The maintenance plan.  I remember someone in the one percent was quoted as saying:  “It is easy to make money.  It is a lot harder to maintain it.”  Maintenance for me feels like the kiss of death.  It means I am no longer innovating.  I am spending all my time and energy and money just trying to hold on. 

I am trying to maintain my health.  I never knew we had so many body parts.  I never knew there were so many doctors.  More than half the contacts I have in all my devices are under the letter “D” for doctor.  There is the allergist and audiologist.   The breast specialist .  The chiropractor and cardiologist.  The dentist and dermatologist. The endocrinologist and the ENT specialist. There is the foot doctor AKA podiatrist. The gastroenterologist and gynecologist.  The hematologist. The internist. The jaw specialist for TMJ. Lab Core.  The mental health specialist. The neurologist. The orthopedist and ophthalmologist and oncologist. The physical therapist, the psychologist, the pulmonologist, the pharmacist and the podiatrist AKA the foot specialist. There is Quest Lab. There is the radiologist for mammograms and sonograms.  There is the therapist. The urologist.  The visiting nurse for when we come home from surgery and the veterinarian if I get another kitten to replace my Tigger.    And the X-ray technicians for plain old X-rays.   

Have I left anyone out?  Each one is a specialist.  But I am one whole person and no one seems to know it.  The podiatrist is not the back doctor.  Yet, because of my feet, I have poor posture.  The hand doctor is not the neurologist.  Yet I have tingles and numbness in my fingers.  Is it a pinched nerve in my back?  Is it carpal tunnel syndrome?  The cancer specialist is not the cardiologist.  Who will approve of the herbal supplement I have decided to take to ward off melanoma from returning?   Who is running this job?  I cannot be my own GC!

ARE YOU HAVING TROUBLE BEING ON TOP OF ALL THE DOCTORS?  HAVE YOU EVER FORGOTTEN TO GET A TEST YOUR DOCTOR TOLD YOU TO GET?  DO YOU LONG FOR ONE DOCTOR WHO GETS THE WHOLE PICTURE?  DO YOU FEEL LIKE BODY PARTS IN A HEAP?