my husband thinks he is invincible. yours?

[mopinko]

so, DH and i were in india last week. i was fine but he caught a little travelers trots. he took his cipro, and recovered ok. but he didn't go to work the last 2 days with a vague feeling of rubber knees and brain fog. very, very rare for him to miss work. but he decided to go in today.
i just talked to him on the phone. he tells me that this morning he looked in the mirror and realized he was wearing a smirk that he did not put there. there was a little numbness in one cheek. but it passed in a few minutes, so he goes to work. at least he did take some aspirin when he got there. but there was some right on the other side of the mirror he was looking in.
i had to tell him that he was a complete dumbass, and he should get his dumbass over to the emergency room. or at least call his doctor and see if he can get in. i had to threaten him. i told him that i would be very quick to pull the plug on him.

he is an awful hard head about this kind of stuff. when his gall bladder started going bad he spent several months convincing himself that everyone has blazing heartburn every day. i thought he learned his lesson from that one. when they finally did take it out, after a couple of attacks that literally knocked him over, it was awful. the surgery took an extra hour+, and his pain afterwards was horrendous. that was a few years ago, tho, so i guess it has worn off.

is this a guy thing?

[TZ]

1. To some extent yes..

Alot of men hate to go to the doctors. I remember awhile back that there were some PSA campaigns on some of the more male oriented cable channels like Spike urging men to visit a doctor on a regular basis...

[mopinko]

3. yeah, at least now he actually has a doc

when the gall bladder went, he found out that he has high bp and high cholesterol. so he is taking care of that, at least.
but he did not have a doctor until that happened, at the age of 44.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

2. I hate going to the doctor

I've been putting off seeing an orthopedic for years. I figure, he'll probably tell me I need shoulder surgery, and I don't feel like messing with that.

[mopinko]

5. yeah, you should go

i look at it like i look at money. would i rather spend $5 a day forever, or would i rather cough up a couple thou now and be done with it. especially if i had any fear that i might get hung out to dry, like it gets a lot worse just when my insurance goes bye bye.
i had to have surgery on my neck last year, and i never thought twice about not doing it. i was in the kind of pain where you can't think straight, but still, i never really considered not doing it. one look at the mri, and i was ready. in fact, it got put off for a while, and i got a lot worse. i was dying to get in there and get it fixed. i was all better in a couple weeks. it was so worth it.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

7. Meh, it usually only bothers me too much when I do stupid things

When it starts doing it all the time, and/or I ever need a professional to put it back in, I'll get checked out.

It is pretty funny how my left shoulder is actually visibly lower than my right one, though.

[1gobluedem]

4. Yes, it's a guy thing

My SO is continually doing things he shouldn't; like boogie-boarding twelve foot waves in Hawaii when he's never done it before, sailing a boat twice as big as he's used to in the Gulf of Mexico, snowboarding in the Rockies with no experience, even trying to turn a cartwheel at age 55 because his daughters wanted him to try it. I'm amazed he's lasted this long.

[jobycom]

6. My future ex-spouse's husband is.

He--me--rarely goes to doctors. When he--me--does, the doctors usually screw everything up, anyway. I had one doctor try to take my gallbladder out for classic symptoms of appendicitis. I had another doctor want to put me on anti-depressants because I was short of breath during cedar fever season. One doctor prescribed cortisone to fight poison ivy, and the cortisone put me in the emergency room, where doctors told me I had overdosed on cortisone. When I was a kid a series of doctors told me I was faking migraines, even though people had witnessed me vomiting violently and screaming in pain--although to be fair one doctor, a nutrionist, did correctly diagnose it as a violent reaction to MSG (don't let anyone tell you that stuff is safe for everyone). They also concluded that my gammaglobulin count was too low and prescribed a series of shots to boost my immune system. The shots did no good, but they did make me so terrified of needles that I can still barely handle shots and getting blood drawn. The GG was about the viscosity of cold molasses, and they injected it into my butt with a needle the size of a two-penny nail, and then squirted the plunger the way you'd squash a detonator button. I was so afraid of needles that I got married in Texas instead of in Mississippi with my friends and family present because Mississippi required a blood test.

If a bone is sticking out of my skin, I'll go. But otherwise, I figure my odds are just about as good with Google. It's not that I'm invincible, it's just that my experience with doctors has been less productive than my own healing process.

[mopinko]

8. i have had plenty of doctor bs myself

but i keep trying.
i understand, tho. you can't live with 'em and you can't live without 'em.

[seemunkee]

9. I'm the opposite

After my kidney came out I'm going to the doc a lot. I have a slip for an MRI of my knee(possible torn miniscus), Blood work to get drawn next week for BP, Cancer screen, and High Cholestol, need to pick up my slip for the 6 month CT cancer screen, and I have treadmill stress test scheduled.
I've started keeping a notebook I take with me to the doctor to try and cut down on duplicate tests.

My dad was bad about going to the doc and taking care of his diabetes, probably why he died before he hit 50.

[mopinko]

10. sometimes i think we are all falling apart.

i just don't remember people being like this when i was growing up. i guess they just died, or became disabled, and i didn't "see" them.

all my doc stuff is electronic now, which really helps. primary can see what specialists are ordering, and vice versa. very useful.

[trof]

11. "He enjoys ill health".

That's what my mom used to say about me.
I liked being waited on, meals in bed, etc.
:-)

[mopinko]

12. i have one of those

middle child would complain and complain until i took her to the doctor, usually some specialist, and when we got there, she would tell them she had no idea why i had dragged her there. anything to get out of going to school.

[NewJeffCT]

13. I don't

I rarely think of myself as invincible. I don't think it is a feeling of being invincible, though. I think it's just trying to suck it up & hope the problem goes away by itself by ignoring it.

[mopinko]

14. true

he is one to trudge on. i guess i shouldn't complain about that. big part of why we have been together for 27 years.