Friday, Feb 3/2012
I made the trip once more from Vancouver to the Sunshine Coast. The usual transit bus deposited me at Horseshoe Bay, at the usual time...one hour early.
I wandered over to Troll's for breakfast.
The exact same friend as last time is there.
A Coast guy.
Solid.
Honest and upfront as the day is long.
I feel great.
The breakfast meal is beside the point...the conversation and connection is all.
Talking to a good and well mannered human is so refreshing and life affirming at this point in my life.
We talk until the ferry comes. we part ways at the ticket booth...he to drive on...me to walk on.
On the boat, I assume my usual position...so that I can look at Cut 9 and 10 above me....the old Sea to Sky job....now 4 years past.
I jump on the local bus, on the coast side. Easy trip...recalling past adventures as the bus lurches up the hills and around the old goat trail corners. Langdale to Sechelt...time traveling all the way. I get to Sechelt a bit early..extra time to wander. A bit of a desire to remain invisible...unseen.
Not so different from Ebenzer Scrooge retracing his childhood haunts... but for me...not wanting to disturb what is....what is now.
The Sechelt Medical Clinic...school friend at the reception desk...
Recognition.
No explanation needed...we know who you are...and you are welcome to sit here for a spell.
In the waiting area.
A religious experience.
Who comes out to call in another patient.??
Denis.... Dr. Denis Rogers my old friend.
Said to be retired.
There he is back in the saddle....doing what he was born to do.
Elvis was born to sing.
Jerry Lee was born to play piano.
Dr.Martin Luther King was born to inspire us all.
A country doctor, Dr. Rogers was born to be a kind and caring human being. When you leave his office, you FEEL BETTER....and after all...isn't that the point?
I was escorted to my room to wait.
Denis was not to be be doctor today.
In the room, with the door open...I could hear Denis talking in his distinctive accent.
After his patient blitzed through the eye chart....he proclaimed "You have the eyes of an eagle"
And after the patient gets weighed on the hallway scales. "72 kilos of solid muscle".
I can hear the male patient's voice...inspired and full.
A few simple words from a trustworthy man...have changed another man's world.
I had a different female doc than the last two times. I do not know what happened to my previous healing professional.
It was pretty much a non-event...a second set of tests showed no need for concern.
My visit was quick and not at all personal....but I was elated to know that Denis was back working...and all was well and good with the world because of that.
In the end, it's quite simple.
It's just plain foolish to try and run away from what you were born to do.
My dear Dr. Rogers....what on Earth else would you do with your remaining time...but heal and entertain?
Bless you for being here for us.
Showing posts with label sechelt medical clinic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sechelt medical clinic. Show all posts
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Friday, January 27, 2012
A Visit to the Doctor....Part Two
In the first installment, I talked ( whined ) about my visit to the Sunshine Coast to get a physical. In that story, I bemoaned the loss of connection to the local small town doctors, who for years provided caring and personal service.Last week I made the trip again, from Vancouver to the Coast to get my results.
It went like this.
I arrived at Horseshoe Bay an hour early for the ferry, so I went over to Troll's restaurant for a late breaky. Just a few minutes after arriving, an old Coast friend and his buddy arrived with the same idea. We sat together and yucked it up, getting the latest gossip and stories. They had come into town to look at purchasing an older classic vehicle, but the negotiations on price versus condition didn't get far. They turned the deal down and were returning home.
One of the bright spots in the conversation that restored my faith in humanity for a few minutes, was this simple gesture. The fella that had the car for sale, had to drive it quite a ways to meet the boys closer to Horseshoe Bay. When the deal didn't go through, my friend paid the the guy 200 bucks for his time and trouble.
You don't see that happening much these days...one human being considering another in the "do unto others" fashion. Mostly it's the "fuck em " attitude that rules the deal world. Hard asses would proclaim him a sucker...the more Karmically oriented would just nod in approval
Halfway through breakfast, the vehicle owner calls back and offers a 30% discount if they take the deal now, before everyone scatters. A brief negotiation ensues, a couple phone calls out into the world for more opinions...and then it's agreed...a done deal. The boys zoom out to get the new treasure, and get back to the ferry in time to drive right on.
I know, this is a tale about visiting the doctor, I'm getting there.
On the ferry, a guy that I have been trying to contact, walks by. I call him over and we talk the whole trip about lost and abandoned logging machines that he has discovered in his travels as a logging contractor. We agree to talk more at a later date, so that I can get the details on where all these treasures are, and then I can go to photograph them. Perfect.
Off the ferry, I make my way up to Sechelt. It's a bone chilling January day, overcast and on the edge of snow. The receptionist at the medical clinic is a friend from school and the old neighborhood. Another friend from days gone by, walks into the clinic and we start up again on the subject of forgotten old machinery. Because this is the Coast ( everyone is connected in some fashion or another ) the guy that I'm talking to is buddies with the fella I talked to on the ferry. It just kinda works that way up there. When we struggle to remember a detail about some tidbit of the past, another Coaster sitting in the waiting room, pipes up with the answer. The name we were looking for was his dad!....connections...connections.
With my head full of ideas for expeditions to steam yarders and rusty logging trucks, the nurse calls me into the doctors office. ( finally...the doctor part )
Same doctor as last time, different attitude. This time warmer and smiling, a bit more engaging. The results showed a few interesting things.
For the first time ever, my cholesterol was slightly elevated. I'm going to mark that down as an effect of 9 months of night-shift work/12 hours at a crack and the crappy diet that goes with that lifestyle. ( packaged sandwiches, corner store meals, a Tim Hortons habit and upside down sleep pattern. )
The flip side was that my "good" cholesterol was "very" high. It was decided that it was a result of a diet change that I made about a year ago. A professional conditioning coach ( Paul Valiulis, Precision Nutrition ) that I met in the gym turned me onto high doses of liquid fish oil. I studied the available info online and dived headlong into the program. My doctor agreed that the liquid fish oil was the reason for the higher good cholesterol count...and that it helped to counteract the bad. ( do your own research, ask your own questions, consult your doctor or nutritionist. )
Here is another interesting point. In the physical, my height, weight and waist measurement was taken. This is used to help calculate the risk of heart attack from a body type of angle.
The problem here is that I'm a gym rat and a runner.... and the height/weight scale doesn't fit. So my 6 foot tall, 225 lb body is not the same soft gooey body of a desk jockey that gets his exercise bending elbows at the local bar.
My own internal reasoning aside, the medical report calculations showed an 8% risk of heart attack. This was the result of stirring in the cholesterol count with height/weight and age ( 52 ) Blood pressure is at the low end of the scale and resting pulse is 60bpm.( low )
My dietary downfall these days is regular consumption of soy or rice ice cream....or taco chips and salsa/guacamole. Not the worst snack food in the world, but something to keep and eye on, all things considered. My poison of choice these days is yummy red wines rather than my old martini habit of days gone by. Red wine is purported to have some heart health benefits ( all things in moderation )
My doctor ( friendlier and warmer than last time ) informed me that slightly modifying the diet now would be far far easier than trying to fix a cholesterol problem later. Point taken.
So, officially...color me skeptical about the 8% risk thing ( no family history of heart disease )...BUT...seeing that my life plan is to grow old by fighting the aging process on every front...I will reconsider some of my diet choices by trying to tame the snack monster that lives within.
To perfectly end the story.
I walked out of the clinic and ran smack dab into my old doctor, Denis Rogers ( yes Denis...not Dennis ) We go way back, as doctor/patient and as friends. It was a warm greeting on a cold day. He asked me what I was up to. I replied that I came up to get a physical...and was disappointed that he wasn't still working.
Denis took a step back, eyed me up and down, and declared.."You look fine my boy, why on earth would you want a physical?
That's my Denis. That's my old home.
It went like this.
I arrived at Horseshoe Bay an hour early for the ferry, so I went over to Troll's restaurant for a late breaky. Just a few minutes after arriving, an old Coast friend and his buddy arrived with the same idea. We sat together and yucked it up, getting the latest gossip and stories. They had come into town to look at purchasing an older classic vehicle, but the negotiations on price versus condition didn't get far. They turned the deal down and were returning home.
One of the bright spots in the conversation that restored my faith in humanity for a few minutes, was this simple gesture. The fella that had the car for sale, had to drive it quite a ways to meet the boys closer to Horseshoe Bay. When the deal didn't go through, my friend paid the the guy 200 bucks for his time and trouble.
You don't see that happening much these days...one human being considering another in the "do unto others" fashion. Mostly it's the "fuck em " attitude that rules the deal world. Hard asses would proclaim him a sucker...the more Karmically oriented would just nod in approval
Halfway through breakfast, the vehicle owner calls back and offers a 30% discount if they take the deal now, before everyone scatters. A brief negotiation ensues, a couple phone calls out into the world for more opinions...and then it's agreed...a done deal. The boys zoom out to get the new treasure, and get back to the ferry in time to drive right on.
I know, this is a tale about visiting the doctor, I'm getting there.
On the ferry, a guy that I have been trying to contact, walks by. I call him over and we talk the whole trip about lost and abandoned logging machines that he has discovered in his travels as a logging contractor. We agree to talk more at a later date, so that I can get the details on where all these treasures are, and then I can go to photograph them. Perfect.
Off the ferry, I make my way up to Sechelt. It's a bone chilling January day, overcast and on the edge of snow. The receptionist at the medical clinic is a friend from school and the old neighborhood. Another friend from days gone by, walks into the clinic and we start up again on the subject of forgotten old machinery. Because this is the Coast ( everyone is connected in some fashion or another ) the guy that I'm talking to is buddies with the fella I talked to on the ferry. It just kinda works that way up there. When we struggle to remember a detail about some tidbit of the past, another Coaster sitting in the waiting room, pipes up with the answer. The name we were looking for was his dad!....connections...connections.
With my head full of ideas for expeditions to steam yarders and rusty logging trucks, the nurse calls me into the doctors office. ( finally...the doctor part )
Same doctor as last time, different attitude. This time warmer and smiling, a bit more engaging. The results showed a few interesting things.
For the first time ever, my cholesterol was slightly elevated. I'm going to mark that down as an effect of 9 months of night-shift work/12 hours at a crack and the crappy diet that goes with that lifestyle. ( packaged sandwiches, corner store meals, a Tim Hortons habit and upside down sleep pattern. )
The flip side was that my "good" cholesterol was "very" high. It was decided that it was a result of a diet change that I made about a year ago. A professional conditioning coach ( Paul Valiulis, Precision Nutrition ) that I met in the gym turned me onto high doses of liquid fish oil. I studied the available info online and dived headlong into the program. My doctor agreed that the liquid fish oil was the reason for the higher good cholesterol count...and that it helped to counteract the bad. ( do your own research, ask your own questions, consult your doctor or nutritionist. )
Here is another interesting point. In the physical, my height, weight and waist measurement was taken. This is used to help calculate the risk of heart attack from a body type of angle.
The problem here is that I'm a gym rat and a runner.... and the height/weight scale doesn't fit. So my 6 foot tall, 225 lb body is not the same soft gooey body of a desk jockey that gets his exercise bending elbows at the local bar.
My own internal reasoning aside, the medical report calculations showed an 8% risk of heart attack. This was the result of stirring in the cholesterol count with height/weight and age ( 52 ) Blood pressure is at the low end of the scale and resting pulse is 60bpm.( low )
My dietary downfall these days is regular consumption of soy or rice ice cream....or taco chips and salsa/guacamole. Not the worst snack food in the world, but something to keep and eye on, all things considered. My poison of choice these days is yummy red wines rather than my old martini habit of days gone by. Red wine is purported to have some heart health benefits ( all things in moderation )
My doctor ( friendlier and warmer than last time ) informed me that slightly modifying the diet now would be far far easier than trying to fix a cholesterol problem later. Point taken.
So, officially...color me skeptical about the 8% risk thing ( no family history of heart disease )...BUT...seeing that my life plan is to grow old by fighting the aging process on every front...I will reconsider some of my diet choices by trying to tame the snack monster that lives within.
To perfectly end the story.
I walked out of the clinic and ran smack dab into my old doctor, Denis Rogers ( yes Denis...not Dennis ) We go way back, as doctor/patient and as friends. It was a warm greeting on a cold day. He asked me what I was up to. I replied that I came up to get a physical...and was disappointed that he wasn't still working.
Denis took a step back, eyed me up and down, and declared.."You look fine my boy, why on earth would you want a physical?
That's my Denis. That's my old home.
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