Checking In and Up

In accordance with a verbal agreement I reached with Great Aunt a few years ago, I have to reveal what the doctor told me today during my annual physical. I learned he and his wife enjoy ballroom dancing and he is an avid birdwatcher. That was the most exciting thing that transpired, well, that and an upcoming colonoscopy. It turns out he thinks I’m remarkably healthy for a sixty-six year old except for all the cancer scares, that is. I aced the exam on all the other particulars and he didn’t even want the usual six month follow up. So there Great Aunt, I have fulfilled my promise – very healthy, all lab results well within limits and in a major improvement, no new cancer diagnosis.

I was bragging about not needing the usual six month follow up but that was probably because our doctor is retiring in November. We’ve been with him as our primary care doc since 2005 so this will be a major change for both my Favorite Panamanian and I. I was given a list of available new docs and all the ones in Worcester sounded like a United Nations class. That’s kind of cool though as they always seem to be at the top of the class and in a plus for the bending over portion of exams, smaller fingers.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                        

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course