Turning 40 ... and my tickle spot!

This morning I had to go for an Eco-Cardiogram and as I sat in the waiting room I began to reflect on how much my doctor visits have changed in the last two years. So I think it’s only fair that I start this post with a warning: IF YOU ARE A MALE UNDER 40 THERE MAY BE THINGS IN THIS POST YOU FIND SHOCKING AND MAYBE EVEN DISTURBING! If you are a male over 40 then you know damn well what I am about to talk about is TRUTH! If you are a woman of any age you may be pissed off once you realize how easy we actually have it at the doctor’s office.

When it comes to the doctors guys have it easy. Really the worst thing we have to deal with at any exam is the “turn and cough” routine. Other than that it’s the usual breath sounds, blood pressure, pulse and the pressing on the stomach. OK, I will admit I am VERY ticklish and the stomach thing always gets me, very embarrassing when I start giggling during an exam. But there it is … that is the extent of our physicals. UNTIL WE TURN 40!

At age 40 is when the doctors want to start poking and probing around other areas of your body. They call it “preventive measures” … which I think is so ironic because for the past 40 years I’ve been preventing that very area from being poked or probed by anything!

Now before you start to call me immature let me remind you; I STILL GIGGLE WHEN THE DOCTOR PRESSES ON MY BELLY. I know that because the first time a doctor pressed on my belly I giggled. THAT’S how I found out about THAT tickle spot … This isn’t the time in my life I want to find out I have “another tickle spot” … I can’t imagine me starting to giggle at that particular time would sit well with my doctor.

OH, here’s a “The more you know” moment for the younger readers: If your current doctor is a big guy and has hands like and NFL linebacker … get a new doctor before you turn 40! (Insert NBC’s jingle “The more you know…” here). You are Welcome!

Now some people may say I got lucky because when I went for my exam the doctor decided it would be best for me to have a colonoscopy due to some issues I was having with my stomach. So in lieu of the poking and probing, he was going to send me for a colonoscopy. That triggered some mixed emotions for me. It was like watching my ex-wife drive off a cliff in my brand new BMW… I was relieved yet sickened at the same time!

If you have ever had a colonoscopy then you know the worst thing about a colonoscopy is the PREP. If you have never had a colonoscopy then you should know the worst thing about a colonoscopy is listening to people who have had a colonoscopy tell you about how awful the prep is going to be for you. In short? IT SUCKS! Let me explain…

First you have to drink this disgusting mixture of water and what I can only describe as CHAULK! Then? Well then the fun begins! When I had to drink my mixture I had a good friend standing next to me yelling “drink, drink, drink”. This is funny, because 20 years ago he was more than likely standing beside me screaming the same thing as I chugged a bottle of Tequila. Chugging a bottle of Tequila and chugging a bottle of “the drink” both have the same end result … they just come from opposite ends!

The doctor that performs the colonoscopy is called a Proctologist. As I was waiting for my procedure to begin I started to wonder … who goes to medical school and says “I wanna look at butts all day”? Not to offend anyone, but my guess is a Proctologist is the guy who was just about to fail out of med school and the school said “Hey wait … we need a butt specialist”! But I digress…

Yes, the prep is the worst thing about a colonoscopy. See, when you have a colonoscopy performed they knock you out. I remember lying on the bed and the nurse saying “OK, we are going to go to sleep now” and I said “I really think one of us should stay awake” … and that was the last thing I remember. Next thing I knew I was laying in a recovery room with a nurse standing over me saying “OK Mr. Lynch, all set … I just need you to pass gas and then you can go home”.

Passing gas is something I have never had a problem doing … I’ve just never been able to do it on demand and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to start now. It was time for me to use a skill I perfected in middle school. As soon as the nurse stepped outside the curtain I stuck my right hand into my left arm pit and LET IT RIP! I wasn’t standing on an aircraft carrier or nothing, but I felt like I had a banner over my head that read “Mission Accomplished” … it was time for me to go home!

From what I understand I am free and clear from any poking and probing for another 10 years and my Eco was painless. If you’ve never had one of those it’s just like an ultrasound they give a pregnant lady, except of your heart. The pictures are pretty neat too. I actually asked for a copy of one … I want to send it to my ex-wife, for years she told me I didn’t have a heart and now I had medical proof I DO!

My Brain Defrag Post!

They say a brain is like a computer … or is a computer like a brain? Either way, they are alike. So this morning when I walked into the kitchen and couldn’t remember what the hell I had gone in there for I decided it must be time to defrag! You know when your computer gets bogged down with files you don’t use any more and it starts to run slow? You delete files you no longer need and then let the computer “reorganize” itself. I decided it was time to do that with the old noggin.

I know a lot of stuff, admittedly, most is useless information. And although the useless stuff is interesting to throw out at parties I believe it’s taking up space needed for useful information; like what the hell I went in the kitchen for this morning. So in my infinite wisdom I decided if I wrote down some useless information, stored it on the information super highway, I wouldn’t need to remember it any more. I could let it go and free up some memory space. Not sure it will work, but what the hell!

I have always been a fan of “phrase origins”; you know, why we say the things we say. For instance, way back in the day they had a tendency to bury people who were still alive. Now I can only assume it was by accident, but it was a common occurrence. So what they used to do was run a string down to the body in the grave. Above ground that string was then attached to a bell. If the “dead” person woke up they would simply pull the string, which would ring the bell and let everyone know they were still alive and needed to be dug up. These people became known as “Dead ringers”. It was also someone’s job to sit in the cemetery all night listening for the bells … it was called the “graveyard shift”.

When I was younger I worked as a tour guide at the House of Seven Gables in Salem, MA. It honestly was one of the best summer jobs I ever had. I even played Nathaniel Hawthorne during the Haunted Happenings for Halloween. Back then I had to put powder in my hair to make it look gray … now? Not so much, it’s all natural!

Working at the Gables I got to meet a lot of interesting people and also got to learn a lot of interesting “phrase origins”. I have been holding onto this information far too long and I think I need the space in my brain, so it’s time to write them down and let them go … careful, you may learn something here!

Back in the Hawthorne days beds had ropes that held the mattress up. These ropes would become loose over time and you needed to tighten them. You would then use what they called a bed key to tighten the ropes... that is why we “Sleep tight”. Also, people would gather leaves, grass clippings and other yard waste materials to make their mattresses. Of course these all had bugs in them as well, so it’s best to advise someone to “Sleep tight and don’t let the bed bugs bite”.

Have you ever referred to something or someone as being “dead as a door nail”? You can thank the rich people from the 1800’s! Nails were very expensive back then so if someone wanted to show how wealthy they were they would pound nails into their front doors. The more nails, the more money they had. Of course poor people couldn’t afford nails so at night they would go around to all the rich people’s homes and steal the nails from the front doors. To prevent this from happening, the rich people would pound the nail half way in and then bend it over into the surface of the door. Now the nail was virtually useless … and considered DEAD.

Oh, and speaking of poor people … when nature called they had to run out to the outhouse, even in the middle of January. Rich people could afford to have a “chamber pot” that was stored under the bed. When nature called for them they simply slid it out, answered nature’s call, and slid it back under the bed until morning. Poor people would have to face the elements and trek to the outhouse because they couldn’t afford “a pot to piss in”. Rich people could also afford to put a second floor on their homes, and that’s where the bedrooms were. So in the morning the youngest child or servant whose job it was to empty the pot, would simply open the window and dump the contents out the window. Poor people couldn’t afford that so they didn’t have “a pot to piss in OR a window to throw it out”. I’m not 100% on this one, but I’m pretty sure the phrase “heads up” may have also been coined sometime around this period.

Well, that’s all the “defragging” I have time for right now. And, I’m drawing a blank on other “phrase origins” that I’ve stored in my head. I’m sure they will come to me the next time I am standing in the kitchen asking myself … what the hell did I come out here for!