What’s Up, Doc?

Yesterday I had an appointment with my civilian primary care doctor for a routine checkup and to review some lab work I had done last week. After reviewing everything from the labs and checking my heart and blood pressure, she says I’m in darned good shape for a fat old guy. All of my numbers; blood pressure, A1c, cholesterol, HDL, LDL, liver enzymes, and everything else were good. Actually, very good for the most part.

On the same day I had labs done at LabCorps here in Edgewater, I went to the Daytona Beach VA Medical Center and had the same tests done there for an upcoming appointment with my VA doctor less than two hours later. And just like last time, my doctor yesterday and I both found it interesting that the numbers are not the same. There was a difference in the test results from the two labs. It wasn’t a huge difference, but there was enough of a discrepancy to notice. I don’t know why that is and she could not explain it either.

Someone asked why I have both a civilian and VA primary care doctor. Even though I have Medicare and a supplement through AARP, the VA suggests I still stay active on their roles and come in a couple of times a year to see my primary care provider there. That way, if I were to come down with some catastrophic illness I would have more than one type of coverage to fall back on.

I find the whole Medicare thing interesting, because the folks in Washington decided I made too much money a couple of years ago and took my Social Security away from me. So now I have to pay for Medicare out of my own pocket. Then the VA, which is supposed to provide medical care for honorably discharged veterans like myself, in turn charges Medicare for anything I get from them. Like they say, it’s always something.

It’s been quite a while since I had my Mustang out of the garage, so I drove it to my doctor’s appointment, and afterward we went to Port Orange for dinner at Salsas, a Mexican restaurant Terry really likes. I got the car back in late November, and as I said then, it’s just a toy. I’ve driven it so little that by the time we got home last night, after a stop at Publix and another stop at Walgreens to pick up a prescription, it still only has 715 miles on the odometer.

There are two features on the Mustang that Terry and I both found we really like. One is the remote start, which lets me start it from 300 feet away by pushing a button on the key fob. So when we get inside on hot days like this, the car is already cooling down. The other nice feature is that it has not only heated, but also cooled seats. When she first became aware I had them on, Terry said it was kind of a weird feeling. But it didn’t take her long to get used to it.

I had hoped I would have my new book, Big Lake Ninja, done by now. But unfortunately, something went wacky with my Microsoft Word program and the formatting got crazy. It was either producing paragraphs with all of the words run together, or else it would do just the opposite, leaving large spaces and even two or three blank lines between each word. And the crazy thing is, that didn’t happen until after I had closed the manuscript and turned off the computer Wednesday night and reopened it again on Thursday morning. I don’t know why those gremlins do the things they do in the middle of the night, but I wish they’d stop it. At any rate, I will have it done by the end of the weekend. Then it will make the rounds of the proofreaders and if all goes well it should be out by this time next week.

So far over 50 people have entered our latest Free Drawing. This week’s prize is an audiobook of Stillborn Armadillos, the first book in my John Lee Quarrels series. To enter, click on this Free Drawing link or the tab at the top of this page and enter your name (first and last) in the comments section at the bottom of that page (not this one). Only one entry per person per drawing please, and you must enter with your real name. To prevent spam or multiple entries, the names of cartoon or movie characters are not allowed. The winner will be drawn Sunday evening.

Thought For The Day – Sorry I took my pants off at your gender reveal party. I thought everybody was participating. My bad.