When Enough is Enough

I give. I've earned my "tough mom" badge. I finally called the doctor today and went in to get checked for this never-ending cold/cough thing I've been carrying around since Julian gave it to me on January 1st. 7 weeks of feeling cruddy, but not badly enough for anything to stop, is enough. And I'm sure that after coughing loudly either in your ear over the phone (I always get an attack while I'm on the phone) or in your general surroundings, you'll be relieved as well. I do apologize for hacking around everything and I try to be as conscious as possible about not germing up door knobs or handles or anything you might also touch. But seriously one of the biggest reasons is that going to the doctor and taking medication are two of my least favorite things.

But I went today, dragging Mac with me because she spent the day at work with me for mid-winter break (that's a topic for another blog - another school break?!?!?). We were right on time, I gave them money, I filled out the required form in record time and we were taken to the exam room right away. The nurse weighed me (why do I ask? It was unnecessary to point that out to me when I'm already feeling horribly), took my temperature (98.7 - perfect) and took my blood pressure (used the little cuff that clocked my pressure at 150/100 .. Wha??? Way too high for me so she changed cuffs and it came out 120/82 - much better). And then we waited. And waited and waited and waited. I measured and weighed Mac, pretended she was my patient, we played thumb wars and hand clapping games, we listened to her MP3, read a magazine article and she read up on how to prevent breast cancer by examining your breasts - so we chatted about breasts and cancer for a while. She sat on the exam table and I tickled her, we laughed a lot and loudly hoping that we would be annoying enough for someone to come see us. I bet her I knew exactly what the doctor was going to do once he came in: look in my ears, nose and throat, then use the stethoscope to listen to my lungs, ask me 2 questions and then write me a prescription for medicine.

1 hour later, he finally came in, looked in my ears, nose and throat, then used the stethoscope to listen to my lungs, asked me 1 question and then wrote me a prescription for medicine. 5 minutes all told including the first minute and a half putting a bandaid on his finger he got as a paper cut right before coming into the exam room. I really hate to go to the doctor's office!

Went to the pharmacy to get 10 pills - waited 20 minutes, during which time we sprayed every kind of perfume, looked at all the makeup, and rummaged through the Valentine sale. All to get nasty pills that I hate taking.

All I have to say is that this better work, because it's unlikely that I will go back. So there!