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Hooked Up 2--and Other News from MedWorld Yes, I'm still hooking up every morning--to my Holter (heart) monitor. I will be doing so only for a total of seven days; yesterday in the coffee shop, I talked with a guy who told me he'd recently worn one for a month. So I felt ... diminished. I also joked--as we shared MedStories--that we were sounding like our grandparents. Young Guys talk about ... you know, the Heart; Old Guys talk about heart monitors.

Anyway, the device is not proving to be too much of a pain. (I'm hooking up without Joyce these recent days.) Most of the day I don't notice it at all--save for a slight tugging now and then (wires). And, I must confess (blush, blush) that there are certain times when it's, uh, a bit more of an inconvenience--especially since mine, unlike the guy's in the photo above, is hooked on my belt. Use your imagination ...

It's a relief each morning to take it all off so I can hop in the shower--though "hopping" in the shower is not something I've done for years--more or less "shuffling' into the shower is what I now do. But--too soon, too soon--I'm back out, dry, and ready to attach it all again.

I will wear it till Monday afternoon--the end of my seven-day sentence. Then I'll mail it off and wait to see what we've learned.

Meanwhile, I learned something this week--something helpful. My PCP had referred me to an ophthalmologist because I've been complaining about bleary vision in recent months. I thought it could be connected to the dizziness and wooziness I've felt. Cause? Effect?

Well, the ophthalmologist quickly discovered a problem: Back in mid-February this year, I had my routine exam by my local eye guy (to whom I've gone for years); I'd complained that my distance vision was not so good, so I got a new Rx + new frames. I had some trouble adjusting--but I thought it was, you know, my problem. My old eyeballs just weren't as agile as they used to be, etc.

No. My ophthalmologist discovered that the Rx in my right eye was quite the opposite of what I needed, and the Rx for the left eye wasn't all that accurate, either. I went home, put on my "old" glasses (the ones I'd worn previous to February), and the world immediately cleared up. (Not completely so: I still had the problem with distances, the problem that I'd complained about back in Feb.)

But I ran the new glasses over to my eye guy, where they told me that they would send them "back out" to the lab.

I'm hoping there won't be a charge ... there'd better not be a charge!

And speaking of charges, today I got a bunch of pages from my health insurance carrier, pages telling me they're not going to pay for a recent (expensive) procedure ... yadda, yadda, yadda. I'm going to take the forms out to my PCP's office this afternoon. Get it all immediately cleared up, I'm sure.

Health Care System ... How do I loathe thee? Let me count the ways ...
Posted by Daniel Dyer at 8:15 AM