Suburban moms earned the nickname "Soccer Moms," but I have earned the name "Doctor Mom." Just like many of my fellow suburban mothers don't play soccer, I am no doctor.
However, 3 of my 5 children have regular doctor's appointments every week. In the past week, I've missed 5 appointments. It's very daunting to me. How could this happen? The easy answer is that I'm failing at balancing these appointments with the other needs in our lives.
I missed the first appointment because I didn't know that my daughter needed another prescription for her physical therapy until it was too late. The next two, were during the time that I needed an emergency meeting. I called ahead to reschedule, but it was already the day of the appointments. Not very thoughtful to the doctor. The fourth and fifth visits were the rescheduled visits and they completely floated out of my mind. I came home from physical therapy, sat down, and then received a phone call from another doctor's office reminding me that my appointment was scheduled 5 minutes ago.
Even before my week of missed appointments, things were not boding well for me.
A few months ago, I had to drive from a medical appointment to the church where my oldest daughter takes classes in order to act as study hall monitor. I was so focused on my tight schedule that I drove halfway to the church before it occurred to me that I wasn't driving to the doctor's office. We were late but made it.
Another time, I arrived 4 hours early for the kids' appointments.
And since the physical therapy office is so close, I have been able to easily correct my forgetfulness with a quick 5 minute jaunt to their office.
I wish that I were driving my kids around to soccer practices. Instead, I am driving to doctor appointments three days a week. As a Doctor Mom, I need to heal my own mind.
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