Attack of the Sinuses
Ouch.
Attention all Young People: learn good
decision-making skills, lest you wind up like Our
Heroine.
As a young person, I
was raised in the theory of, "Take your sniffles to school." This wasn't a
popular theory for the Young Heroine, and I resisted it mightily. Often, the
response to my resistance was, "Well, do you need to go to the doctor?" This
seemed to my infant brain punitive rather than health-directed, so I did often
gut it out and go to school with sore throats, colds, etc.
Fast forward to my freshman
year in college, where I put myself in the emergency room through a series of
late-night rehearsals, early mornings, and ignoring a hacking cough. That
episode of long waits, chest x-rays, and casual indifference only reinforced my
feeling that those in the healthcare field were there to punish rather than to
cure (that, and spending some time on a gurney in a crowded hospital corridor, a
few feet from a poor raving soul who, according what I overheard one hospital
staffer say to another, "mixed rubbing alcohol with his regular."). Clearly, a
strategy of avoidance was to be followed
By my last semester of
college I was in full on "let's get this over with" mode, having had enough of
my alma mater, my classmates, and my life as an undergraduate. Unluckily, this
attitude coincided with my semester abroad in London. Even more unluckily, I
ended up with what turned out to be a sinus infection. Per the script, I
ignored it, not knowing the significance of feeling like my top teeth were
falling out and barely being able to summon up the energy to get to where I
needed to be. "Let the immune system deal with it," I thought. "That's what
it's there for."
It lasted a
month.
As a result, ever since
then my body pretty much lies down and lets sinus infections in. Nay - my body
starts shaking cocktails and putting out cheese and crackers for the damn
things.
At least by now I
have the good sense to call the doctor and get some antibiotics. After all,
that's what they're there for.
Posted: Thursday - February 02, 2006 at 07:44 AM
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