I never used to go to the doctor. Like… ever. While I was going to college, whenever I would need proof of my immunizations that I had as a child, I had to contact my pediatrician. She wasn’t fond of that, considering that my records had gone into a warehouse somewhere because I hadn’t been there in over 20 years. Yes, that was the last doctor that I had before my current one… my pediatrician.

So, then I married an army guy. I get free health care, so I register for that, and finally have a doctor again. Then I hit 30.

I’m pretty sure that what happened was… I had a 30 year warranty when I was born. My mother must have tucked it away somewhere without telling me, simply because it was never needed. I was a perfectly healthy child, teenager, and young adult. But the second that 30 year warranty ran out….. BAM! Now it seems like I have more things wrong with me than right with me.

I’m pretty sure I can trace a good deal of it back to my nose. That’s right… my nose. My septum has always been slightly deviated (ie - my nose is slightly crooked), but it never really bothered me from a physical standpoint. You can’t really notice it unless I point it out. Anyway, it’s gotten worse as I got older. I started having headaches more and more often, and I’d take Advil for them more and more frequently. Then there’s the constant pressure on the left side of my nose. Now, more recently, dizziness and disorientation. That’s what finally got me to talk to my doctor about getting it fixed. Apparently, because of my allergies and my deviated septum, a nasal polyp has formed in my left nostril, due largely to a chronic infection in the tissue there. So now I’ve got surgery (it’s called a Septoplasty) scheduled for January 16th.

That means putting back my eye surgery (which they still haven’t gotten back to me about, so probably don’t have a second person for yet anyway), but that’s alright. It will feel SO WONDERFUL to finally have my nose fixed. Dealing with the constant pressure and headaches was bad enough, but when the dizziness and disorientation started, I thought I was going to tear my hair out.

Back to the whole 30 year warranty thing… some studies have shown that taking large amounts of Advil may lead to thyroid disease. I’m not sure if this is definitively proven or disproven yet, but if it IS true, then taking all that Advil for my sinuses (too much of it, mind you - more than the bottle recommends… but that was the only way to keep these headaches at bay) may have caused my hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism has, in turn, made me overweight. My weight has caused all sorts of problems, from indigestion to heartburn to high blood pressure and high cholesterol to a general feeling of “blah-ness” (see? told you I liked to make up words).

So, even though most of my problems can be traced back to one or two other problems that caused all of the rest, I still can’t get over that feeling of everything going wrong at once. At least I’m still sane! (Then again, that may be up for discussion sometimes, as well)

I’m not complaining, mind you. I’m not that kind of person. I find this all highly amusing (gotta have a sense of humor in life), thought of the whole “warranty running out” thing, and just wanted to share those thoughts.

Anyone else ever feel that way? Perhaps it wasn’t a 30 year warranty you had, though… perhaps it was 20 or 45. Ahh, to have had a 100 year warranty. I’ll have to get on my mother for not purchasing that extended warranty option.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 4th, 2007 at 3:04 pm and is filed under Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.