Some time ago, my primary care physician at Kaiser retired and I was force to select another one. I just went online and picked out one who was accepting new patients. This time she's young. But then remember, at 69 it doesn't take much to look young to me; however, my last doctor was nearly my age.

Anyway, in order for her to put refills on my Atenolol (for my blood pressure) she needed an "establish care" visit. So for a $ 30 copay, I met her. As has been my practice over the last ten or so years, I decided not to do anything to keep my new doctor from knowing about me.

In keeping with that decision, I changed from my guy work clothes to and a nice feminine blouse, with a leopard print and black trim, and black Capri pants, some ankle strap, patent leather flats and hose, applied some minimal make-up (lipstick and mascara) and put a jeweled barrette in my hair before going to my appointment.

Both her nurse and the doctor never even blinked when dealing with me. They were both very friendly, and without so much as a moments hesitation, began calling me by my nickname which is androgynous (Pat - I use it at work and church) and the whole visit was quite enjoyable, right up until I had to go to the lab and let the vampires (or I guess the proper term is "phlebotomist") suck my blood. A necessary procedure, but one I'm not too fond of. I don't mind the sight of blood, so long as it's not my own.

The good news is, aside from mild hypertension (easily controlled by the Atenolol) and the pesky enlarged thyroid, I'm disgustingly healthy. My blood work is great.

Cholesterol 113
Triglyceride 98
HDL Chol > 39 mg/dL 45
LDL Calc 55

At age fifty, my cholesterol was at 166 and the doctor thought that was great.

The other areas of concern (Thyroid) is still pretty much the same as it was way back. T4, T3, are both in normal range with only THS being low and I'm still per-diabetic, though marginally less so since last time.