A Visit to an Eye Doctor (Ophthalmologist)

Credit: WebMD.com

Yesterday, January 11, 2013, at 3:30 p.m. sharp, I went to see my ophthalmologist, Dr. Rafael Yee at the Clínca Yee, for my yearly visual checkup.  Normally I do this every year, just to make sure my headlamps are okay.  I read a lot and spend a considerable amount of time before a bright computer screen on a daily basis, and occasionally my eyes get irritated and/or fatigued.  I also have a glaucoma history in the family and I want to play it safe ensuring that I’m not affected by this disease.

Lately my eyes are red, a little teary on the corners, and very tired when I sit before my computer.  Before it got any worse, I decided to pay an early visit to Dr. Yee.  After a careful examination, he diagnosed that the redness of the eyes and a feeling of irritation and fatigue were caused by dry eyes and by circulatory origins.

To relieve the aforementioned symptoms, he prescribed the following medication:

• Lagricel Ofteno:  Hyaluronic Acid sodium (a derivative of Hyaluronic Acid) is an eye lubricant for the temporary relief of burning, foreign body sensation, itching or dryness causing mild eye irritation by a wide range of agents such as sunlight, dust, air, chlorinated water, weak chemical agents, and exposure to bright light.
• Vatarel MR:  This is a Prophylactic adjuvant treatment of the decline in visual acuity and visual field disturbances presumably of vascular origin.  It is considered by most oculists as an auxiliary treatment of visual disorders of a circulatory origin.

Dr. Yee said that the lamps were working well and the irritation and fatigues of both eyes would be gone in a few days.  Besides the mentioned prescription medicines, there was nothing to worry about.  He said jokingly, I could write my blog until I fell asleep.  Those words were music to my ears as you probably imagined.

How much did I have to cough out for this visit?  Here it is so you can compare these costs to your country and city.

• Medical Fees:  $40.00 (this includes a 20 percent retiree discount)
• Cost of Lagricel Ofteno:  $11.15 (price includes a 20 percent retiree discount)
• Cost of Vastarel MR:  $15.12 (price includes a 20 percent retiree discount)
• Total Cost:  $66.27

Oh one more thing, before I forget.  While I was waiting for my turn to see the doctor, I sat next to a young woman with her daughter who I guess was about three years old.  The little girl was very concentrated in some kind of gadget and occasionally gestured and shouted enthusiastically.  Her mother guided and played patiently with her.  Tempted by curiosity, I looked closer and discovered that mother and daughter were playing with a brightly lit Apple iPad Mini.  They were taking pictures of each other with the embedded camera, and editing the images into all kinds of funny faces and weird bright colors.  (Omar smiled complacently.)  The Apple Mini has finally reached our market and is already making people happy.

The positive visit to the eye doctor and the experience of watching an Apple iPad Mini in action made my day.  Year 2013 so far, has had a good beginning.  Good Day.

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Joke: The Blind Woman and Her Naughty Dog

A blind woman was walking down the street with her dog. They stopped at the corner for traffic. The dog began nipping at the lady’s leg. She reached into her coat pocket, pulled out a doggie treat and began waving it around.

A passerby who witnessed it all asked the woman why she was rewarding the dog for such bad behavior. The woman said, “Oh, I’m not rewarding him, I’m just trying to find his head so I can kick his rear!”

Don’t take life too seriously.  Squeeze a smile on your face every time you can.  You’ll live longer.  Ask the Doc.  Good Day.

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Joke: Golf Pragmatism

A doctor, a minister, and an engineer were playing golf one day.

They were frustrated by the slow play of the foursome ahead of them. They couldn’t seem to hit the ball anywhere, they drove their cart into a tree, they stumbled around, lost balls and left them laying behind in obvious locations. Their golf performance was in total disarray.

They called over a course warden and asked if there was anything he would do to speed up their play. The warden apologized and then explained that this was a group of blind firefighters. They all lost their sight putting out a fire in the clubhouse the year before. Since then the golf course let them play whenever they wanted and didn’t hassle them.

The three friends thought about it and expressed appreciation for the golf club’s compassion.

The doctor said, “I have a couple of friends that are world-class eye surgeons. I will ask them if there is anything they could do to help.”

The preacher said, “I will have my whole congregation pray that God will send a miracle to help those poor firefighters.”

The engineer was quiet for a few minutes and then asked, “Why don’t they play at night?”

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The Act of Healing

Photograph of a physician in the act of healing a young patient. I found this sculpture in a private hospital in Panama City, Panama. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.

This image has a strong message about human solidarity.  A physician is attending a sick young patient lying in bed.  Above them is a suffering mother in pain softly reclining her head on her husband’s shoulder.  The father is the strong figure of the group and the tallest of the three.  He comforts both his wife and his other daughter who looks down at her sick sister.  What a beautiful scene of a healing process symbol of human solidarity.

If only our modern societies would behave like this.  Good Day.

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Joke: Shingles

Bubba Had shingles Those of us who spend much time in a doctor’s office should appreciate this! Doesn’t it seem more and more that physicians are running their practices like an assembly line? Here’s what happened to Bubba:

Bubba walked into a doctor’s office and the receptionist asked him what he had. Bubba said: ‘Shingles.’ So she wrote down his name, address, medical insurance number and told him to have a seat.

Fifteen minutes later a nurse’s aide came out and asked Bubba what he had.  Bubba said, ‘Shingles.’ So she wrote down his height, weight, a complete medical history and told Bubba to wait in the examining room.

A half hour later a nurse came in and asked Bubba what he had. Bubba said, ‘Shingles.’ So the nurse gave Bubba a blood test, a blood pressure test, an electrocardiogram, and told Bubba to take off all his clothes and wait for the doctor.

An hour later the doctor came in and found Bubba sitting patiently in the nude and asked Bubba what he had. Bubba said, ‘Shingles.’ The doctor asked, ‘Where?’  Bubba said, ‘Outside on the truck. Where do you want me to unload ‘em?’

Source:  Bits & Pieces

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Joke: Clever Diagnosis

A young doctor was to take up his new position in a small community hospital in a town.

The retiring older doctor suggested the young one to accompany him on his rounds for a couple of weeks to understand the finer points of practice in a small community and at the same time for him to meet a few patients.

At the first visit to a farmers house the farmer’s wife complained, “I’ve been a little sick to my stomach.”

The senior doctor thought for a moment or two and said, ‘Well I think you’ve probably been eating too much of bananas , try to cut back on the amount you’ve been eating and see if that helps.”

As they left the young doctor was absolutely surprised and asked his senior , “You didn’t even examine that woman. How’d you make your diagnosis so quickly?”

—“I didn’t have to. I dropped my stethoscope on the floor by mistake and when I bent over to pick it up guess what I saw in the trash bin – at least half dozen banana peels. That was what was probably making her sick.”

—“Oh” the younger doctor said, “Pretty clever, maybe I’ll try that at our next house visit.”

The next day they did another house visit. Both spent several minutes talking with a young pretty lady who was complaining of lack of energy and tiredness for the past few days for no real reason. She said ” Doc, I’m feeling terribly run down lately, I don’t know why. “

The older doctor said “Oh, I am sure there is good reason but for someone as youthful as you this cannot be a serious reason.”

The young doctor on this responded, “I think sir there is, she is probably been doing too much work for the church, perhaps she cut back a bit and sleep a little more and see if that helps”. The girl went slightly red and said nothing and just nodded.

As they left, the senior doc surprised at this said, “Your diagnosis is probably correct, but how did you arrive at it? “

“Well, just like you did at the last house, I also dropped my stethoscope and when I bent down to pick it up, guess what I saw”

—“What did you see?”

—“I noticed the preacher under the bed!”

Source:  Miss Cellania

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Joke: Venereal Disease

A man returns from overseas and is feeling very ill. He goes to see his doctor, and is immediately rushed to the hospital to undergo some tests.

The man wakes up after the tests in a private room at the hospital, and the phone by his bed rings. “This is your doctor. We have the results back from your tests and we have found you have an extremely nasty STD called G.A.S.H. It’s a combination of Gonorrhea, AIDS, Syphilis, and Herpes!”

—“Oh my gosh,” cried the man, “What are you going to do, doctor?”

—“Well we’re going to put you on a diet of pizzas, pancakes, and pita bread.” replied the doctor.

—“Will that cure me?” asked the frightened man.

The doctor replied, “Well no, but, it’s the only food we can slide under the door.”

Good Day!

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Fighting the Pain – Impingement Syndrome

For the last four months I’ve been suffering from acute pain in my left arm as a result of a shoulder bursitis or shoulder tendonitis. The best terminology for these symptoms is ‘impingement syndrome.’ Impingement syndrome occurs when there is inflammation of the rotator cuff tendons and the bursa that surrounds these tendons.

The bursa is a soft, fluid-filled sack that covers and cushions the movement between the bones, tendons and muscles near the joints.

Impingement syndrome is a descriptive term of pinching of the tendons and bursa of the rotator cuff between bones. In many individuals with this problem, the shape of their bones is such that they have less space than most others. Therefore, small thickenings of the tendons or bursa can cause symptoms.

After two visits to my internal medicine doctor, Carlos Tam, a ten day physiotherapy session, and several pain killers, the problem was still there.  In fact, the pain was getting worse and the movement of my left was severely hampered.  I can only move my arm about 25 percent without pain.  At night, the pain is so intense, I can’t sleep at all.  Driving is also affected, since I can’t keep my left hand on the wheel without feeling pain.

Yesterday I was referred by Dr. Carlos Tam to an orthopedist.  His name is Rubén Russo Yau. He diagnosed my problem as “capsulitis adherente con bursitis.” In order to kill the pain, he applied a cortisone injection or steroid shot, into the area of inflammation and prescribed three Arcoxia 90 Mg pills to ease the pain and the swelling.  Arcoxia tablets contain the active ingredient etoricoxib, which is a type of medicine known as a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID).

The cortisone injection places medication to treat the inflammation directly in the problem area. The most significant downside is that cortisone injections can weaken tendons, and repeated cortisone injections should be carefully considered.

To solve the adherences problems, Dr. Russo recommended several arm exercises using a three pound weight.  He said the problem was not severe and once the inflammation had subsided the pain would disappear.  The regular arm exercises should return my left arm to its normal condition.

While typing this post, I can feel the pain, but its sufferable, if you know what I mean.  However, just to play it safe, I’ll keep away from the computer as much as I can.  (Hard to do, though.)

I should start the physical therapy three days from now, after the inflammation has subsided.  Aging is good, but it also brings excess  baggage.  Good Day.

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Story: Glitter and Sparkles Inside

Ladies this has to be read, laughed at and passed on. There is not a woman alive today who won’t crack up over this!

I was due for an appointment with the gynecologist later in the week. Early one morning, I received a call from the doctor’s office to tell me that I had been rescheduled for that morning at 9:30 a.m. I had only just packed everyone off to work and school, and it was already around 8:45 a.m. The trip to his office took about 35 minutes, so I didn’t have any time to spare.

As most women do, I like to take a little extra effort over hygiene when making such visits, but this time I wasn’t going to be able to make the full effort. So, I rushed upstairs, threw off my pajamas, wet the washcloth that was sitting next to the sink, and gave myself a quick wash in that area to make sure I was at least presentable. I threw the washcloth in the clothes basket, donned some clothes, hopped in the car and raced to my appointment.

I was in the waiting room for only a few minutes when I was called in. Knowing the procedure, as I’m sure you do, I hopped up on the table, looked over at the other side of the room and pretended that I was in Paris or some other place a million miles away. I was a little surprised when the doctor said, “My, we have made an extra effort this morning, haven’t we?” I didn’t respond.

After the appointment, I heaved a sigh of relief and went home. The rest of the day was normal.  Some shopping, cleaning, and cooking. After school when my 6-year-old daughter was playing, she called out from the bathroom, “Mommy, where’s my washcloth?”

I told her to get another one from the cupboard.

She replied, “No, I need the one that was here by the sink, it had all my glitter and sparkles saved inside it.”

Never going back to that doctor…Ever.

Imagine all that glitter and sparkles inside for the doctor to see.  Good Day.

Source:  Bits & Pieces

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New Year’s Resolutions

It’s a tradition in many parts of the world to set goals to be accomplished during the year.  These goals are usually called New Year’s Resolutions. I’m no exception, and I have two goals to keep during 2009.  If my will power is strong enough, I should be able to accomplish them thoroughly.  Both are related to my health.

My first New Year’s Resolution is to walk at least half an hour each day around my neighborhood.  This is to keep my stress level down and consequently, control my high blood pressure.  This is a must I can’t say no to.  My doctor was very straight forward when he told me to walk, so walk I will during 2009.

My Second New Year’s Resolution is the reduce my weight by at least nine pounds.  My weight right now is 169 pounds and I have to trim it down to 160.  That is my adequate weight according to my height.  This goal is to control my stomach reflux.  I had a bad case of esophagus reflux two weeks ago that scared me.  I changed my diet and in one month I lost three pounds, which means that I should reach my goal without much effort.  Avoid fat and stay away from MacDonald’s!

That’s it.  Should be a piece of cake.  Good Day.

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