christopher575

I was to arrive at the cardiologist at 8:15 for my 8:30 appointment this morning, so I decided to swim. The pool opens at 6am when it's still pitch black out, and my longest swims are shorter than my shortest walks, so the pool's a great choice when I have somewhere to be.



I tread water in place when I'm there, so I prefer to get a corner so I can stay out of everyone's way. There are only two corners in the deep end, and one of them has a ladder, so there's pretty much one spot I prefer. Today, a woman was swimming back and forth between the two corners, so that was out. Her mom was a bit over from her, also going back and forth, so I stayed under a diving board, which was only an option because they were both closed.

Obviously people can do what they want, but using the deep end to do what basically amounts to lap swimming annoys me a bit. Use the lap lanes! Maybe I was able to channel my rage, though, because I ended up swimming for an hour. That's my record and today was only my second time doing it. I know I could go longer, but an hour seems pretty good.

The cardiologist visit was pretty frustrating. Every question was covered already during my urgent care visit on Saturday. He listened to my heart, felt my ankles, and said my heart sounded great and my ankles weren't swollen. We're doing a stress test on Friday anyway. He noted my blood pressure, which I'm already on medication for, and that my cholesterol is slightly high. Perhaps, he said, my cholesterol could come down with a change in diet? I told him I just came off six months of drastic diet changes and asked when the test he was reading was from. November, four months into that dietary experiment. He checked the number from a year before that, and it was lower. Hrm.

As is typical with me, I'm trying to stack up all my health-related stuff. I've been putting off my dental cleaning and new glasses for quite a while, but with the change in insurance at the start of the year, I kicked into gear and got my appointments scheduled. I have to wait a little over a month to get in at my new dentist, but I'm having my eyes checked on Tuesday morning. I'm really looking forward to a new pair of glasses, for sure. These still work fine, but don't fit nearly as well, and get filthy rather quickly. I'm hoping something with a bigger frame might keep my nasty skin grease off the lenses a little better, and be easier to clean.

Insurance SNAFUs and appointment setting aren't the only thing keeping me on the phone lately. My new-ish office chair won't stay raised, and the reclining mechanism on my side of the loveseat broke. 40 minutes on the phone about the loveseat was pretty frustrating, but worth it because it's a warranty repair. $97 for the new part and free labor versus, oh, ten times as much for a brand new one? I'll take it. I want at least a couple more years out of this one.