Comments on: On Sinus Infections and Asking the Right Questions http://www.raising4boys.com/2006/02/22/on-sinus-infections-and-asking-the-right-questions/ parenting tips, tricks and commentary Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:26 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: Josh Cohen http://www.raising4boys.com/2006/02/22/on-sinus-infections-and-asking-the-right-questions/comment-page-1/#comment-93 Josh Cohen Wed, 01 Mar 2006 15:08:03 +0000 http://www.raising4boys.com/2006/02/22/on-sinus-infections-and-asking-the-right-question/#comment-93 Lessons like these will be useful to me, as I have my first child due in about 5.5 months. I always had trouble figuring out whether I wanted to be sick or not. If I was sick, I didn't have to go to school, but if it was a long-term illness (two days or more), I had to go to the doctor, which meant two boring hours of sitting around watching people who'd gotten there AFTER me go in to see the doctor BEFORE me. I usually brought a book -- and finished it in less than half an hour. We were always early, too, to see if we could beat the system. Never happened. I once spent 90 minutes at the pediatrician's office, plus 40 minutes round-trip travel, just to get my ear rechecked after overcoming an ear infection. I saw a nurse for three minutes and a doctor for five. I actually timed it. Then I wrote a letter to the doctor and the entire group (there were about 15 doctors working out of five offices) saying how ridiculous it all was. They teased me about it. I was not taken seriously. And this was in the days before insurance really started jerking us around (I think it was 1990, just on the cusp of that era). If anything made me dislike going to the doctor, it wasn't shots or uncomfortable questions or pressure to lose weight. It was that. Lessons like these will be useful to me, as I have my first child due in about 5.5 months.

I always had trouble figuring out whether I wanted to be sick or not. If I was sick, I didn’t have to go to school, but if it was a long-term illness (two days or more), I had to go to the doctor, which meant two boring hours of sitting around watching people who’d gotten there AFTER me go in to see the doctor BEFORE me. I usually brought a book — and finished it in less than half an hour. We were always early, too, to see if we could beat the system. Never happened.

I once spent 90 minutes at the pediatrician’s office, plus 40 minutes round-trip travel, just to get my ear rechecked after overcoming an ear infection. I saw a nurse for three minutes and a doctor for five. I actually timed it. Then I wrote a letter to the doctor and the entire group (there were about 15 doctors working out of five offices) saying how ridiculous it all was.

They teased me about it. I was not taken seriously. And this was in the days before insurance really started jerking us around (I think it was 1990, just on the cusp of that era). If anything made me dislike going to the doctor, it wasn’t shots or uncomfortable questions or pressure to lose weight. It was that.

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