Doctor Visit

Doctor Visit
Originally uploaded by shainelee.

One thing Mrs. Mata is fond of saying is, actually, she exclaims it, "You don't babysit your own kids!"

I must say that I am in agreement with her. You babysit somebody else's kids, you parent your own. I had to take the girl to see our family doctor today on a walk-in visit. My wife was off on a field-trip with her Head Start class, or else she would have done it. Her momminess kicks in and she wants to be the lead when it comes to our family's health. As parents, we tend to be interchangeable, so I took the personal time off work to take care of the daughter.

Poor thing was and still is miserable. She started getting sick yesterday at the funeral of her uncle. Overnight, it has developed into a bad cough and fever. She seems to be getting worse. My wife is out getting the prescription filled. Probably the most worrisome aspect is when they get fevers. For now, I'm keeping an eye on the girl's condition. She had a temp of 102 at the doctor's office. We're bringing it down through tylenol and tepid baths.

We are fortunate that we can afford to pay for the doctor's visit and the medicine out of pocket now. I have insurance through work, but I have not received our cards yet. In years past, there were times we had to wait to get paid or borrow money. Sometimes our doctor would raid his stash of medicine samples to help us out. Our daughter, who is the oldest, suffered through the brunt of our poverty. Our son has lived in relative comfort, compared to her. Despite our improved economic situation, we still worry when they get sick.