Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Okay, the men are gone, let's party!

First, thank you so so much for all the lovely things that you said about me to my man. I am blushing, really.

So in the end, that went well. My husband thinks that blogging is like an online diary and that I seem to do well at it. He didn't read this entire thing, not enough time to go back and do it all, but what he saw was fine with him. As he put it, "Feel free to complain about me as Mr.Cotta online, if it gets it out and you can commiserate with other women about your husbands and you are happy, that's fine with me." I think he prefers that I do this as opposed to talking in real life with him, sort of like he used to view my pregnancy loss support group. He likes to talk to me, don't get me wrong, but like most men he prefers not to analyze every moment of every emotion we have.

Yes, men are from Mars and women are from Venus. And isn't it fun?

The deal is that he doesn't want to read the blog, and I keep it pseudononymous, and he hopes that I make it clear that I AM NOT A DOCTOR, so none of you think I'm giving real medical advice.

Hahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahaha

Lawyers are so adorable. Honestly, if blogs hadn't taught me about heparin, and how much to get per dose and how to shoot it up without becoming a black and blue pin cushion, Julius wouldn't exist. He would have died! Geez, it's not like my frigging doctors were any help. "Oh, that miscarriage was an aberration, a bad egg, just try again and see what happens!" ---yes, lovely advice from my friendly neighbourhood medical professional.

Like I just have to point out the crazy thing I read last week, about how Doctors were surprised that in large studies the flu shot did not prevent pneumonia. And all I could think was---duh. The flu shot prevents the flu, barely, and the pneumonia vaccine prevents pneumonia. You know, the vaccine that is given once, and gives lifetime protection against 23 strains of streptoccocus and is cheap and so is free in Ontario and is highly recommended for anyone who is elderly or immunocompromised, or has a genetic clotting disorder like mine, or several other medical problems----oh, your Doctor never mentioned it? Maybe because they make so much freaking money off the annual shitty unnecessary flu shot? Or maybe because Big Pharma does not promote it because it's generic and fuck why do anything that impedes profit margins?

No honey, I'm not a Doctor, but that's a good thing I think. Less Koolaid to drink....

Women need to talk to each other. We're not men, we can't just mumble and shuffle our feet and pretend we're fine all the time. I'm not always fine, how about you?

So I am just going to blog the way I always do, and hopefully he won't mind.

7 comments:

  1. There is a lot of good stuff on the internets, but there is also a lot of crap stuff said with a lot of authority. So it definitely pays to listen, but also to think and to research.

    Glad things are cool with Mr.Cotta.

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  2. I'm not always fine either and don't mind saying so! And also, if it weren't for blogs I think my youngest child would have had to be in the hospital at least ONCE for a bowel impaction, but thanks to blogs written by parents of children with similar special needs (my youngest is on an elemental formula delivered via g-tube and because elemental formula is VERY low-residue and the child also has poor GI motility, I must administer daily doses of laxative to keep things moving along--until our new GI specialist figured out that we needed to add the laxative the child wasn't growing and was vomiting frequently due to the simple fact that nothing OUT leaves no room for anything IN) I knew that a day without poo was a genuine emergency and that I could safely double the dose of laxative. Yes, perhaps the doctors would have arrived at that conclusion on Monday, but the first no-poo day was a Friday and it didn't seem like a very big deal until Saturday night when the baby was obviously uncomfortable and not keeping much down. The doctor who prescribed the laxative DID say that we could feel free to "adjust the dose" but without blogs I wouldn't have dared to double it, which seems to be necessary about once a month for whatever reason.
    I also wouldn't have gone BACK to the doctor the day after a night at the ER getting an abscess lanced if I hadn't read the blog of someone who had had systemic MRSA septicemia, which I did in fact turn out to have--my doctor said that it was only a quarter of an inch from breaching my abdominal wall and that would have been VERY nasty! Blogs bridge the gap in modern healthcare (US or Canadian) by giving vivid details and voicing personal experience, which can be just that extra nudge your inner voice needs to yell for help.
    Of course you are not a medical doctor, and neither am I, nor are most bloggers, but we all have our own stories to tell, and they could all help someone else, either by making them think a little more about waiting on something medical or by allowing them to say "oh, well no, I DEFINITELY don't have THAT! What a relief!" And that is a good thing in my book!

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  3. One time Dr. Google made my ex think he had Hodgkins disease.Bahahahaaaa!

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  4. Sounds good to me!

    Never change who you are, or how you blog. You are perfect just as is. :)

    xx
    N

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  5. Ha ha ha. All lawyers think alike, don't they? Very funny response from him!

    The thing is I had no idea how much I didn't know. Mr. Cotta must know that you have way more information to share than a medical professional. WAY more.

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  6. I was thinking 'yeah he's a lawyer' before I even got to that line!
    and before I got to your next one I was thinking 'yeah, she's BETTER than a doctor'

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  7. heh heh - somehow I don't think MY honeybear would be so supportive ;-)!

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