(dc) modern medicine

i've been thinking a lot about modern medicine in the last few days. first of all, i've decided to freeze my eggs (sorry damian, i know you don't like that word, but i couldn't really think of a better one. that's what they are). i know, i know, this should be something that's very personal, but it really doesn't feel that way to me. it's more of a socio-economic medical phenomenon than a personal issue.

[cue the cliche movie-preview deep-voice-over]

"In a WORLD...."

yes, instead of replacing my beat-up old car, or LOTS of pairs of shoes, i'm buying the luxury of peace of mind and a more possible reproductive future in case i ever do get married and in case whomever i marry wants to have children with me.

here's my reasoning: 1) i don't want the fact that my eggs have all either been flushed down the toilet or simply given up the ghost to deprive my (hypothetical) marriage of the choice. 2) i don't want biological limitations running the conversations in my head and relationships anymore. the first is just logically proactive. the second is more of a rescue operation.

so about a month ago i set up my first appointment with extend fertility, which was set for yesterday in new jersy. the day before yesterday i decided to go to an eye doctor to check out my right eye, which has a floater that had been bothering me for about a week. the opthalmologist sent me immediately to a retinal specialist around the corner (turns out they're the best retinal specialists in DC), who told me that i have a cotton wool spot on my right retina, and that's what's causing the blind spot. it will go away on its own in about 6 weeks or so, but the bad news is that cotton wool spots are caused by systemic disease - they appparently don't just happen. yesterday when i went in for my fertility bloodwork, i took them the long list of other blood tests that the retinal specialist told me i should get: tests for high blood pressure, diabetes, lupus, toxoplamosis, anemia, aids, etc. i don't know what i have, but i'm hoping for anemia or toxoplamosis (the parasite caused by injesting cat feces). mmmmmmmm cat feces. yum.

one really great thing was that even though the nurses at the IVF hospital had never heard of some of the blood tests that the retina doctor wanted me to have, they were very sweet and agreed to draw enough blood for the other tests, and they are REALLY good at drawing blood. they took like 12 or 15 tubes or something, and it was easy peasy. they have this nifty little flexible connector tube between the needle and the test tubes so that when they switch out the glass tubes, they don't have to jiggle the needle. usually the worst thing about getting blood tests is the way the needle grinds around your arm when they switch out the tubes. no more! this makes me feel much more comfortable about the whole process that's in store for me with the egg freezing.

mixed in with all these appointments was also the problem of medical clearance to travel on government orders to Chile and Bolivia. i spent this week coordinating information flow between four nasa medical clinics. ames is paying for the travel, and so the orders were stuck waiting for NASA ames' medical clearance. but i am at goddard now, so the goddard doctors had to see me and fax the signoff forms to ames and my last physicals and immunizations were at headquarters and jsc. fortunately, i had all of the required immunizations when i traveled to africa a few years ago. i was able to decline some of the other recommended ones: yellow fever, malaria, TB.

so these last few days before leaving for south america have been filled with doctor appointments and poking and prodding and photographing and crying and feeling alone and scared. i was amazed that the opthalmologist had me driving with my eyes dilated and anaesthetized - have you ever tried this? i don't recommend it. the one time i laughed that afternoon was when i arrived at the retina specialist's office and they wanted me to take an eye test. hahahahaha. i kept saying to the technician, "uh, my eyes are dilated...." she was like, yeah, i know, but we have to do this, it's protocol.

and so i've been thinking a lot about the socio-economic luxury of my life that allows me to spot a potentially life-threatening systemic disease within hours of seeing a doctor for a relatively minor visual annoyance, and to be able to so easily get blood drawn and tests ordered. i'm not sure i can say anything particularly profound here, but i'm really just highly conscious of how lucky i am.

now i just have to find myself a primary care physician so he or she can help me read the results of all these tests i've ordered. oh, and the opthalmologist wants to set me up with his son. so maybe i'll get a date out of it.

in unrelated news, i've seen an awful lot of gory roadkill recently.