My guess is that most people my age, particularly those who are male or who don't have children, don't visit the doctor very often. If we do, it is usually a specialist--like an optometrist, gynecologist, psychiatrist, etc.-- and not a general practitioner. We don't see much need for a wellness exam, or the yearly physical, because we aren't at a point in life where we need a doctor's note before we can join the soccer team, or where we need a new prescription for the 17 different pills that are helping us live to see age 72. Even when we get sick, we are more likely to self-diagnose and fight it with OTC medicines, or in dire circumstances, seek out a doc-in-the-box minute clinic to get the extra strength drugs.
That's just my guess, because I was basically describing my own personal approach to sickness/wellness/doctors.
However, I'm trying to be more proactive in preserving my health, so I just made a follow-up appointment at Lifesigns. If you have thought about getting a physical, I recommend checking them out. They do the complete physical, including blood/urine analysis, an ultrasound of all of your major organs to check for cysts or abnormalities, a body fat and BMI test, and an EKG. They accept most insurance, so you can get the core battery of tests done for your normal doctor's visit co-pay.
It's not a bad deal--it's quick, easy, and painless--and since their specialty is wellness exams, you don't have to worry about sitting in a cramped lobby with a bunch of sick kids while waiting to see the doctor. Bonus!
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Having a good experience when getting a checkup is really important, but I'm always a little skeptical of places like this. For one, they have nurse "preventionists," which I'm pretty sure is a made-up word. I glanced at their website and didn't see whether these nurses were RNs, NPs, or what. Who can be a nurse preventionist?
Also, the practice of listing degrees of lower rank with a degree of higher rank looks silly. For example, I'd never write my name as Kimberly McColl, BFA, MA, Ph.D. (Knock on wood.) The lower degrees just won't be relevant. Dr. Belihar seems to have a lot of experience and accolades, so it's weird that he'd pad his post-nominal letters and even more weird that they would appear in that particular order. Maybe the standards in the wellness field are different.
So if they say that you check out just fine, that's great. But if they prescribe you something or try to get you to pay for more services or say that you have some health problem, please get more information. I know I speak for a lot of people when I say that I wouldn't want to see you become less healthy because of a promise of increased wellness. (sorry for the long comment!)
When you wrote "who are male or who don't have children," I think both my ears and Todd's were burning.
K- Thanks for your concern. You're right, the nurse "preventionist" thing does sound a bit hokie. But, I did have a good experience there last year (I saw Dr. Harbison), so hopefully this visit will be positive as well. If I ever had any doctor that gave an odd diagnosis or recommended expensive tests, I would definitely get a second opinion!
S-Get that knee checked! You know I am going to bug you about this every opportunity I get. It's my job as your running partner.
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