How to find fun at the health check-up.

To participate is fine but to follow blindly is to live without confidence. Make choices.

I received a health check-up notice. So I booked an appointment at a new clinic online. I already had a barium test in January, so I canceled that part and got it for half price! Lucky! By the way, the barium test in January was free with a ticket distributed by the city ward.

The entrance to the clinic looks like an Italian restaurant, with beautifully planted flowers that look like they could be found in the Mediterranean. I saw a room with about 20 TV monitors from the reception area. It seems that this clinic is mainly for health check-ups.

When I entered the changing room, I found slippers with a gold logo embroidered on a royal blue background, custom-made by the clinic, and pajamas in different sizes. The T-shirts were available in beige or pink. Of course, I chose pink. And the changing rooms were three times the size of any clinic I’d ever been in!

The inspection room is on the second floor, with more than 10 benches in the center of the room. Even though it was 8:30 am, about 20 people were sitting there. They must be office workers. I am self-employed, so I booked the appointment myself and so it was my choice to be there. There were a lot of people sitting in the long chairs in the middle like sheep staring into space so looked for another seat. Then I found what looked like a special seat by the window! Outside the open window, I could see the Ivy-covered buildings that I often see in Europe. Ivy was swaying gently in the wind and I laughed because the building’s windows looked like eyes and the Ivy looked like a beard.

I was called into the examination room smoothly.
”Is this your first time at this clinic?”
”Yes. I was surprised at how spacious it was. My previous clinic was much smaller.”
I told her whimsically how I felt, but the doctor did not want to chat and cut me off.
Yes, this is a busy hospital, so there was no time to be leisurely with my impressions.

After some tests were completed, I had about 20 minutes before the internal medicine department opened. So I went back to the changing room to get my iPhone and did a bit of work by the window with a view of the Ivy.

A visual examination started. I was told to hold down the lever with my right hand and the X button with my left. It sounds like a game. And then it started! I moved the lever up, down, left, and right at great speed. And then the left eye, too, I moved the lever with even more momentum. And on the last symbol, “Oh, I made a mistake!” I said unintentionally. The right eye was the same, but the left eye went down from 1.5 to 1.0. I’m so frustrated!

In the end, I was given feedback about the ECG and radiographs. They seemed fine. It was a cozy clinic, so I decided to come back here next year.

I hadn’t eaten since last night, so I bought a truffle egg sandwich and a coffee from a trendy bakery. And I had a picnic in the fresh green breezy square in the valley between the buildings. People who consider themselves lucky may just find something lucky, I suppose.