Ouch!

I feel like I am becoming a prime example of why we need health care reform in this country. I lost my health insurance (the one that cost me about $150 a month from the university) in mid-August.

Now I have noticed that when I jog or go for a long (over a half hour) walk, pain radiates around my right foot. That's the same foot that I dropped a box on a month ago when we were moving. But the toe itself doesn't hurt, it just looks a little swollen.

I have also had a mystery abdominal pain today. I am assuming it's because I ate some bad fish or something, but the thought of not being able to get any of this checked out unless I suffer a bureaucratic nightmare with the public assistance office bugs me. So I have pretty much put off looking into that. But I am going to have to, on Tuesday.

It's probably psychological, but these little mystery ailments are annoying me. So is the fact that so many selfish people in this country would rather see others suffer than pay an extra penny of tax money. Even though their own health care could improve, and they might not ever have to pay more for it. I just think that people who are comfortable and who have money forget what it's like to not have much, or never have experienced that at all.

A former classmate of mine indicated in a facebook post that people were doing "risk assessment" to decide whether the risk of having a health problem was worth paying for health insurance. However, his equation is based on his own experience as the child of an attorney, who has never been impoverished or without insurance in his whole life. And future leaders like my classmates are the ones that could be setting policy in this country in the years to come. And that scares me more than pain in my foot or tummy ever could.

My life has turned into a Hitchcock movie

I have been having sinus headaches of increasing intensity all month. On Thursday, everything really got bad. I woke up with a killer headache. I threw another fistful of ibuprophen in my mouth and went on with my day. I have gotten used to having a slight throbbing under my cheeks all day. I went to my 4:30 meeting, but was feeling a bit nauseus, which I chalked up to over indulgence in coffee.

Then, I was sitting in the law library afterward, doing some reading and taking notes. I looked down at my book, and it looked crooked, like things do when you are drunk and get bed spins. I felt incredibly ill, like I was about to pass out. I was so dizzy, it took me a few minutes to collect myself enough to go outside and call the school health clinic.

The nurse who called me back says that I probably have an inner ear issue caused by the sinus trouble, which is causing (wait for it) Vertigo! I have seen the Hitchcock movie before, but I never realized what was involved with this ailment until it happened to me.

Needless to say, I haven't been able to work on the second draft of my law review article, which is due tomorrow. I haven't really been able to read anything at all. Just typing this blog post is making me feel sick.