On Health

Today is the very last day that any of my family can go to the doctor or emergency room on my old company's dime. Yep, I've been "bought out" for three months now, and the free health care that came with it is gone. As of tomorrow, all health issues will be referred to John's employer. And that policy--compared to the one I had--completely SUCKS. So, there is to be NO ONE going to the doctor or getting sick FROM NOW ON! And I MEAN IT.

Of course, that promise has already been broken. Mary went to the dentist last month and for the first time in her eight short years, she had cavities. But, but...how??? She's so good about brushing her teeth! And her teeth were FINE six months ago! The hygienist wants to do a root canal on one of her baby teeth. I say NAY to that. The child has NEVER complained of being in pain (the hygienist kept saying, "Seriously? She hasn't complained her teeth hurt?"), and until she does, that baby tooth can just ROT until the adult one takes responsibility and kicks the little cretin out. While we continue brushing and try to remember to FLOSS EVERY NIGHT.... I did, however, agree to filling the tooth that was NOT a baby tooth.

As for Mary's UTI problems--she has completely bamboozled me. She went several days with no complaints and feeling fine. Then out of the blue, she was complaining of having problems going again. My theory is that she just holds it too long.... Anyway, today she seems fine again, so I guess I'm waiting it out for a few more days again. She does have her annual check-up in two weeks, so maybe she can hold out until then.

Izzy has caught Keith's cold. Although he had more of a cough while she has a bad case of the sniffles. Poor Keith coughed so bad the other day that he pulled an "Andrew" and ended up puking all over his bedroom rug (which I had JUST put down the day before). Anyway, I thumbed my nose at the AMA and have given BOTH kids cold medicine. Keith slept better as he was no longer coughing up a lung (and his breakfast), and Izzy has slept a LITTLE better as her nose was no longer running Niagara Falls. Oh, and she can breathe better, too.

As for myself, I've been having a strange pain in my side for several weeks now, and I can't figure out what the issue is. And of course, I'm just too stubborn to see a doctor about it. Webmd has many theories about what the problem could be, but mostly I'm thinking that once the holidays are over and I've improved my diet a bit, it will hopefully go away. It's already down to just a dull twinge instead of the sharp-ish twinge it was a few weeks ago. If it gets sharp again, I will definitely choke down the astronomical deductible and go see the @#$% doctor.

Now this little hypochondriac is going to prepare for yet ANOTHER boring New Year's Eve. The family we usually get together with is celebrating with their parents this year (although not necessarily "willingly"), so it's just going to be us. The kids were just sent down for a nap with the strict edict that if they didn't actually SLEEP they would not get to stay up and watch the ball drop--um, although Izzy isn't going to get to anyway. Miss Sniffles will be put to bed promptly on time tonight, thank you. I'm a little apprehensive about letting them stay up at all since they have to go back to school on Wednesday and they've gotten in the habit of sleeping in later this break, and I'm afraid they're going to be quite GROUCHY on Wednesday morning. And Miss Mary gets QUITE snippy when she hasn't had enough sleep. And Mr. Keith turns into the whiniest boy in the world. Ugh.