I plopped down $100 to get an overall check-up today. Went with a colleague at 7.45am, and left at 3.30pm after a series of humiliating tests. We would get out of each room with twisted expressions in our face, look at each other and burst out laughing.The day involved not eating till 1.30pm, giving blood, lying down with a full bladder and having a doctor perform an ultrasonogram on my prostate. And running on a treadmill half-naked with a bunch of wires sticking out of the chest, parts of which were shaved to make room for the sensors. My chest hair looks kinda like Steve Carrell's in the 40-yr old virgin.
The most scary part was the echo cardiography. The doctor found a tear on my right aorta, where the blood left the valve and some of it flowed back in (the doppler showed red color going out and blue color coming back in). Even though he said it was common, he spent a good 40 min after that sticking the pen on my body, running the graph, and not saying anything. I was scared shitless, and eventually just closed my eyes and went to my happy place (Wynham Buttes, Arizona, 1999).
Good thing about happy places. Once they make an impression on your heart, they might get lost in the daily grind. But they always come back when you need them.
With or without a tear.
