The Great Faint of 2023: My Doctor's Appointment Disaster

Posted on January 7, 2026

I will never forget my last doctor’s appointment in December 2023. For some reason, I booked my appointment for a general wellness exam, followed by a fasting blood draw, 3 days before Christmas. The appointment I scheduled was for early afternoon, so after a chaotic morning of Christmas shopping, long lines, and traffic jams, I was running on empty when it came time for the appointment. Height, weight, and blood pressure, going through the motions was easy. The blood draw itself was a blur, but I vaguely remember the needle and the successful extraction. The next thing I remember is my body shutting down from the holiday hustle and bustle it had endured, combined with the lack of snacks and the stress of being at the doctor’s office. I had quite literally passed out during my appointment, and when I came to, my head tingled, stars disappeared from my vision, and I was back on the exam table, staring at the fluorescent lights above. A nurse told me I had fainted. She offered me water and fun-size peanut M&M’s (likely leftover from Halloween), reassuring me that I could take my time recovering. I remember holding the cup of water, my hand shaking its contents like the Jell-O in Jurassic Park. Mortified, I took my time picking myself up, gathering my belongings, and checking out. Leaving in embarrassment and a bit of a hurry, I never made a general wellness appointment for 2024. Part of me thought the doctor’s office would reach out to schedule something closer to December, while another part of me felt too embarrassed ever to return. But that wasn’t the end of my medical adventures that year. A few days after Christmas, I injured my back early in the morning. The pain and lack of mobility felt urgent, so I decided to go straight to urgent care. Unfortunately, every other American enduring an illness or injury after Christmas filled the Urgent Care waiting room with me. Nearly 2 hours later, after being seen by professionals at Urgent Care and informed of a treatment plan, I evaded my primary care physician for the remainder of 2023. Whew! As 2024 went by, I dealt with recurring knee trouble (I wrote about it in another blog entry). I had gone to my doctor for my knee pain a couple of years before, but all they were able to do was prescribe me arthritis medication. Physical therapy fell into my lap, and after much hard work, my knee pain was something I could manage and even prevent after 6 weeks, learning all kinds of drills and exercises to strengthen my hamstrings. Stronger hamstrings took stress off my overworked quads, which were hurting my knees (funny how the body works, huh?). Another institution that required little input from my primary care physician, what luck! Perhaps I could visit urgent care and orthopedic specialists for the rest of my life instead of facing my feelings about returning to a place where I might be completely and utterly ridiculed for my past antics. Fast forward to 2025, and still no word from my doctor. I figured I was off the hook,

especially since CVS kept refilling my prescriptions without a peep from my physician. But in winter, they finally caught onto me. When I went to fill a prescription over the phone, I immediately got a call from my doctor’s office (DUN DUN DUN). They noticed my request and emphasized the importance of physical exams, twisting my arm to schedule an immediate wellness appointment. I was mortified all over again and even considered finding a new doctor. But with limited availability for new patient appointments and pressing refills, I was stuck. The appointment loomed over me, and I stressed about it for weeks. When the day finally arrived, I was relieved that not a single person in the office, not even my doctor, mentioned “The Great Faint of 2023.” In fact, my doctor was happy to see me. The experience of getting my blood drawn was easier this time because I didn’t exhaust myself with holiday stress, holiday traffic, holiday lines, and holiday high prices. What is the most interesting thing that happened from 2023 until now? She had new glasses. The doctor’s office refilled my prescriptions, and I left with renewed hope. I HAD a doctor again (well, I had one all along, but let my awkwardness keep me from ever seeing her again). The moral of the story? I should hang up my gold medal in “Blowing Minor Mishaps into Catastrophic Events.” I write this with the chance that you, dear reader, have done the same at some point for something completely unrelated but equally mundane. Mentally inflating the world’s most minor problem into something the size of a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade balloon. We’ve all been there, whether it’s fainting at the doctor’s office or some other small, silly yet embarrassing moment. Use my cautionary tale to remember it’s a teeny, tiny mole hill. Going to the doctor as an adult is boring if you have no major medical issues, but it is necessary. I’m sure I will do this again, but this incident, story, whatever you want to call it, will help remind me that my embarrassing moments are less memorable to the people around me than I think.