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I had my annual health assessment today.
In cautious preparation I made sure to NOT wear panties or thigh high stockings.
The exam lasted over 75 minutes. All the usual things, weight, BP, stethoscope and a lot of questions. I mentioned, again, that I always have cold toes and they feel 'tingly' (is that a word?). That called for a NEW test. A test I have never seen or had before. They used a QuantaFlo testing unit aka "laptop". Doc was gonna check blood flow with an eye open for arterial issues, blockages, etc. The test involved sensor-clips being attached to fingers and toes. This had never happened before. And a medical assistant. And an almost a doctor student that was there to gain experience.
No big deal, right?
One minor thing made for an interesting experience; "Remove your shoes and socks please". This had never been asked of me before.
I hesitated and considered my options. My only option was to comply or make a scene. So I complied.
Shoes off. Socks off. Lay flat on my back with my feet hanging off the end of the exam table and await the testing. The medical staff stared a while before getting me wired.. the toes on both feet. Feet held, toes examined and sensors attached to the big toe. Tests were run, a printout graph emerged. Toe sensors removed.
No big deal, right?
Except I had recently painted my toe nails like I usually do. As I was removing my shoes and socks I wondered if there would be laughter or gasps of surprise. As I lay on my back their silence was deafening. I assumed they were pointing and gesturing. Perhaps not. Nothing was said.
Afterwards I sat up and asked if it would be OK for me to redress my feet. I looked for a reaction and saw none. True professionals.
It could have been much worse. Instead of my usual shades of red or blue I was sporting my most recent favorite color... 'Grey Suede' by Revlon.
I wonder if the medical report has a place to indicate: "Old man was wearing toe nail polish". Maybe I'm on a "special list"?
It will be interesting if, in the future, one of the staff suggests a specific color of polish.
As a side note I sometimes wear lipstick under my corona virus face mask. The mask also hides my earrings. I can now envision how that could unravel.
You all take care, OK?
Air kisses,
Dee
Comments
PS - I was told to modify my
PS - I was told to modify my diet and lose weight to offset a bit of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) to make the possible knee replacement go more smoothly.
Donna
I'm sure they've seen stranger things
now if you had been wearing thigh high stockings ...
...they'd have advised you
to use a garter belt?
Good health
is worth pursuing and holding on to. Hehe - the perennial reveal situation, dealt with in a mature and professional manner. Hey if it gave the staff something to enjoy telling afterwards that's a positive contribution to their condition, right? Should help with your humour. Older is wiser? Maybe, maybe not, but less inclined to panic over stuff like this? Certainly :) Wouldn't have even had my ear decorations when younger, now they are displayed.
"Reach for the sun."
Similar happening
Many years ago, when I had been recently diagnosed with Vasculitis, I had to go to the hospital for my (then) monthly checkup. For some reason the nurse couldn't find a vein and, after four attempts, gave up.
A seasoned renal nurse, whom I knew, was summoned. Since all the good spots in my elbows had already been taken she looked at my lower arm as I lay on the couch.
"That's funny," she murmured, "there's no... Oh."
Now I don't have a lot of body hair anyway, but what there had been on my lower arm and hands had been recently shaved off.
Not another word was said, but I always wondered what she thought.
Penny
when
I went to A&E last week I was of course wearing my cycling gear, bib shorts, base layer and jersey, stop. No under things of any description, I hadn't even got any jewellery on/in - well I'm cycling not doing a fashion show. I was however sporting the vestiges of a previous multi hued hair 'experiment', there were no comments about either my lack of body coverings or hair choice, in fact I had a conversation about leg shaving with the nurse cleaning my wounds. And why should there be, in 2020, in northern Europe at least, odd hair colours, unusual body decorations and strange clothing is quite the norm - and that's just the medical staff!
In fact you'd be hard pressed to walk through most towns without seeing someone, male, female, not sure, sporting multi coloured hair or wearing clothing/body art/piercings that just a few years ago would have been considered the very edge of acceptable. Medical professionals are on the frontline when it comes to exposure to alternate lifestyles, they treat everyone no matter where they fit in society (that's one thing you don't get across the pond I guess). Oh I'm pretty sure they have a giggle at some patients expense in the staff room but when all is said and done, they are just as likely to have their own 'fetish' hidden under their scrubs!
Mads
If peoples first impression of you is
Madeline Anafrid Bell
Oh come, come now Donna
This is 2020 for goodness sake!
Is the USA still so far behind Europe that the medical staff have cause to pause because a patient is wearing Nail Vanish.
Jeeze! Those Christian, fundamentalist bigots have still got a lot to answer for! Would such an issue affect your medical insurance or something?
A few years back
I had to have my gall bladder removed twenty years ago. At the time, I was in the habit of wearing an A cup bra with what is known in the vernacular as "chicken fillets". I made sure that when I went in for operation that all telltale signs of my trans nature were all remove. Due to some problem, they couldn't get the blamed thing out using the "watch pocket" incision usually used with the laparoscopic procedure and had to make a larger incision. So instead of four weeks recovery before returning to work, they wanted six weeks. I purposely had scheduled the operation for mid month so that I would get two weeks of pay each month and with a little juggling I could make my budget work. But six weeks would be devastating.
I was determined to make a quick recovery, so following my doctors advice to take a walk each day starting with a quarter mile and working up to a mile to encourage blood flow and promote healing, I one upped him. I took two walks the first week and was doing the mile on each of them by the end of the week. I then upped it to three a day. At the four weeks I made a doctors appointment to see about getting sighed off to return to work. My primary care doctor was a woman. I assumed that she would just want to examine the incision and that would be that. So I wore my usual bra and inserts.
At the appointment, she asked if I was experiencing any pain and I told her no and using the flat of my hand, I thumped the spot soundly. She nodded, took my pulse, put on her stethoscope. She pulled the hem of my polo shirt out and reached up under it to listen to my heart. By some miracle she missed my bra. Then she stepped around behind me, pulled the shirt up to my shoulders. She paused a moment and then did the breathe deep thing to listen to my lungs. I'm sure she was taken by surprise to see my bra strap. She said nothing about and neither did I.
From then on, I decided I wasn't going to hide my trans nature from my doctors. It took a few years for my to become comfortable with it, but now I go to my doctors appointments fully en femme. I've been through three primary care physicians, three specialists and two surgeries and numerous lab tests and scans and one trip to the emergency since then and not one of them has so much as blinked an eye.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Oh!
Wow! That would definitely be an awkward situation. Thanx for sharing.
Regards, Dee
“Hoc visio puellae facti mulieribus”
Donna