Off to the doc.

I have an early appointment for a checkup today -- you know, oil pressure, engine timing, etc. Should be routine, although I expect that my weight will still be the same, sadly (must be all those pancakes-in-a-cup), and I want to talk to the doctor about the anti-neuropathy pill I'm on to prevent back pain. It makes me sleepy, as I've noted here before, and that interferes with my workday.

Not a chance in hell I'd forget my appointment. I have gotten texts from two different sources, a robocall, an email, and an email to alert me to a message on my online medical account, all to remind me of this morning's appointment. 

"Hey, see y'all at eight tomorrow!"

"You got it, Mister Doctor! See you tomorrow night!"

"Tomorrow MORNING, dummy!"

Do people really forget to go to the doctor? Do they get busy and blow it off? Or do they just chicken out? I'm not counting last-minute accidents or emergency splenectomies or anything else that would require a reschedule the day of the appointment; let's assume that in truth those account for very few unanticipated cancellations. 

It was easy enough to forget a doctor's appointment in the pre-smartphone era. Even before I started getting the harassing messages from the doctor's office last week, I was getting them from my own phone, since I'd set the appointment in the calendar with various staggered reminders. Now it's impossible to forget.

So that leaves blowing it off (rude) or chickening out (🐔). I personally come from a long line of shower-uppers, people for whom being five minutes late is a mortal sin. When we say we'll be there, we'll be there, even if you don't want us to be. However, chickening out can happen to anyone. 

We can all have some trepidation about going to the doctor, that as fit and healthy as we feel he will find some horrible unexpected illness. ("It's the creeping crud... You have three weeks to live.") For some people it's worse than nerves. Iatrophobia is a powerful and unreasonable fear of doctors or medical tests. As someone with acrophobia, I know how overwhelming phobias can be. I would recommend that anyone who knows he or she has iatrophobia tell the medical personnel at the time of the appointment. They may be able to help.

Now: Off I go on my merry way, hoping the doc finds nothing new wrong with me. Barring traffic problems I will be there. It is the way of my people. Fear is natural; rudeness is not.