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Tuesday, September 09, 2003

kid stuff

I'm taking C to the pediatrician today. She has some odd skin discolorations, one on her face, and one on her neck. Her neck has a pale splotch, and her upper lip has a brownish area where it looks like her blood vessels have come to the surface. Not like a bruise, and not like a rash. I've looked online and there are a couple things that it looks like it could be, and neither are a hazard, but I would like to take her to the doctor to get it checked just to be sure. Of course with our sucky insurance (one definite drawback of living in a rural area is that all the good HMOs pulled out of our county, which was not profitable enough for them once they started chasing the doctors away by lowering and lowering their contracted rates, and left us with a bunch of cruddy and expensive PPOs and FFSs) this will cost way more than we're used to paying for healthcare. Man, I miss the good old golden days of Pacificare. sigh. Before, we would have a $10 copay for the office visit and that was it. Now we have $20 for the office visit and about five different bills ranging from $20 to $40, for copayments for lab stuff and who knows what all. And half the bills get contested and we have to fight tooth and nail to get them paid by the insurance at all. T broke his ankle last Thanksgiving and it has been totally depressing, calculating the difference between what we paid and what we would have paid under the insurance we had for the first eight years of our marriage. But I'll stop whining now. Must remind myself that even with all the hassles I like it better than I would some socialized 40%-of-your-income providing-insurance-for-everyone-whether-they-can-afford-it-on-their-own-or-not nationalized health care system. To each his own, right? [grin]



Anyway. School went OK today. LT is writing a play. He wants to put on a puppet show, put up signs, charge admission, that kind of thing. What the heck am I supposed to DO about this kind of stuff? He wants to do it all on his own and he's convinced it will be something that people would pay to see. But his materials are paper bags and crayons, and he's only seven years old. I hate having to give him these painful little lessons in reality, but I have to figure out a way to break it to him eventually. sigh. Maybe I'll offer a compromise -- I'll help him make the puppets with some of that construction foam stuff, he can write the story all on his own, and we'll invite friends, family, and neighbors to come and watch. Admission can be free but he could sell lemonade and brownies, or something. (taking a cue from movie theaters, who actually pretty much only profit from the concession stands :).



Well, I just received a call from the neighbor ladies, who want me to get their mail before we leave for the doctor's office. This has just shortened our get-ready time to almost nothing, so I have to get a move on.

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