I woke up at 9something am this morning, which isn’t ‘early’ for most, but it’s early for me on a day that I don’t have uni or work. I woke up first because my phone was ringing, but since I never pick up phonecalls, I left it. They can leave a message if it’s important, or they can call 3 more times. But then the house phone rang, and let me tell you something about my mum.
SHE CAN’T LIE TO PEOPLE WHEN THEY ASK FOR ME. She never called in school for me when I was sort of sick, so my dad did it in his white man voice. She will always ask someone if they want to speak to me on the phone next when I’m in the room, even though I CLEARLY say no. And this morning was no different. Happily thinking I’d avoided a phonecall, I almost fall back asleep, but then I hear the house phone, followed by my mother saying “yes, hold on please” over footsteps, and I could only clear my throat as hard as I could hoping to God that my silent slumber wouldn’t prevent me from speaking. My mother comes into my room, WAKES ME UP and shoves a phone in my face. And then I have to speak with my croaky-ass just woke up voice and a brain that hasn’t even stirred yet, so I have no idea of what I’m saying. On the phone was my dentist calling to ask if everything is okay after my appointment yesterday [how cute]. A 10 second phonecall, but because they were just so nice I wasn’t mad.
I’m going to talk about health. So many people, myself included, ignore aches and pains in the hope that they will just disappear, out of laziness or fear [of the dentist]. If the pain doesn’t subside, a quick google search tells us that we’re probably suffering from something fatal that will kill us in a week if we don’t see someone, and only that gets us paranoid folk off our asses to see a medical professional. Who will obviously then prescribe us fancier paracetamol which will cost us £8. I also put off visiting the opticians until my glasses are rendered useless for driving with…pretty sure I’m getting fine lines from squinting so much.
There are so many aches that I ignore on a daily basis, but I did take a trip to the dentist – I seriously advise you not to take risks with your teeth. General rule is, the longer you avoid it, the worse it will be when you eventually have to see someone about it – and you definitely will. You can either go get that early decay repaired OR you can wait longer until it decays into the root and you’ll have to have it taken out. Yay. I think here in the UK, many people boast about having the NHS, but we don’t really utilise it. If you’re not thankful for free healthcare, free A&E even when the doctors are spending hours treating you at 3am, reduced costs on specific treatments and prescriptions, FREE BIRTHING IN A HOSPITAL, then I don’t know for your selfish life. Yes, technically its not ‘free’ because we have to pay tax. But who even notices it when you have the safety of knowing you don’t have to sell your house in order to save your life?
I have found that NHS doctors are really hit and miss though – you can tell which ones became doctors for the money, and which did it because they genuinely wanted to help people. But I guess you can’t help it if you spend your life slaving away studying to be a doctor, and then slaving even further in the hospital at ungodly hours, only to be paid less than you feel you deserve. My dentist was amazing, though.
Don’t enter the medical profession just for the money. That’s a jackass move. And for the rest of you, whilst spending on material and cosmetic things, don’t forget to invest in your health from time to time.
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