But did it help?

September 25, 2018

I go to so many medical appointments, sometimes I just take for granted that I have to go. But last week, after I wrote about having 13 appointments in just one month, I also mentioned it to a friend, and she asked me something that shocked me: were they helping?

It shocked me because I hadn’t thought to ask this myself! You would think that of course I’d be evaluating each appointment to see if it was worthwhile, but at some point, I just stopped doing that. I have gotten all too used to “follow up” appointments where the doctor reviews my symptoms, nods, and then tells me to come back in 4-6 months without suggesting any changes to what I’m doing. And often this is fine, because I feel like I’m on a decent course. Or because I know the treatments come with bad side effects that I want to avoid. Still, it’s worth taking a step back every now and then to ask,

Is this working?

Is this worthwhile?

I’m glad to say that in the case of this hectic September, the answer is a resounding, YES! The hand therapy has been making a huge difference. My sleep doctor suggested one small change that has had a big positive effect. My naturopath offered me some hopefully changes. I haven’t seen any changes from my new therapist, but it’s early, and there’s nothing negative, so I’ll give it some time.

This means that what I’m doing is working and it’s worth it. At least for now.

Still, 13 appointments in one month means very little time to relax, to deal with household chores, or to have fun with friends. And it’s really getting to me. I’m looking forward to one day soon actually being able to do those things again!

In the meantime, take a step back and ask yourself, are all of those appointments helping? I hope the answer is yes but if it’s not, it might be time to ask yourself how to change that answer. (Obviously I’m not a medical professional and I’m not suggesting you stop seeing your doctors even if you’re not seeing positive results right now. Use your own good judgement!)

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Too. Many. Appointments.

September 17, 2018

I laugh whenever a benefits form asks if I’ve had any medical appointments in the past 6 months. Are you kidding?!? Of course, some months are busier than others. When I only have 1-3 appointments in a month, it’s freeing! I can do more things for fun, see friends, get stuff done around the house. And then are months like this one. By the end of September I will have had 13 appointments. THIRTEEN! This is not cool.

Some of it is coincidence. I only see my naturopath every 3-4 months and I’m seeing her this month. I only see my sleep specialist twice a year, and I saw him this month. There’s also the problem that I’m currently in hand therapy twice a week for painful tendonitis. We had to skip a week and a half for scheduling reasons, but that’s still a whole lot of appointments.

On top of that, I started seeing a therapist once a week. After a bit that will change to every other week, but it hasn’t yet. The idea was that hand therapy would end in August, so September was the right time to finally try seeing a therapist. And then hand therapy got extended by another month. Oops!

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Physical therapy got put on hold due to my PT moving to a new home and a new office at the same time, followed quickly by a planned heart surgery for her husband. It was good timing for me in terms of my hand therapy and other appointments, but I’ve been feeling my scoliosis acting up, among other issues, so I have an appointment to start seeing her next week, now that she’s scheduling patients again. I haven’t seen my dentist in about a year (oops!) so that will be next week also.

These are all important. They’re also TOO MUCH!

I’m exhausted and overwhelmed. I try to make plans with friends, but can’t manage anything on a day that I have an appointment, and that means we never get to hang out. Running errands, cooking, and laundry all have to be scheduled around these appointments, too. Benefits forms aren’t getting filled out and craft projects are being abandoned. You haven’t even seen me here on this blog lately!

For now I am just trying to hold on. I only have 1 appointment in October so far. All of the doctors I see only once every X months have been scheduled for other months. I haven’t scheduled therapy or PT for next month yet, so those will happen. Still, with any luck hand therapy will have ended and I might have only 5-8 appointments next month. I can hope!

People ask, “What do you do all day since you’re not working?” Little do they know how much work it is to take care of my health! This month is worse than usual, but still, appointments, benefits forms, pills, special food prep…. it all adds up in a big way.

I’m looking forward to having some more breathing room soon. In the mean time, I hope that you all are doing better on the appointment front than I am!

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Posted by chronicrants