Ewwww...the bug bite saga continues.

Ugh. The whatever-it-is has gotten worse. I finally got ahold of a temporary health insurance card which is good for two reasons:
1. I can get looked at by someone other than the public health department. At the health department, there's a weird mix of people - rich, poor, of every background and class. It's also mostly children. Probably because kids get sick more often than adults and there's more resources to treat sick uninsured children, and probably because parents will ignore their own symptoms for a long time, however their children are a different story. It's quite strange, but it makes you realize how incredibly shameful it is that we live in the richest nation on earth and there's at least 6 million that we know of who have no access to health care. At any rate, I don't know if you know this, but if you're a 28-year-old single woman who walks into a pay-what-you-can clinic, they pretty much just test you for STD's and then give you an antibiotic and a decent guess at what you have if they get no positive results. They're understaffed, underfunded and overworked, so if you're walking, they're pretty much at a loss for any big level of care. While the docs there are real doctors, I need to see someone who KNOWS what the hell is wrong with me.
2. I can fill whatever prescription they give me, provided I have the copay. This is a good thing.

So yeah, the bug-bites-slash-allergic-reaction has only proceeded to get worse and worse. I have been feeling overall lethargic, sick, dizzy and nauseous, not to mention a whole buncha irritable. I dare someone to say something like "get off your ass, Molly". I'll get my last ounce of energy together and slap you and then burst into tears. My friend Kelly took one look at it and said "if it's not spider bites, you're either highly allergic to whatEVER it is and/or it's getting infected really quickly." I don't remember any spiders in our house, but I know I'm allergic to whatever it is - I've had severe hives, itching, swelling and my throat narrowing a good four times in two days.

I called my doctor today with my new health insurance information, told her my symptoms and she told me the worst thing EVER - I gotta go to the ER. She doesn't think it's that bad, but the office doesn't have the ability to test whatever it is without risking some sort of anaphylaxic reaction that she doesn't want to happen in her office - i.e. if I were allergic to peanuts like that new wave of kids are, she'd be worried I'd stop breathing if she tried to figure it out by exposing me to the peanuts. Great, love that she's all careful, but it means a $100 copay that I simply don't have.

So I'm off to Penn Hospital to sit amongst the Gunshot Wounds, ear infections and other bug-bitees. Who'da thunk it.

I have a picture of my legs and arms to show you, but I'm thinking it's too much tissue decay and gross stuff for most of you, so I'll spare you.

On a bright note...that show "Hopkins" on ABC? My friend Mary is on it...look for a red-headed nurse in the transplant ward that kinda looks like Grace from Will and Grace. I just saw a couple of minutes of it tonight and am hoping it's on a podcast somewhere, I haven't gotten the other episodes.