So that stomach bug I mentioned last week? Turned out to be appendicitis. In a flurry of events, I ended up having an appendectomy on Tuesday morning. I’m recovering well (three cheers for laparoscopic surgery), camped out on the couch surrounded by reading materials which I’ve mostly not had the focus for, instead binging Deadloch (highly recommend but you have to watch it as a comedy, not a standard cop procedural) and re-watching The Sound of Music (still good but I’ve had the music stuck in my head for two days so proceed with caution).
This brings me to a PSA: listen to your bodies, folks, and go to the doctor when something isn’t right. As my pain progressed, I knew it felt different than gas or GI distress. Thankfully, the urgent care doc referred me to imaging even though she didn’t think it was appendicitis, but I was prepared to push. It’s too common to hear, “Come back if it’s still not better in a week.” That’s enough time for an appendix to burst, for pain to progress to unbearable levels, for something to turn into an emergency instead of something that can be caught and dealt with early.
Of course, I can say this from a privileged position of having health insurance and the ability to take time off work and no caregiving responsibilities. So many people do not have this privilege. People have to choose between taking time off to go to the doctor and the income they’d be losing if they didn’t work. Between going to the doctor and having to pay for childcare. Between going to the doctor and not knowing what the costs of that visit will be and already being behind on rent. Even with health insurance, these choices can be impossible. If I was a single mother, even with the best health insurance and the most flexible salaried job, it wouldn’t find or pay for last-minute overnight childcare.
Our entire system is a deterrent to health. When a system is set up a certain way, you have to think, who does it benefit? That is, a system wouldn’t exist in a certain way if it wasn’t benefitting someone. I want our systems to benefit the people who need them the most. Instead, our systems benefit the people making money or amassing power by creating poverty, by creating inequity.
I’m still not focused enough to get too deep into this. I’m just tired of incremental thinking about making improvements within our current systems, when it’s the systems that need improving. And I know I haven’t cited anything—for more reading on the subject:
Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
Good thing you listened. When I was a young mom I suffered through 6 appendicitis attacks before emergency surgery. (They didn't have the laparoscopic option then. Ugh) Hope you're mending well.
Glad you're ok 👍 👌