Dear Kids,
I ’m in the hospital as I type this. Today is a week-and-a-half that I’ve been having a weird pain in my chest. I’m sure it’s nothing, but that’s a long time to have the same pain, so I decided the smartest thing to do would be to go to the doctor. On Monday, I called to make an appointment only to discover that I was no longer a patient in that practice and the doctor “wasn’t taking on any new patients.” Since we have health insurance and I don’t seem to have a primary care physician at the moment and Holy Cross is a great hospital and it’s near us, I decided the best thing to do would be to go to the emergency room. Ironically, as I sit here hooked up to myriad machines and await the results of blood tests and chest X-rays, my pain is subsiding. I’m sure it’s just a gas pain, but as I said, it’s been here longer than I’m OK with, so I’m getting it checked out.
I’m sure you won’t remember today’s adventure (although SBK, if I’m stuck here and miss your performance this evening, you just might), but right now, today, it’s a big deal for me. I’m not a high-risk cardiac patient (Zaidie didn’t have his first heart attack until he was over 60), but I’m terrified of something happening to me and leaving the three of you fatherless. I want to live to be at least 100. I want to dance at your weddings. And, I want to spoil my grandchildren. So, I’m really sitting here in the ER for you.
Ima and I haven’t been so good about going to the doctor, but we’ve always made time to take each of you to your well-baby visits and your annual checkups. I hope that us taking you to the doctor regularly will instill the habit in you, and you won’t go years without an appointment like me. Doctor visits are an important part of life, and please make sure that you take the time to go and when you’re there, be honest and frank. Don’t be afraid to share things with the doctor. I guarantee that whatever is bothering you, they’ve heard it before. Embarrassment is one of the leading reasons that people don’t go to the doctor, and when that happens you suffer far longer than if you just talked about it. Think about it like a Band-Aid: you just need to rip that sucker off. The pain is far less that way than if you try to slowly peal it off your skin.
I’ll let you know how this all works out, but , I want you to remember to go to the doctor annually. It’s ok to wait a week to see if the issue solves itself, but when in doubt, it’s always better to call or see the doctor or go to the ER—that’s what it’s there for. It’s always better to be safe than sorry. You have the potential to live to be well over a 100, so don’t miss out on that because you couldn’t be bothered to listen to your body or find the time to see the doctor.
Love,
Aba
P.S. It turned out that it was a GI issue. The doctor put me on Prevacid, and I’m feeling so much better!
