read many times that most accidents occur in the home. (Which is always a warning to clear your passageways, etc.) And I've also read that most car accidents occur within a mile or less of your home.

In my case, my accidents occur outside the home. The latest is a bruise I picked up yesterday. I had just driven to the game at 3pm, got out of my car, walked in the parking lot and turned the corner, and a car door opened and hit me in the right forearm. It stung momentarily, but I knew it would grow into a big, honking bruise. Because I bruise quite easily these days.

I will watch the bruise turn different colors before it disappears in about two weeks. But it's nothing to what happened to me last July when a foul ball at the Oakland Coliseum hit me in the right breast. That took months to fade away.

And the biggest injury in my life was when I took a fall at night on a speed bump across the street from Disneyland. That was two years ago. My left leg still has lingering problems from that, but nothing serious. And I had the chipped tooth replaced.

I am well aware -- well, I became well aware after that fall, which took place two years ago -- that falls will be my worst enemy. My partner is currently checking on an elderly couple who live in Alameda. When she discovered that one of them had fallen multiple times the previous night, she rushed him to the emergency ward. Falls are no joke. In this case, however, it isn't the result of the fall(s) that she worried about. It was the cause.

So, from these experiences, I can only conclude that (1) I am getting older, and (2) getting older is no fun. I can't do much about opening car doors or foul balls unless I just stay home. My son says I should wear a rubber suit when I go out. Do you think that would help?

Back to Dr. Miller

A few days, a robot called me to ask me if Friday was a good day for an appointment. I pressed "1" to confirm. What a strange way to get a doctor's appointment. I had no idea who the doctor was or why I was scheduled. But it turned out to be business as usual. It was indeed Dr. Laura Miller of Lifelong in Oakland, and it was a follow-up to my blood test in July. Dr. Miller had warned me that the last CT scan I had -- the one that showed I no longer had any sign of cancer -- had a dye in its preparation that reacted negatively sometimes to Metformin, a diabetes drug that I take. The blood test was a precaution. And everything looks fine. My A1C, as measured in May, is 6.1. Stellar. My blood pressure today was 116/63. Couldn't ask for better. My weight is up (hey, I was in Las Vegas all last week!), but we didn't talk about that. We did talk about the fact that Dr. Stern wanted me to have frequent follow-up pelvic exams (PAP smears?), as 5% of uterine cancer patients see recurrence of the cancer within the first five years. We agreed that I would see Dr. Poddatoori and discuss how we would go about this. Dr. P. is on maternity leave presently, so I told Dr. Miller I'd try to make an appointment with Dr. P. in December. And so we left, agreeing that I would come back to see Dr. Miller in either November or December. Curiously, she told me that Lifelong is going to electronic medical records. And that meant, the fall-out, was that doctors would see fewer patients as they learn the system. Interesting, but a positive note that my records could be viewed by any medical staff anywhere, provided, I hope, I give permission.