Yesterday was a meaningful day in the Welton household, for it was doctor day.

For me, I finally was able to see, and meet, a new doctor that I can call my primary after my last primary, a nurse practitioner in the hospital system I use, decided to become more of an administrator in the facility she is at, and she handed me over to another nurse practitioner in the system. Prior to the nurse practitioner handing me off to a nurse practitioner, I was handed off from an MD in that facility to the nurse practitioner because he too became an administrative guy at that location. So, my medical history has been a series of handoffs in the last several years. Handoffs, or fumbles. But that is how it is these days in Albuquerque health care. Physicians come and physicians go, and you generally take the health care helper you can get.

Except in this case, I watched the health care system’s physician search site for a few weeks, and where I was regularly greeted with no physicians near me taking new patients, I was finally shown a physician in the system- a real MD, who wasn’t a pediatrician!- who was taking new patients at a facility fairly close to where I live. Oh happy day!

It turns out, amidst the flurry of docs that leave the state, this one moved in to Albuquerque and joined the nearby facility.

And she said she planned to stay for quite some time.

And she was also pleasant, thorough, inquisitive, and attentive.

And I left my first visit with her happy, thinking I’ve found someone I can lean on with my health concerns for a while.

As far as milestones go, though, I was not the only one who visited a physician yesterday.

Po saw a vet at the clinic we use, and it was for his one year physical and shots as a kitty in this house.

One of the techs who helped us remembered Po right off and was joyful at his appearance. He remembered Po’s emaciated state last year when we went to the clinic for regular help, when we were not sure Po would make it. And he saw that Po looked healthy now.

Sitting in that clinic room in that moment yesterday brought back a number of feelings.

Po will forever be my Aunt Margaret’s cat, so I will always see her when I consider him, and seeing him sit next to me in the room reminded me she’s been gone over a year now.

The new vet came in and saw him and called him what I regularly call him, “a handsome boy”, and it was an affirmation of how I see him and what he is to me at home- a fine feline friend I am grateful to have with me.

Congratulations on your health, little cat, and thanks for letting me adopt you, offering me little resistance and lots of kitty love.