Prompted by my mother, who can sense these things even from another continent, I have performed the obligatory winter survey of my medical status. The results show that I am:
- Three months overdue for tests to detect a swift and lethal cancer that has no symptoms.
- Six months overdue for gene sequencing.
- One year overdue for maintenance blood tests to calibrate cancer suppressive drugs.
- Two years overdue for the follow-up appointment after the last biopsy.
Not because of waiting lists or referrals; oh no. I made the appointments and then elected to run away to Seattle.
And, the best yet: I have completely failed to schedule the high-tech non-NHS cancer screening that I already paid for.
If I bothered to open the letters from the clinics I could presumably come up with a few more examples.
I’m not tempted.
The only reasonably grown-up thing I’ve managed to do is to refill my prescriptions before the chemist went on holiday.