Cardiologist

When I was in Santiago last August with pneumonia that I contracted in the Bolivian Alps the doctor examined my X-Ray and told me that I had Cardiomegaly, an enlarged heart and that I should see a cardiologist.

This week I was advised that I have high blood pressure and that I needed to see a cardiologist. Ok, I'm on the Costco medical services binge, so I tried to schedule an appointment with a cardiologist that was recommended to me by my dentist, but they don't take appointments on the first visit. Just show up between 4 and 7. WTF?

I grabbed a cab and bopped over to Centro Médico Paitilla. Entering the suite, I filled out a form with about 12 questions on it. Two minutes later I was getting an EKG. Five minutes after that I was escorted into the cardiologist's office. He was sitting behind a 30" apple screen running faceline or some such thing as he was talking on the phone. He ended his phone call in a couple of minutes and consulted with me.

Regarding the enlarged heart, yeah trekking at 6,000 meters can cause a temporary enlargement of the heart. Was I having any difficulty with strenuous exercise now? No.

I had been advised that I have high blood pressure. He took my blood pressure three times and told me I had normal blood pressure. What was going on? Well, crazy has left the country, albeit with my MacBook pro. I presume I'll never see the loans repaid either, but, whatever. Worth it, just to be rid of the aggravation.

He asked if I had been under any stress. I told him a tale that took 20 minutes. He was laughing his ass off. Finally he took out a pad, wrote something on it and handed it to me. "This is my prescription for you" Guess Who. American Woman
Now it was my time to laugh my ass off. I paid my $100 tab, $40 for the EKG $60 for the consultation.

I walked the streets for 45 minutes trying to catch a taxi. Finally I returned to the mall behind the clinic found a taxi. He wanted $25 for a $5 fare. Yeah, right.
I took in a little tool porn at the Doit Center, Panama's equivalent of Home Depot. Then I walked the mall.

Hmmm... maybe I should get some contact lenses. I entered the contact lens store, put my netbook on the counter and asked the receptionist to remember to tell me to take it as I would forget. I got an eye exam and what the hell? My prescription was now -.5 diopters per eye. Hardly worth the trouble. So I left, when down to the taxi stand and realized I had left the computer. What a dope. I searched around for a bit, found the store, grabbed my netbook, headed back to the taxi stand and headed home.