Dealing with Cats in the Hood and the Great Flexibility of DPC
It was a bright morning in May, and I was happily heading to my quaintly beautiful medical office. Suddenly, I heard a cat meowing. Initially I thought the radio station had a cat in the studio that day. My husband Chris walked me to the car, as he kindly does many mornings, and he noticed the sound as well. He began investigating and said, “I think you have a cat in the hood!” We popped it open, and a shaggy, gray face popped out. This kitten had a rough night and was having a bit of a “bad hair day.” She was also possibly feeling fear and frustration. We watched as she promptly decided to bury her way down into the engine and raise her voice. Then it became a game of “cat and engine” rather than “cat and mouse.” We decided to go “old school: and carefully place a trail of tuna leading away from the car into the bushes. And then we waited. Hmm…this cat seems to know this trick. A phone call to animal control was placed and a wonderful officer came with gloves, towel and cage to wrangle this little creature. Before the officer came, the cat got the scent of the tuna and made its own way out of the car but then began to run back under the hood. Luckily, I was already in the car, so I turned on the engine and quickly drove down the street. As fate would have it, the cat seemed to feel safest in the hidden crannies of cars so she dashed across the street and promptly jumped under our neighbor’s car. The kind officer had to get under the car to safely extract her and place her into a cage for treatment at the vet and later release.
During this time, I had patients scheduled but today was simply not a typical day. One by one they were notified by myself or my amazing new assistant Natalie. Everyone was engrossed in the cat saga, and it drew us closer. They were gracious enough to wait for a later appointment or reschedule for another day.
As I reflect on this adventure, I am incredibly grateful for my DPC practice. My patients were kind as we navigated this adventure peacefully and smoothly. Opening this practice has also provided me with the time and space to heal. My growth has been steady but slow and this has been a blessing. I have spent time in my office in stillness, solitude and silence allowing myself to regenerate from the experience of working in corporate medicine for 15 years. I used to walk the world with frayed edges and hypersensitive nerve endings. Now I am more flexible and calmer than ever, even when disruptions occur. I am left with immense gratitude for those who came before us and paved a path for a beautiful way to practice medicine. Weather it be finding a cat in the hood or dealing with a letter from the IRS (still dealing with that but I am confident they will find the money I paid them), I am better equipped to deal with the slings and arrows of business ownership because by golly, it may be a little messy but it is my own!
