This is one of those periods when all of my many and various specialist appointments clump together. I can go for weeks without seeing any of my docs, and then, boom, lots of visits—most likely because they are on similar follow-up schedules, usually four months apart.
I definitely consider myself fortunate to have such an excellent team of specialists, both close to home and closer to or in Boston. But most of my team are at least a 45-minute to an hour-and-a-half drive from home, assuming traffic is light. Which basically kills half a day, between driving, parking, and waiting, plus the appointment itself.
Again, glad to have a great team in place. But what drives me crazy are the 15 minute appointments that require all that driving. As happened Monday, when I had my final follow-up with my excellent periodontist for my latest implant. Or this Thursday, when I need to drive into Boston for a 15-minute lung CT scan, a regular part of my protocol with my BMC pulmonologist who monitors my interstitial lung disease. Could I have this test done at a hospital near home? Yes, probably, but the communication of test results is not always great between providers. So this, in the long run, is more efficient.
Sometimes I’m able to schedule appointments in Boston all on the same day. I have such a plan in place for December when I was able to schedule check-ups with both of my pulmonologists (the other one tracks my Type Two pulmonary hypertension) plus a pulmonary function test. So, this will work so long as one of them doesn’t cancel out at the last minute. Not holding my breath.
Managing a complex disease like scleroderma takes a lot of time and scheduling. After 45 years of dealing with all of this, it’s just part of my routine. But I wish, sometimes, it wasn’t so time-consuming.
Evelyn Herwitz blogs weekly about living fully with chronic disease, the inside of baseballs, turtles and frogs, J.S. Bach, the meaning of life and whatever else she happens to be thinking about at livingwithscleroderma.com. Please view Privacy Policy here.
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