For the past 25 years, I've been secretly cutting my own hair. It started when I was in college and I had super thick waist-length hair. I initially intended to just give myself a slight trim, maybe an inch or two at the very most...but the smooth snip-snip of the scissors was ever so much fun! and addictive! It was really quite difficult to let go of the scissors, and 20 minutes later, I found myself sporting a jaunty chin-length bob.
I used to set up 2 mirrors--one in front of me, and one behind me--so that I could get a good view of the back of my head while trimming my hair. These days, I just use one mirror and I judge whether I'm cutting well by feeling the back of my head for uneven hair distribution. I snipped away at my hair last night, and for some bizarre reason, all of my clinic patients with psychiatric diagnoses have been complimenting my haircut today. Bipolar disorder with low back pain thought the shape framed my face nicely. Obsessive compulsive disorder with a sinus infection especially liked the way my bangs swayed liltingly to one side. Even the strange lady with panic disorder who was standing in the corner of the exam room crying and holding her left arm as if she were a bird with a broken wing told me my hair looked great. None of these patients had a primary care provider they could see for follow up.
I grew up in an era when everyone had a family doctor, and it is a constant puzzle to me when I see so many patients at our urgent care clinic who don't have a primary care provider but want to be treated for a chronic condition. Many patients feel they're "too healthy" to have a regular doctor; others complain about how long it takes to set up an appointment to establish care. I have encountered multiple patients with severe abdominal pain or pelvic pain who went to the ED and waited for a few hours while labs were drawn, then left the ED to seek medical attention at our urgent care clinic because they "got tired of waiting". Even though they were having excruciating pain and they could have had access to CT scans, MRIs, ultrasounds and stat lab results in the ED (none of which are available in urgent care), they left because they wanted to be seen "right away". Then they get upset when we direct them back to the ED because we can't provide the higher level of care that they need. Our healthcare system is broken, and none of it makes any sense, but at least the psychiatric patients really like my hair...
