I have never, in my life broken a bone. The most serious injury I’ve ever incurred was a sprained ankle. I’ve probably had more than one but I’ve only ever been to the doctor once and, yes, that did include x-rays. Aside from that and some nosebleeds, I’ve never been to the doctor for anything more serious than feeling generally crappy, needing a check up or annual pap smears.
I’ve never had major surgery though I did recently have an abscess which became infected and I had to have cut open, drained and filled in. I’ve never spent the night at a hospital, that I can remember nor have I ever caught the chicken pox, mumps, measles, mono, bronchitis or even poison ivy.
I might add that, because I’ve never had the chicken pox, I was never vaccinated until last year (on my birthday) after I was tested and found that I was not immune to it. My mother always joked about how she would put me in a room with infected children so that I might catch the chicken pox to prevent me from catching it at a higher age and the effects being more serious. I believe that my sister, Amanda, not only caught it, but caught it twice!
One might consider me pretty lucky in that respect and, I’ve come to understand, something of an unusual specimen.
However, I have been plagued over the years with 3 issues: nose bleeds, strep throat and ear aches/infections.
The aforementioned nose bleeds are not a regular occurrence anymore but I used to joke about having them in seasons which was probably pretty accurate because nose bleeds are much more common during the dry, winter months. My nose bleeds first started being an issue around the time Amanda was hospitalized and the doctors were worried that they, too, were a result of the cancer-like blood disease which she had contracted. Luckily, they were not.
They escalated to the point where I’d visited the emergency room and the walk in at the local clinic. I was simply told that I was a “bleeder” and given a sheet of instructions to try to prevent nosebleeds and, in the event that those steps didn’t work, to end them quickly. I’d heard a million different home remedies to deal with them. Of course, as the way things go, most of these tricks usually made the nose bleeds worse and, when it comes down to it, the best thing is to just hold your nose consistently closed for 15 – 20 minutes and maybe apply ice.
Strep throat and earaches haven’t bothered me in a while but I would have them consistently as a child. Many times I would cry myself to sleep because my head was pounding and my ears were burning. Usually, it was not from infection and often I was given ear drops and told to put cotton in my ear(s) which was a little to no use.
In the case of strep throat, I’d take antibiotics, I guess. I remember that one time I had some great strawberry flavoured pills which weren’t actually supposed to be flavoured but I wasn’t complaining.
In my “adult” years, my most common ailment is headaches which might actually be migraines and I regularly take over the counter and prescription medicine to remedy them. Unfortunately it doesn’t always work.
Admittedly, I am surprised I am as healthy as I am considering my less-than-healthy lifestyle but I figure I’m on par with just about any avenge American and I’d rather be happy and unhealthy than miserable and healthy.
