Why a Doctor’s Appointment Can Feel More Like a Trip Down an Assembly Line
No wonder so many people avoid practicing routine health care.
I’m sitting in the dermatologist’s office, staring at the back of a nurse’s head while she clicks away at a computer and talks to someone (not me) through a pair of earbuds. If she’s going to ignore me, I may as well do the same. So, I pull out my cell phone and start making notes for this piece.
Seven years ago, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Prior to that, I was the poster child for practicing preventative health care. I regularly scheduled annual exams with my primary care physician, my eye doctor, my dentist, and my dermatologist. I followed up on everything they told me to do, which of course included getting the screening mammogram that caught my cancer early and may have saved my life. I’m grateful that I have good health insurance and will never minimize the fact that I have access to superior health care. Too many people don’t.
But once I became a cancer patient, those other appointments got placed on the back burner. My calendar was suddenly chockful of visits to surgeons, oncologists, radiologists, and lab techs. I could barely keep up with those while raising a family and trying to maintain my full-time job.
