I checked my blood pressure this morning and it was considerably higher than it was yesterday after the pain group. Today it was 126/89 with pulse of 81.
When I clicked on the link to the video appointment, Rochelle (the M.A.) was there and asked the usual questions that she would have asked in an in-person appointment. Then I waited for Dr. Prabaharan who Rochelle said was working remotely. Indeed, he was! When he joined the session, his image was vertical, which I knew meant he was on his phone.
He was not particularly concerned with my blood pressure numbers. Apparently, it must be like the diabetes “normal” for older people because he said that anything under 135/80 was fine.
He asked all the expected questions of a doctor doing an annual physical exam of a Medicare patient. He went over my prescription meds, one by one, asking if I had any side effects and if the current dosage seemed adequate.
I told him that occasionally I was dizzy but I just assumed it was a side effect of the Lyrica (now generic pregabalin) and he confirmed that could be. But he also said that people of my age typically experience vertigo, even without a medication side effects, because the blood flow is not as robust as in a younger person.
When he asked if there was anything else I was concerned about, I told him about the edema I have been experiencing in my feet. He asked if it was near the back of the foot or closer to the front. I stopped and looked down at my feet and was surprised to see that there was very little edema this morning! He asked if I sat around most of the day and I said yes. I told him about my 30 days in May when I walked every day but admitted I didn’t do that well now. He asked if I experience any symptoms when I walked, like headaches or dizziness, and I said no, walking made me feel great. The bottom line is that he recommended that I start walking every day again and that would probably “cure” the edema. If I still had problems, he recommended compression socks.
Overall, this video appointment was a positive experience!
