Making time to take care of you.

By: Christina Cellini, MD, FACS, FASCRS

It’s easy for us to get caught up in the day-to-day caring of others – whether patients or family – that we forget to take care of ourselves! I recently experienced this when I found that my eyesight was declining.  When I thought about it, it had been an embarrassingly long time since I had had my eyes checked.  Making an appointment with the eye doctor was quite the ordeal given scheduling restraints. When I had an opening during the week, the doctor didn’t and vice versa. 

I took a moment to take stock of all the health maintenance appointments that I have been remiss in making. There were quite a few!  I realized that although I am healthy enough now, I need to acknowledge that I need to pratice what I preach to my patients and make the time to take care of my own health! 

I made a list of health maintenence appointments and blocked out time far enough in my schedule so that they were a priority.  Making these appointments far enough in advance so that you get the earliest morning appointment (less chance for the physician’s clinic to be running behind as we all know!) tend to be less disruptive to my working day.  And once it’s on my Outlook I know it will be done!

The following links from the NIH outlines what the recommended health screenings are for women by age group: 

• http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007462.htm
• http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007467.htm
• http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007463.htm

Dr. Christina Cellini is an Assistant Professor of Surgery and Oncology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in the Division of Colorectal Surgery. After obtaining her undergraduate and medical school degrees at Cornell University she trained in general surgery at the NewYork Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical Center. Following residency, she completed a fellowship in Colorectal Surgery at Washington University in St. Louis. She recently completed a Masters in Medical Management at the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester. She lives in Webster, NY with her husband and 2 children and enjoys running and snowshoeing in her free time. Dr. Cellini serves on the AWS communication committee.