If you are now a private-sector employee and work for an employer with more than 50 employees, read on. Otherwise, you can ignore the rest of my post.

You can take leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act for this. It doesn't have to be taken in one solid block, but can be used intermittently for your appointments. It protects your job and it is none of your boss's business why you are using it. Check it out: http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/complian...ers/fmlaen.pdf.

I realize it is very difficult to tell your boss you need to take time off without sharing something with him/her, and I wish I could come up with some verbiage for you, but be as vague as possible. He/she doesn't have a right to ask. You request FMLA through your HR dept -- check your personnel manual, or call HR directly and ask for an FMLA request form.