#264 – Checkup
Posted on December 8, 2011 at 12:00 am by Chris
Chapter: Comic
Going to the doctor as a kid was never too big of a deal. Mostly I just had to sit there and watch the doctor and my mom talk about me. Then I became an adult and had to do all the talking myself. I found that I was answering a lot of questions with “Sure.” “I guess.” or “Maybe?” I think you pay more attention to what is happening to your sick child than when you are the sick one.
Today’s Biff feels the heat.
Truth. Nothing like a sick child to focus one’s attention – especially if you don’t know WHY they’re sick.
When I was 11 mom, me and my stepfather went off to the ER of the kid’s hospital at 2a because I was really sick. Mom, ever patience, had had ENOUGH by 6a when only nurses had been around to say “we’ll be right with you.” Mom then jumped off in a nurse’s rear with both feet. I was sick, but sat up to watch. A doctor suddenly appeared, as if by magic.
I had strep throat and something else. Most important I had “SUPERMOM!” able to kick medical personnel butt and get results! We were home with meds by 7:30a
I really hope that child is adopted…
Woe be to he who didn’t recognize that my Ma had a previous career as a nurse. Once, she got tired of waiting for someone to do my vitals after I went to the ER after an asthma attack, theygave me the adrenalin shot first, then stuck me in a waiting room, and that was it. So Ma just picked up the blood pressure cuff, the stethescope, and started up there. She wrote down my weight, BP, pulse rate, and was checking my breathing when the nurse finally came in. She tried to talk down to Ma, but then that little Comanche woman rounded on her for not getting back to us sooner. Then one of the on-call docs saw my name at the ER desk, and came in. He was Ma’s old supervisor, and told the nurse that Ma knew what she was doing, and probably did it better.
My parents always had a thing as, “If it happens again then we’ll take you to a doctor.” even if it was the 17th time that thing had happened.
Though as of right now I am in the middle of “If you suddenly can’t breathe and colapse to the floor with a seizure again then we’ll take you to the doctor.”
Going to the doctor recently has been predictable every time my sinuses and lungs act funny. I get sinus infections all the time. My doctor realized that I had a sinus infection the previous time I saw her before my most recent visit. She recommends a neti pot or failing that, a good ear-nose-throat specialist. Wish me luck if I need the latter, because my insurance is very limited to doctors who can take government insurance
I’m 21 and still seeing my pediatrician. He’s told me I can keep seeing him as long as I want, because other doctors would mess me up. And considering that I have ADD/ADHD and Asperger’s Syndrome he’s probably right. I do get excellent service there.