Texting ‘awesome’ to me

Published 9:18 pm Thursday, June 3, 2010

I’m not a very techno-involved person. So I take very little interest in things like what my cell phone can do. If it can place a call and receive a call, I’m a happy camper. I text on occasion but certainly not to a teenagery degree. I just use my phone for its simplest purposes.

So today, I was at my monthly doctor’s appointment, waiting the wait of the unenthusiastic patient. We all know that wait. It’s the one where you spend your time pacing the floor trying to figure out what to tell — and most importantly what not to tell — the doctor about your eating habits, exercise regimen (or lack thereof) and other vitals that you just don’t feel are any of your physician’s business.

While waiting that awful wait, I started looking at the colorful pamphlets and flyers pasted all over the part of the wall that is usually hidden by the exam room door. And with the exception of a very clever and somewhat disturbing illustration of a smiling drop of blood — done up very much in the style of the Kool-Aid guy — the brochures and flyers have the usual information. There were brochures with titles like “Everything you need to know about …,” followed by everything from obesity to hypertension to prostate cancer.

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These brochures and flyers were no surprise to me, since I know my way around a doctor’s office because of my diabetes. So I’ve become an expert on how to look for every early warning sign for every possible disease imaginable.

I can check myself for everything from rheumatoid arthritis to menopause. (And with the exception of the occasional hot flash I get on certain summer days, you’ll all be happy to know that menopause is looking very unlikely for me. So, I’m happy to say I’ve dodged that bullet.)

But on this particular doctor’s visit, I noticed the little bits of information at the bottom of most of the flyers these days. There are now five-digit numbers included that you can send texts to so you will get information back on your phone. This information could be the facts you need to detect hypertension, low and high blood sugar, even an app that can be sent to your phone to help you keep track of your blood pressure.

And even though I’m no health nut or techno-guy, I can’t help but think that it’s pretty cool that my phone can be of more use to me than just getting and placing calls. I know that’s no news flash for those with smartphones that can be made to sound like a tin can with a marble in it when you shake it, but, during my wait, I learned something.

Who knows? Maybe someday there will be a number I can text with the term “blood sugar” that will make my phone slap me across the face should I try to pick up a candy bar.

Hurry up and get me to that point, technology.