Annual Doctor’s Checkup: Am I in good health?

I get tired easily these days. I am unaware of anything except that my ‘katulong‘ and I try not to eat any other meal during the day except for breakfast. We are trying this out to see if we can lose weight (so far, it’s not working). I noticed about a month ago, even by simply walking my dog Simba (my cute little Shih Tzu) for a block or two, I find myself running out of breath! Unusual ay? And every time I climb up the stairs, I can’t get through it without stopping midway. Hmm – - something isn’t right!

So, I scheduled an appointment with my doctor (who is a cutie and a sweetie at the same time – and yes, he’s married!). He did all the usual checks, throat, eyes, ears, neck, stomach and reflex. He placed the stethoscope gently on my chest and asked me to breathe deeply. He had me do the ‘cough’ routine as well. From the outside, I am a healthy-nothing-to-worry-about guy. But I complained about easily getting lightheaded and told him about my shortness of breath during normal activities.

He ordered a blood test just to dig deeper and see if I have something that could be triggering those symptoms. I am a smoker so I thought that it could be the reason why – - he agreed that it could be one of the reasons but not enough for me to walk five blocks and be out of breath! He suspects that I am anemic. I took the blood test the next day and within two days his assistant called me and told me that I am indeed anemic and the doctor wanted a follow-up visit as soon as possible.

My visit with him is always pleasant. He is very thorough and very kind. He is VERY YOUNG too! (Didn’t I say very pleasant already?!) He went over my blood test results with me and he explained why he wanted to see me again. He wanted to make sure that the blood count reading is accurate and if so, he needs to get to the bottom of it to know if there is something else that is causing my blood count to be extremely low. I am not a vegan and I do eat meat (sometimes more than the usual). Iron deficiency doesn’t run in my family.

He suspects that I am losing blood somewhere. An ulcer perhaps? He did his normal routine test again – blood pressure is fine, chest is fine, no hernia, blah blah blah.. but he insisted that I take a second blood test just to be safe. He told me that if the blood test comes back with the same results, he will order an endoscopy and a colonoscopy – ewwwwwwwww! This was last Tuesday, the 27th of August. He said that he will personally call me with the result and let me know either way, good or bad.

Today is Saturday, the 1st of September. He hasn’t called. I didn’t dare call him. I was afraid to find out. Still getting lightheaded, still running out of breath. Monday is a holiday so I doubt he will call me then.

Here’s the conversation that I am imagining:

Chuva: Hello, this is Chuva.

Doc: Hi Chuva. I am sorry I didn’t call you right away. I wanted to be prepared on how to deliver this to you.

Chuva: Why doc? What’s wrong?!

Doc: I have good news and I have bad news. Which one would you want first.

Chuva: Gimme the good news.

Doc: You have 30 days to live.

Chuva: What?!! And what’s the bad news?!

Doc: I was supposed to call you three days ago but I was busy, so now – you only have 27 days to live.

NGEK!

I’ll keep you all updated on the results. I should have it by Tuesday.. and hopefully nothing serious. I’d rather die in my sleep!

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