Our insurance company probably hates us

2009, medically speaking, you have sucked. Big time.

Pneumonia. Ear infections. Sinus infections. Rashes. Migraines. Cavities. 3 surgeries for me. 1 for Claire. Most likely, 1 for Carter. So many x-rays I've lost count.

Right now, we're all recovering from another round of ear & sinus infections. Carter has been sick, more often than not, since the end of August. Closing in on 6 weeks, if you'd like to be specific. Saturday found us in the ER because he had a rash like I'd never seen before. It started Friday, covering a little of his forehead. By that night, it was over his entire face, the back of his head & his neck. Saturday morning, it had spread to his chest & back. After his nap, I took him up to the pharmacy so Chase could see it. It was fire engine red & so spread out that you could barely see his regular skin color. Chase took one look at him & sent us off to the ER.

The doctor who "helped" us just pretty much rocked. Hardcore. It went something like this: "Hmmm. Not sure I've seen this before. Maybe it's Hand, Foot & Mouth. But he doesn't have any spots on his feet. He's been on an antibiotic? (Because he's still trying to get over the sinus & ear infection.) Could be a reaction to his medicine. What's that? You stopped the antibiotic yesterday? Who told you to do that? (The witch doctor. Not my husband, who knows his sh**.) Wait, he's been running a fever for 10 days? I just really don't know. It could be the medicine or it could be a virus. You'll just have to wait it out. Oh, by the way? He has another ear infection, so here's a new prescription for you. Also? I know he hasn't eaten anything since yesterday morning but M&M's really aren't an appropriate food for a 1 year old."

Carter & I were both fed up by this point. He was in pain, tired, & just plain cranky. I was pissed that we'd wasted $100 & 45 minutes to be told nothing. My response was "Really? See, I was just trying to distract him so your job of examining him would be a little easier. Trust me when I tell you that M&M's are not his regular diet." So I got home & called up my old friend, Dr. Google & figured out that he most likely had roseola. It's now been 4.5 days & the rash is finally starting to disappear. And since he had an ear infection on top of an ear infection being treated by antibiotics, we've got an appointment with the ENT on Friday.

I had another appointment with Dr. Hand on Monday. He told me I had two options: 1) Have the surgery now. 2) Let the cyst get bigger & more painful & have the surgery. I'll be having surgery on October 29th.

I've mentioned it before. Our deductible was ridiculously high this year. Like, Momma could have had a whole new wardrobe plus shoes for every outfit high. And we blew it by July. While this has it's benefits now, it makes my head hurt thinking we spent that much on medical bills in 7 months.

With Chase working in a pharmacy, he is in constant contact with sick people. Which means he's exposed to just about anything & everything. He brings it home & passes it on to the kids. The kids get sick, are miserable, I begin to lose my sanity because we're cooped up in the house yet again, they get healthy, I get sick, I turn into Monster Mom because I don't feel well & I can't take the whining, I start to recover & then Chase finally catches whatever it is he brought home in the first place.

I like to think that this means that by the time the kids start preschool, they'll have been exposed to so many germs that they should be pretty immune to whatever nastiness all the other little snot noses show up with. But we all know how Murphy's Law works, no? I'm not getting my hopes up.

And since I think the doctor's office just sees big walking dollar signs when we cross the threshold? I'm just grateful our healthcare will basically be free the next 3 months.