Ugh. I hate you.

I finally went to the doctor yesterday to see if maybe I had strep throat or something. It took me a few days to make the decision to go ahead and go already, because I’d just finished paying off my ridonkulous medical bills from my Carousel of Diseases back in November and December, and I hadn’t touched my deductible for this year yet, and if I went to the doctor and had to pay a hundred dollars for the privilege of being told it’s a virus and to wait it out, I was going to be really annoyed. But my throat has been in terrible shape for days, and my cough has been worsening, oh and also I want to die, so I sucked it up and went to the doctor.

And for the low low price of a hundred dollars, I was told it’s a virus and I should wait it out.
Dammit!

I did at least have a rapid strep test to rule out strep throat. Oh, and if I get a fever of 101 or higher, become short of breath, or am still sick in a week, I should go back. So I can pay another hundred dollars for jack squat again, I’m sure.

I thought about writing a rant about the health care system and how much it sucks and I hate it, but meh. It is pretty crappy that my insurance is so damn expensive that I now wait until I feel like I’m on my deathbed before going to the doctor, although I do know I’m lucky to be insured at all. Last year my premium increased by something crazy like 30%, my deductible tripled, and my benefits decreased from 90% coverage to 80%. But we were told that this was a better plan than the one we’d had before. I’m still trying to figure out how exactly it qualifies as better, but whatever. I whine and bitch about it, but in the end, I have only myself to worry about, and I make pretty good money. I hate having to pay a hundred dollars to be told to gargle with salt water and get lots of rest, but I can pay it. I know people with kids who have chosen to go uninsured because the family premium costs more than their house payment, and when you only make $20,000 a year, having a cool $500 taken out of your pay each month is quite a hit. I don’t necessarily agree with their decision not to insure their families, but I can understand their reasoning.

Hey wait, I kind of wrote a rant there anyway.

So I’ve been at home sleeping a lot, and when I’m awake I’m busy hating everything. That’s one of my classic symptoms of illness – an all-encompassing, undiluted, completely unreasonable hatred of almost everything and everyone in the entire world. Actually, hatred might not be quite right, because it takes a lot of energy I don’t have. So maybe it would be better to say that I’m like, “ugh” about everything. In your current mental image of me, please match up that “ugh” with a disgusted sigh and a preteen eyeroll.

People need stuff from me? Ugh.
I should eat meals? Ugh.
TiVo’s Now Playing list is empty? Ugh.
I’ve already seen this episode of The People’s Court? UGH.
The phone is ringing? Ugh.
The phone isn’t ringing? Ugh.

And so on. I’ve only called my mom about 500 times to whine in the past few days. I am sure I’m a total pain in the ass.

But you GUYS, my THROAT hurts and my EARS hurt and I can’t STOP COUGHING. Ugh.

I’m trying to read Good Books but I can’t stop hating them long enough to get involved. I’m between Netflix deliveries and my bazillion cable channels have nothing good to watch, so I decided to watch all of my DVDs from A to Z but I got partway through the first DVD in my collection, Almost Famous, and decided I hated it.

I was able to divert myself for a few hours yesterday playing with LibraryThing, which is pretty cool. Like Gael at Pop Culture Junk Mail, when I started to create my catalog I was, as she put it, bluntly (stupidly?) honest, and as a result I discovered just how many hideously embarrassing titles I have in my collection. Yes, I have multiple John Grisham and Robin Cook titles. Shut up. Some are gifts, some are holdovers from my days raiding the donation bins at the library where I used to work (that’s bad. Don’t tell anyone I did that.), and some I have no excuse for except for my sucky taste. One good thing that came out of this project is that I immediately began an Embarrassing Book Purge, and I now have a cardboard box full of embarrassing books to give to Goodwill or something. I almost accidentally packed Abby up with the Embarrassing Books, but she escaped at the last minute. I have kept the Embarrassing Books in my LibraryThing catalog until they are actually gone from my house, so feel free to make fun of me for ever and ever about them.

Also, if you decide to make a catalog there, leave your username in the comments so I can go look at your books too.

9 Replies to “Ugh. I hate you.”

  1. Foremost, thanks for the healthcare note as I have a wicked cough and a very sore throat (starting to sound like Barry White, actually, so must leave my “baby” messages on some answering machines before the window closes). I’m skipping the doctor, thanks.

    Second, I cannot believe you haven’t been watching PASSIONS during this knockout illness phase. What more do you want!? A mermaid, a chalice full of god’s power, numerous witches, affairs…it’s all there.
    -cK

  2. Sorry to hear that you are feeling like dogpoop. Keep resting and if you have chicken soup and fresh garlic, now is the time to break the safety glass and use it.

  3. I did actually break out the chicken soup & fresh garlic. It helped, but only a tiny tiny bit. Right now I don\’t want to eat or drink much, but maybe I will force myself to do it again.

  4. my THROAT hurts and my EARS hurt and I can’t STOP COUGHING. Ugh.

    I have the same thing. And I get headaches that wander from my temples to my eyes and then to the crown of my head for some reason.

    I’ve got great insurance and don’t have to, really, pay anything to visit the doctor for this but I don’t really have any sick days so, in the end, I’m still paying someone/losing money if I acknowledge my being ill. I haven’t taken any time off or come in late but I have stopped shaving. The fact that I just attended a Board meeting of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors where we were honored and where television cameras caught us and photos were taken for newspapers while sporting a week-old goatee and mustache is enough pampering for me. They expect me to work; I let myself go before important events. *cheese!
    Hey, at least a put on a tie.

  5. dude i feel your pain on the health note! i had the same prob with my throat because of some meds that caused the problems. i had the rapid strep thing done, i hate that. makes me gag. YIKES hehe. btw, i love your blog so entertaining

  6. yeah, erin doesn’t have insurance. i hope she doesn’t have a heart attack when she gets the recent hospital bill. luckily, medicaid might pay for it. woo!

    anyway, yeah, i am looking in to getting insurance, or a new job with insurance. i miss being able to go to the doctor for preventative shit, or to get an asthma inhaler for the once-a-year-cold that fucks up my breathing, or to find an allergy pill that actually works without xcrippling back pain.

    also, about a boy is one of my favorite books ever, though i hate that librarythingamer uses the movie incfluenced cover.

  7. LibraryThing lets you choose the cover. My copy happens to have the movie-influenced cover, so that’s the one I chose.

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