To anyone who may be wrestling with going to medical appointments vs. not going. [View all]

[LuckyCharms]

This is not medical advice, but rather, I am relaying what was advised to me today by my shrink during our video visit.

I see many different specialists routinely, and therefore, require many visits to the lab for blood work.

I recently looked at my schedule and saw that I have 5 different appointments coming up within the next two months. Covid cases are rising in my area, and frankly, I do not feel safe seeing any doctor face-to-face, in spite of my vaccinated status (fully vaccinated in late March). I particularly do not feel safe going to a lab for blood work. No matter how well I try to time it, it is always packed with people who seem to take the bare minimum precautions when it comes to protecting themselves and others. Additionally, my wife is in a state of despair because one of her clients died of Covid two days ago, in spite of being vaccinated. Finally, as I have posted, my brother died of Covid earlier this year.

I have been losing sleep on whether I should postpone some or all of my upcoming appointments. I expressed my concerns and quoted some local stats to my shrink, and I will paraphrase what he told me:

"Like you, I have the same concerns because I have more than a few risk factors myself. Here is how I am making my decisions. If the visit is a periodic, routine exam, I am not going unless I sense that my health has changed. If the problem is new, sudden, and acute, then you need to go to the appointment while taking taking all of the necessary precautions. Your eyes for example. You have an upcoming appointment with a specialist because your vision is changing and you have a known problem that needs to be monitored. I would advise you to postpone the appointment if the problem has not recently worsened, but unfortunately, it has worsened, and this is your vision we are talking about. So personally, I would not miss that appointment. For the other appointments that you mentioned, I personally would postpone them because these issues have been relatively stable and you have not complained of or noticed any changes. Now, I'm telling you what I would personally do. You yourself have to weigh what you perceive the risks are of going vs. not going, but what I am conveying to you is how I make my own decisions. If you do indeed decide not to go to an appointment, make sure to put a reminder on your calendar to follow-up, say, in a month or so. At that point, you can look at the local case load, and revisit your decision at that time."