What happened?

Moonlighting. A blog by Judy Cools

I’ve spent so many average years, just plodding through life, doing the normal housekeeping, laundry, groceries, working, and daily care things. For self-care, as most folks do, I’ve had a family doctor, chiropractor, a dentist, and an eye doctor. All my prescriptions were filled at a single pharmacy. Life made sense.

Suddenly, from under a flurry of appointments and referrals, travel and waiting room blues, I find myself in a whole different world. Oh, sure I still have a family doctor, a chiropractor, a dentist, and an eye doctor. I also have a sleep specialist, an ear-nose-and-throat guy, and four others. There are regular blood tests, in-home equipment, and a low-salt, low-sugar, avoid-all-this-stuff diet. There’s an exercise plan. A relaxation plan. Instead of one pharmacy, I now have four – and two of those are mail order.

Honestly, I’m not sure how I got here! I don’t feel sick, and I don’t feel old. Where did all these medical people come from, and how did they park all over my datebook?! It seems one has to talk to another, test results have to be shared, and everyone wants to recheck whatever it was they checked in the first place. I can’t tell you how many miles I’ve put on the car in the last six months, nor how many hours I’ve sat at one doctor or another’s office. Come on, people, I need a life!

Hubby is in the same boat, and we can’t seem to row the boat fast enough or hard enough to get to that desert island where we can swing leisurely in hammocks under the coconut trees. I like to think the exhausting worst of it is over, as healthier plans are outlined and some of the basic questions are answered. As routines are established, it takes less energy to follow them. Opportunities open up for recreation and focus on things besides the errandy nature of appointment after appointment paying to be prodded and poked, inspected and injected.

I feel at times that I am the only one monitoring the whole picture. Each medical person seems to have their specialty or area of interest, but I am interested in my whole self and my whole well-being! Fortunately, most of the healthcare team is truly that – a team – and happy to be brought back to whole-person thinking, once they are reminded that I am not just a walking blood test or an out of context diet.

So now begins the task of accepting all these people in my life. Uninvited, and cautiously tolerated, I know they’re all here for my own good. Sigh….. this was not in the brochure!

Copyright 2013 © J.L. Cools