Getting your annual checkup? I work with a lot of sick people, some of them very sick. And I have had a lot of friends over the years who have been very sick. Some of them regularly met with their healthcare providers when they were sick and also had annual checkups, like I do. Others thought they were above getting an annual checkup, that they were too healthy, too busy, too rebel-rebel, or whatever reason they gave me. And I have had the heartbreaking experience of helping a client or friend go through the process of being diagnosed with a serious medical condition, one that could have been caught earlier had it been diagnosed during an annual checkup. HIV. Type II diabetes. High blood pressure. Heart disease. Cancer. You name the condition, I have encountered it with friends and clients. And each time my heart breaks when I think of what could have been if their HCP had caught this during an annual checkup, or if they reached out for medical attention when they first became symptomatic. Please get an annual checkup. Please see a doctor when you have a symptom that doesn’t feel right, or when someone who cares about you asks you to see an HCP. Please take care of yourself.

Also, my website of the month:

I want to share the website of CHES Foundation, an organization I am very involved in. Here is the mission of CHES: We inspire self-awareness and self-reliance in individuals with chronic health conditions, their families, and their communities. We empower them to engage with their treatment, to live life to its fullest, and, in turn, to inspire others.

Here is a link: