Subj : Health Update
To   : Don Lowery
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Thu Aug 06 2020 19:32:16

Hi & welcome, Don!  Recently you wrote in a message to Daryl Stout:

DL>  Even had to take a colon test a couple of months ago.


           Seems to me you're in good company... [wry grin].



DL>  they said I was normal. Hearing that...I cried for joy.


           Uh-huh.  Although I didn't think it was likely I had colon cancer I was quite relieved when my gastroenterologist found no evidence of it....  :-)



DL>  The reason...have had the "truck driver's syndrome"
DL>  since my early 20's & didn't want anything causing
DL>  more pain than what I feel through the years.


           Hmm....

           Uncle Google says very little about it, except that it affects many people who spend a lot of time in a seated position.  If you're a truck driver who has to eat & sleep whenever the opportunity becomes available I understand how these things can interfere with one's digestion etc. because I'm in a very similar situation.  What made the matter more urgent in recent months was that I'd developed chronic diarrhea... beginning around the time people who used to eat out a lot started remaining at home & learning to bake bread.  The grocery stores (for this & other reasons) often couldn't meet the unprecedented demand for so many things I won't try to list them.  I reckon the situation in the US was probably much the same.  I saw no complaint in this echo WRT how difficult it was to obtain xxx, yyy, or zzz for quite awhile.  But I remember what Daryl said about joking with his nurses & AFAIC we're on the same wave length there.

           It was easier years ago to cross the Canada/US border than it is to get into a hospital nowadays.  I remain patient while security guards ask me a bunch of questions about where I've been recently, whether I have any symptoms of COVID-19, and what my business is with the hospital.  When I finally get to the outpatient clinic I have to answer the same questions all over again... so the moment I can be sure I'm talking to a nurse I let it all hang out & add to the simplistic responses other people expect.  Do I have blah blah?  Yes, I've had it for xxx months... that's why I'm here.  The nurse who interviewed me in the gastroenterology clinic didn't miss a beat & we got along very well.  :-))




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

.