Full Time, All the Time
with Britt Reints
Forget the 9 to 5; Full Time, All the Time is a blog about the mobile working life - when you have the freedom to work from anywhere and the responsibility of always having your smartphone turned on. Britt Reints works as a freelance writer while traveling fulltime in an RV with her husband and two kids. She explores balancing real-life bills with an unconventional work life, and finding time to maintain relationships with family and friends.
You can also find Britt at InPursuitOfHappiness.net.
I’ve discovered a new reason that my husband and I need to win the lottery:
Doctor’s hours.
This past weekend we found ourselves in round 2 of “for God’s sake man! You need to see a doctor about that!”, where I’m complaining about his irresponsibility and he’s trying to educate me on things like office hours and working hours and an inability to be in two places at once.
Perhaps I should explain that.
My husband, Jared, has a skin condition called eczema. It’s severe. It needs to be monitored regularly by a doctor. If it’s left untreated for too long his entire body will be covered in a painful, itchy rash. If his body is covered in a painful, itchy rash, he is crabby.
We’ve lived in Florida for over a year and he has yet to visit a regular doctor or dermatologist.
Instead, he waits until a Saturday afternoon when his skin is on fire and he has to be rushed to an urgent care center - where (several hours later) he is given steroids, antibiotics, and a referral for a dermatologist’s office.
What does this have to do with working and winning the lottery?
As Jared explained to me last weekend, making a doctor’s appointment in the middle of a work day is rarely a priority. There’s always work to be done and meetings to attend, and until you find yourself in an emergency situation that actually prevents you from working, it’s all too easy to drop preventative health care to the bottom of the list.
I suppose that’s why I haven’t visited an OB/GYN for over three years.
Or a dentist.
While I willingly take time off to keep my kids immunized and up to date on all of their physicals, taking care of myself never seems like a good enough reason to request an afternoon off.
Are Jared and I alone in this? Do other grown ups manage to stay on schedule with check ups and routine exams, even if that means requesting time off? And if so, how? Are there magical doctor’s offices somewhere with Saturday hours that I’m not aware of?
Do you think you could get me a referral?
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The ladies in my office take a personal day once in a while and cram all their checkups in that day. It seems to be the only way to accomplish it without being in and out of the office. It’s harder when you have kids, though, because you already take time to make sure they’re taken care of.
P.S. - Please don’t neglect your teeth or your cervix; we’d like to keep you around for a long, long time.
Finn | January 21st, 2009 at 9:46 am
I try and schedule my appts. either first thing in the morning or go for the last one of the day. I still miss a litte time from work but our office has sick hours that we can use. You don’t have to use a full 8 hours of sick time. I look at is as if I go to the Dr. when needed I miss less work because I am actually healthier. My Dr. office does care Saturday hours for those pesky sinus infections and pop-up illnesses.
Angel | January 21st, 2009 at 9:54 am
i seriously don’t remember the last time i went to the dentist. and i am lucky enough to have a best friend who is a GP and can make house calls when i’m sick. i take off so much time to take my three kids to THEIR appointments that i NEVER take off for myself. i’m so afraid of getting fired!
ali | January 21st, 2009 at 11:09 am
Ha! I have never gone to a doctor just for a routine check-up. The last time I saw a doctor, it was to get her to sign a paper saying I was healthy enough to adopt. She took my vitals and signed the paper. That was 2.5 years ago. I did it on a Friday afternoon, but I always go to the dentist on Saturdays. I think there is nothing wrong with taking personal time for doctors’ visits, but I personally feel uncomfortable doing it.
Annual visits are overrated. Unless you have a condition or family history that justifies watching, really one visit in 3-5 years is plenty.
In the mean time, an apple a day . . . .
SKL | January 21st, 2009 at 1:11 pm
I could have written this!!! Luckily my husband is a teacher so he is able to take the kids in for their appointments on non-school days. They are completely up to date. But I’ve been to the doctor once in five years. My dentist has one night a week of evening appointments so at least I’m up to date on that.
JenB | January 21st, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Ummmm . . . dentist? Oh yeah . . . I had one once, before we moved to a new town 3 years ago. OB/gyn? Yeah . . . don’t they send you a notice when it’s time to go? But my kids, ha!!! On top of everything, including my 6 year old who has a kidney transplant and gets blood drawn every week and docs 1x to 2x per month. It’s NOT a good example to neglect our own health but I agree . . . making those appointments gets pushed to the bottom of the pile in the midst of all those phone calls, meetings, crying, whining, grabbing and scribbling . . . and that’s just work, there’s still the kids!
Elaine at Lipstickdaily | January 21st, 2009 at 5:43 pm
I schedule appts. in the morning so I “only” miss a half day of work. I find that the important work conversations usually take place between 2 and 4.
Rachel | January 22nd, 2009 at 10:00 pm
It’s definitely hard to do, but I do it. I think bosses are pretty understanding about taking a few personal hours here and there. I’m like one of the other posters on here, I schedule early morning or late afternoon appointments so that I miss as few hours from work as I can. I’ve never heard my boss complain about it, and as long as I don’t go above my allotted hours for the year, he has no reason to complain. I set reminders in my Outlook calendar to make my appointments so I don’t forget about them, and make sure I call on my lunch hour so I’m not using “company time”.
Tricia | January 23rd, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Ladies, we need to take care of ourselves. I’m over 40 so I never miss my annual exam and mammogram. Hey, my insurance pays for it…I’m getting my money’s worth.
For my appointments it helps to go to docs who are close to my office…that way I can pop out for an hour or so and take care of things. And if you have a doctor who makes you wait (takes up your valuable time) switch doctors. There are good ones out there.
For the kids (I only have 2) we just schedule the dentist every six months and we make it happen. I dread when my oldest one gets braces (it’s inevitable) but we will schedule those appts late in the day and make it work. I have to admit that I often miss the kid’s “well” checkups since they are now 7 and 10, and if they are sick we are likely to go to urgent care because it’s open late and the co pay is the same as the doc.
Karla E. | January 23rd, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Hey Britt, It’s definitely hard to think of taking time off for regular check-ups, but it’s doable. I have found a Dr. that has evening & Saturday hours, as well as our dentist. I can give you name if you’d like.
Melanie (Modern Mami) | January 24th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I hear you! I haven’t had an physical since 2002, just sick visits. Hey, I was pregnant last year - didn’t all those appointments count?? So….It’s January, my paid time off just reset itself, so I went and scheduled ALL of my appointments before I use up the PTO on my son. Doctor, dentist, eye exam, dermatologist. I made first-thing or last-thing appointments so I don’t have to take the whole day. As for my husband….he has no excuse. He hasn’t had a physical in forever and his doctor is *across the street* from his office.
Jane | January 25th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Until I started having problems over the past year and a half, I was pretty lax about my annual GYN visits, and now, I find myself in the doctors office, in the hospital, and off work more than ever.
Take it from me- it’s worth it - to make an early morning appt, or late afternoon, and deal with things when they are non-issues, than to wait until it’s too late, and the simple fixes don’t work.
You have to take care of you - because no one will do it for you! (Now Schedule Jared’s appt for as late in the day as possible!)
Fantastagirl | January 28th, 2009 at 12:41 am
No, you aren’t alone. And actually, the most frustrating thing to me right now is that our pediatrician ADVERTISES evening and weekend hours, but they don’t disclose in those advertisements that those hours are for sick children only, not well-baby appointments. I’m about to find another pediatrician because I am flat out out of any sort of paid time off and am having trouble taking a half-day off once a month for my child’s appointments. I am further frustrated by the wait times…I can’t cram all my appts into one day because I can’t guarantee that I’m not going to wait an hour at MY doctor’s.
Been there done that with the eczema, I might add. I survive well only because I live in MI, therefore the heat and humidity does not aggravate it for between 4-6 months out of the year. Seeing a dermatologist is the best thing I could do - but like him, I cannot find one (since they’re specialty doctors I guess?) that is open outside of 9-4. I work 6:30 to 4, and race to the sitter’s to pick up my son from there.
CV | January 29th, 2009 at 9:57 am
I like your post. Good stuff. Keep them coming :)…
ArianaFeat | May 14th, 2009 at 3:04 am