Choices

SO for the last few days I've had an ear infection building. I knew something was wrong on Monday, but I didn't do anything about it. I have no insurance, so going to the doctor is a rather spendy option for me. It was suggested that I go to the ER, since they can't turn me away. But then I'm clogging up the ER with non-emergency stuff, and I wind up with a huge bill.

My method of dealing with it was to have my mom clean my ear out with peroxide a couple times a day and hope I could "boil" the infection out. And each day we would chronicle how much worse my ear was. Today I couldn't take it anymore. I woke up and my ear canal was swollen shut, and that's enough to drive anybody nuts.

Fortunately for me, there's a clinic a few blocks down the street that charges on a sliding scale, so I called and got in with them. When I told the doctor that my ear canal was swollen shut you could tell that she wasn't taking me literally. But when she went to check it, before she even put that little light up to it, she took one look and said "That's closed!"

Apparently my good ear is developing an ear infection and my bad ear is really bad. The doc put a wick in my ear and prescribed antibiotic ear drops along with oral antibiotics. I have to go back on Monday.

She also asked me a bunch of the standard medical history questions. When she asked about diabetes I told her that I was checked a few years ago. I mentioned that since I have PCOS my doctor had been very careful about that when I still had insurance. She then said something that I've never heard before. She said that with PCOS I have an 80% chance of developing diabetes. I don't like those odds. I need to start doing something about them.

I think it's time for me to get serious about dealing with my weight issue. I quit using tobacco about a month ago, now it's time to take the next step in dealing with my health. I need to do some research to figure out what's going to work best for me, but I've gotta do it. I'm hoping that by admitting it in such a public forum it'll help me stick with the idea. Now there's some level of accountability. If in no other way, then because I've promised myself that I'll be honest on here.

As I mentioned already, about a month ago I quit using tobacco. I did not make a conscious decision to quit smoking. A while back I saw some electronic cigarettes and I wanted to switch to them, because in the long run it's cheaper. But the initial outlay was beyond my means. Well, somebody was looking to unload their electronic cigarette, and now I have one. And it is cheaper. But now I have people wanting to know when I'm going to give that up too. I hadn't planned on it. I realize that nicotine can't be all that good for me, but I've cut out all the other bad things from smoking. And there's no second hand smoke. So I'm not hurting anyone else. Can't I just have this one vice? Please?


Well, I think that I've delved far enough into the poor choices that I make for one evening. At least I'm doing something about them now, though, right?