Catching Up

Good morning! Brr, it certainly feels like fall here in my part of Georgia! Sunday mornings are fairly busy around here because I haven't gotten used to writing Sunday morning blogs on the night before, and the three of us tend to not want to leave cozy beds on cool mornings. But we are working on that.
  All too soon the weather beckons me to have warm cocoa or a hot cup of tea or apple cider in the mornings. It feels like time to make soups and stews, and leave them simmering on the stove all day, with maybe a loaf or two of homemade bread baking in the oven, making the whole house smell delicious. It's what I envision anyway, and hope to make a reality.
  The last few days have found me resting quite a bit. I knew I had been tired a lot the last few weeks or so, but I wasn't prepared to hear from my doctor that my hemoglobin had dropped to 7.3. (That's iron level and it should be at 12 or so from what I understand.) I narrowly escaped a hospital stay to have a blood transfusion, which would complicate things greatly since there would have been no one except my husband to care for J during all of that. Hubby is our source of income. So I chose to stay home and take iron supplements several times a day, along with a b complex vitamin and eat healthier foods. I've been resting more than usual the last few days so I haven't been online as much as I'd have liked, but I'll not complain too loudly on that. I have to learn a balance of caring for my family and myself and doing other things. 
  I'm still under a doctor's care. He wants tests run to rule out other reasons for the anemia. I am having to accept help on this matter because the tests he wants run are not cheap and my family cannot afford the expense. Little Miss Independent doesn't really like that idea. But in order to care for my family, I have to care for myself so here we are. I want to be healthy so I can take care of my family. I can't very well do that lying in a hospital bed or worse. 
  As women, especially southern women, we are taught to care for others, leaving ourselves dead last in the mix. We think we can run forever on a bite here, a  nibble there, and a cup or three of coffee. If we get tired, we push on. While it is a good thing to take care of others around us, in order to be able to do that properly we have to take care of ourselves. We have to eat right, get enough rest (or as close to enough as the case may be with young children), and not avoid the doctor when we need him. All too often in this country health care costs have turned doctor visits and most tests into a luxury rather than a necessity.  One of these days I'd like to blog about that, because on my last emergency room visit at the end I was told the price of the visit, and also told that if I paid that day they were prepared to give me a 65% discount on the bill, knocking it down to less than $200. My family can't afford either of those options at the moment so I have another bill to contend with. While I understand the need for capitalism, that type of deal proves just how overblown healthcare costs have gotten. I know that they are a business and businesses need to make some sort of profit after paying the employees and the bills and such, but without the government stepping in and making things a bigger mess than it already is, perhaps the government should back off and let doctors do their job. Insurance should not be so regulated that there isn't competition that would keep prices down. Juries should not be allowed to give away "Jackpot" settlements. While malpractice is a problem, it should not be a way to easy street. 
 I've talked a little too much this time. Gotta run.Have a great Lord's day. Hopefully I'll see you at worship in a few hours.

Good morning! Brr, it certainly feels like fall here in my part of Georgia! Sunday mornings are fairly busy around here because I haven't gotten used to writing Sunday morning blogs on the night before, and the three of us tend to not want to leave cozy beds on cool mornings. But we are working on that.
  All too soon the weather beckons me to have warm cocoa or a hot cup of tea or apple cider in the mornings. It feels like time to make soups and stews, and leave them simmering on the stove all day, with maybe a loaf or two of homemade bread baking in the oven, making the whole house smell delicious. It's what I envision anyway, and hope to make a reality.
  The last few days have found me resting quite a bit. I knew I had been tired a lot the last few weeks or so, but I wasn't prepared to hear from my doctor that my hemoglobin had dropped to 7.3. (That's iron level and it should be at 12 or so from what I understand.) I narrowly escaped a hospital stay to have a blood transfusion, which would complicate things greatly since there would have been no one except my husband to care for J during all of that. Hubby is our source of income. So I chose to stay home and take iron supplements several times a day, along with a b complex vitamin and eat healthier foods. I've been resting more than usual the last few days so I haven't been online as much as I'd have liked, but I'll not complain too loudly on that. I have to learn a balance of caring for my family and myself and doing other things. 
  I'm still under a doctor's care. He wants tests run to rule out other reasons for the anemia. I am having to accept help on this matter because the tests he wants run are not cheap and my family cannot afford the expense. Little Miss Independent doesn't really like that idea. But in order to care for my family, I have to care for myself so here we are. I want to be healthy so I can take care of my family. I can't very well do that lying in a hospital bed or worse. 
  As women, especially southern women, we are taught to care for others, leaving ourselves dead last in the mix. We think we can run forever on a bite here, a  nibble there, and a cup or three of coffee. If we get tired, we push on. While it is a good thing to take care of others around us, in order to be able to do that properly we have to take care of ourselves. We have to eat right, get enough rest (or as close to enough as the case may be with young children), and not avoid the doctor when we need him. All too often in this country health care costs have turned doctor visits and most tests into a luxury rather than a necessity.  One of these days I'd like to blog about that, because on my last emergency room visit at the end I was told the price of the visit, and also told that if I paid that day they were prepared to give me a 65% discount on the bill, knocking it down to less than $200. My family can't afford either of those options at the moment so I have another bill to contend with. While I understand the need for capitalism, that type of deal proves just how overblown healthcare costs have gotten. I know that they are a business and businesses need to make some sort of profit after paying the employees and the bills and such, but without the government stepping in and making things a bigger mess than it already is, perhaps the government should back off and let doctors do their job. Insurance should not be so regulated that there isn't competition that would keep prices down. Juries should not be allowed to give away "Jackpot" settlements. While malpractice is a problem, it should not be a way to easy street. 
 I've talked a little too much this time. Gotta run.Have a great Lord's day. Hopefully I'll see you at worship in a few hours.