No, no health problems. Things couldn’t be better. It’s just a matter of Japanese medical system bureaucracy.

Here’s the thing: Even though Edogawa Byouin (my long-term old hospital) said there was no need for me to return, the fact is there are a few meds I’m stuck with forever, such as a Plavix-like medication to prevent blood clots because I had that stent installed back in 2012 when I weighed 129 kg, before getting started on healthy WFPB eating. I sure wish I got started earlier and avoided that whole business.

Anyway, Edogawa Byouin said my usual local clinic can keep up the prescriptions for me. But my doctor there explained it’s a “clinic” not a “hospital” so if I use them for that purpose they are limited to 2 week prescriptions, which means me going 26 times a year just to get refills.

And Edogawa Byouin doesn’t take patients who don’t need to be seen and just need prescription refills.

So… my local clinic doctor, who I’ve seen as needed since moving to this neighborhood in 2007, suggested he write an explanation to Sakamoto Byouin, a small, but friendly hospital near my station. I’ve used Sakamoto Byouin before, for things like a couple of tonsillitis flareups, and that’s where I got my Shingles vaccines earlier this year. So I’m a registered patient with them. By doing that, I could get refills every two months instead of every two weeks. And it’s just a 15 minute walk from my house. I even pass it many mornings during my usual errand-and-shopping-and-exercise walk.

So I went last week with the intro letter, and met my new doctor. Dr. Suzuki (with an an unusual kanji in his name) was very friendly. Also, frankly, he is as large as I used to be back in 2012. So he was intensely interested when he looked over my records and saw my recent before/after photo. He did want to run at least one more set of tests for their own record, and I dropped by this morning to get the results.

My blood pressure, as you can see in the photo, was just 105/50.

He enthusiastically raved about my cholesterol and blood sugar (normal range in parentheses). Total cholesterol: 112 (130-219, triglycerides 61 (30-149), good cholesterol HDL 47 (40-79) and bad cholesterol LDL 53 (70-139). And my HbA1c blood sugar was 4.8 (4.6-6.2).

In addition, my BNP blood test (something I was not familiar with, but is used to check for heart disease) was 9.5. Below 18.4 is considered a healthy heart.

So Suzuki-sensei was very enthusiastic, and I’ll see him again in a couple of months. He said he may want to tweak with reducing some current meds that I’m on because I’m doing so well just by healthy eating. Oh, he did say I need more muscle mass though, which is something I’ve known for decades, and I really need to do something more about that than my morning few minutes with a Bullworker.