  I had quite an experience at the doctor's office today. Somehow a simple checkup turned into getting blood tests and a preliminary diagnosis of asthma. Asthma? I am a shallow breather but never thought anything of it until Dr. Paterson informed me that she thought I had asthma. Now I have to get a series of breathing tests called PFTs and a chest X-ray. All I have to say is, my insurance better cover this; if not, my "asthma" may continue to go untreated. If it does, great, I'm finally getting something out of my $244.02 monthly insurance payments. I have felt quite ripped off until my new plethora of illnesses showed up.
Now, the asthma diagnosis I could handle-I don't mind toting an inhaler around-but what really sucked about this particular visit was Dr. P's veiled criticism of my (apparently) bad health habits. When she asked me if I exercise, I was proud to finally be able to say yes, usually 5 times a week. Dr. P thinks I should step it up to 6. I guess I should quit patting myself on the back for taking the initiative to exercise (and mind you, Dr. P is no picture of fitness herself!). Then she asked me if I smoked, drank, or did drugs; I said I drink only once a week (usually true these days) and fibbed a bit by saying in that one sitting, I'd have 5 or 6 drinks (in reality, maybe 8).
She gave me a disapproving look and said, "That's a lot for a woman. " What would she have thought of me a few years ago?! She closed our visit by slyly mentioning that I or my boyfriend could have herpes or genital warts and not know it. Whoa. The whole time all I could think about was how much I wanted some water, as I had a couple glasses of wine last night and was kind of dehydrated. I am not quite sure how I gave her the impression that I'm an idiot, especially because now I have some proof that I'm not...I was invited to Berkeley for an interview (wahoo!...that's why I had some wine). This could be where I spend the next 6 years, Tolman Hall at Berkeley. 
