Making the Rounds

A few months ago, I met the deductible on my insurance plan, and since then I have been racing around to every conceivable doctor to make the most of my nearly-free coverage. Somewhere between the eye doctor and the dentist I started to notice how nice it was to hear that I was totally healthy within a particular specialty - it is a statement I have been fairly used to my entire life but now seems rare. My doctors' appointments were always quick check-ins until the past year. Today, I'm lucky if I make it out in an hour.

Visiting doctors has become a frighteningly easy process. I am a whiz with forms and consider blood tests lunchtime errands. There is a running history of doctor-phobia in my family, which I think I have overcome through necessity and forced tolerance. (This also applies to my ticklishness, which has completely evaporated in the wake of countless people touching my abdomen.) I sometimes wonder if there is anyone else I should check in with now that I'm on a role and have all this time - wouldn't it be worth it to just check my respiratory function? Hearing? Kidneys? How many doctors can I see before I'm classified as "paranoid"?

Hypochondria aside, it's a little irritating to just talk about my health with everyone I meet. I have little social interaction outside of my doctors and physical therapy, which is disconcerting. Most of my doctors now know more about me than my gradating class of twenty-nine. But I guess that's the point - focus on my health now, get my clean bill, and then later I won't have to think about it at all.

Right?

photo credit: http://cdn.overstock.com/images/products/L10573931.jpg