Dear T,
I called the doctor's office, and I can't do the blood work in advance, but they *can* give me an order for Quest or Labcorp (or I can come to their office) for after the appointment. So going to go with that option. Even if it means waiting a week or two to get it done because of my going out of town. Certainly better than canceling the appointment.

It made me feel better that you'd also put off your physical due to the pandemic. And that you mentioned some of your own issues with staying healthy. I mean, I knew about the coffee one! I didn't feel judged by you, even when I was essentially asking you to judge me at that one point (thanks for not taking the bait!). And I really do hope your doctor found you to be generally healthy.

I do think we need to talk about the health fears more. I feel it's one of those things for me that is always there underneath the surface, but it's not an acute thing most of the time, so it doesn't occur to me to talk about it. Same with things like the one phobia I mentioned. It's there, and on some level, it's regularly affecting my life, but it's been doing so for so long (like since childhood), that it's not a thing where I think "Oh, today we should talk about that" unless for some reason it's particularly affecting me.

Hm, maybe that's a thing for me to do, to write down some of the stuff that does keep affecting me on a lower level, but still affecting me, as future things to address? As maybe they affect me more than I realize, just because I'm so used to them....

Love,
LT