With the sudden illness of my girlfriend it has got me thinking about all the times I have been really ill. I mean to say that over the years I have faked ill more times than I would like to admit but when I think really hard I have a pretty good immune system.
When I first moved to Bellingham I got hit hard by an illness that is genetic so I can't really count that one but I will explain anyway. My mother has advanced rheumatoid arthritis and she, so nicely, passed it on to me. I was working at Target at the time and hurt myself on accident and it sent toxins into my bloodstream that triggered an attack of the arthritis. I awoke the next day not able to move my knees because it hurt so bad. I hate doctors and I really didn't want to go but I bit the bullet and went anyway and can you guess what happened? They gave me pain killers and sent me packing. I was prescribed an noninflammatory that took the swelling down in my knees and I was able to hobble around. The doctor called me about two and a half weeks later and told me about the arthritis and told me I would basically have flare ups like this throughout my life and I should just expect them. I haven't had one since but my hip does scream at me all the time. This just reinforced my hatred for the medical system. They did tell me what was wrong but did nothing to really help me with it and just told me deal with it in the future.
So the next time I got sick I stayed away from the doctor when I probably shouldn't have. I can remember being at theater and getting off early on a Saturday night. I was super excited because we were going to go do a scavenger hunt. I was at home for maybe an hour when the fever hit me. I went from a regular temp to 101 in a blink of an eye. I stayed at 101-102.5 for about three days. I should have gone to the hospital but I just kept saying I would be better tomorrow. I had that fever for 7 days. On the night of the 7th day it broke but I went again to the clinic and they took some blood and told me to rest and all that stuff; things you don't need to be told. They once again called me two weeks later when I was 100% better and told me I had H1N1. I had the swine flu and kicked it myself....
Those were the two big sicknesses I have had in my adult life. I mean I have thrown up from eating the wrong things and I get a stress flu almost every year around my birthday and Halloween but I stay pretty healthy. I mean I eat terribly and exercise every once in a awhile and I would say that I stay way healthier than my peers. I guess I can just thank my DNA for being able to fight most things off.
The main reason I wrote this is to say that over the years of hating doctors and the medical field this weekend showed me once again how they really suck. Rachel spent 5 hours in the ER and they just threw antibiotics at her and sent her on her way. They told her they would send her info to a clinic and she should go there on Monday for more tests. She shows up and the hospital sent nothing and the office told her that she could get an appointment in three weeks. THREE WEEKS?!?! Are you freaking kidding me? If her illness was really serious she would be dead by then! I mean she figured it out and got an app at a different clinic but still, should a hospital really drop the ball like that? It just adds another thing to the list of why I hate the medical field. I just know that if I ever need something taken out of me surgically they will end up doing something to kill me. I am not afraid of a lot of things but that is one. Let's just hope that my immune system can keep on keeping on until I'm ready to let go of this life.
When I first moved to Bellingham I got hit hard by an illness that is genetic so I can't really count that one but I will explain anyway. My mother has advanced rheumatoid arthritis and she, so nicely, passed it on to me. I was working at Target at the time and hurt myself on accident and it sent toxins into my bloodstream that triggered an attack of the arthritis. I awoke the next day not able to move my knees because it hurt so bad. I hate doctors and I really didn't want to go but I bit the bullet and went anyway and can you guess what happened? They gave me pain killers and sent me packing. I was prescribed an noninflammatory that took the swelling down in my knees and I was able to hobble around. The doctor called me about two and a half weeks later and told me about the arthritis and told me I would basically have flare ups like this throughout my life and I should just expect them. I haven't had one since but my hip does scream at me all the time. This just reinforced my hatred for the medical system. They did tell me what was wrong but did nothing to really help me with it and just told me deal with it in the future.
So the next time I got sick I stayed away from the doctor when I probably shouldn't have. I can remember being at theater and getting off early on a Saturday night. I was super excited because we were going to go do a scavenger hunt. I was at home for maybe an hour when the fever hit me. I went from a regular temp to 101 in a blink of an eye. I stayed at 101-102.5 for about three days. I should have gone to the hospital but I just kept saying I would be better tomorrow. I had that fever for 7 days. On the night of the 7th day it broke but I went again to the clinic and they took some blood and told me to rest and all that stuff; things you don't need to be told. They once again called me two weeks later when I was 100% better and told me I had H1N1. I had the swine flu and kicked it myself....
Those were the two big sicknesses I have had in my adult life. I mean I have thrown up from eating the wrong things and I get a stress flu almost every year around my birthday and Halloween but I stay pretty healthy. I mean I eat terribly and exercise every once in a awhile and I would say that I stay way healthier than my peers. I guess I can just thank my DNA for being able to fight most things off.
The main reason I wrote this is to say that over the years of hating doctors and the medical field this weekend showed me once again how they really suck. Rachel spent 5 hours in the ER and they just threw antibiotics at her and sent her on her way. They told her they would send her info to a clinic and she should go there on Monday for more tests. She shows up and the hospital sent nothing and the office told her that she could get an appointment in three weeks. THREE WEEKS?!?! Are you freaking kidding me? If her illness was really serious she would be dead by then! I mean she figured it out and got an app at a different clinic but still, should a hospital really drop the ball like that? It just adds another thing to the list of why I hate the medical field. I just know that if I ever need something taken out of me surgically they will end up doing something to kill me. I am not afraid of a lot of things but that is one. Let's just hope that my immune system can keep on keeping on until I'm ready to let go of this life.