The first guy who came up on a search is an American, himself, and was completely nice. I wrote an email about how I have this infection and need to get it taken care of right away but I’ve had some bad dentist experiences and sort of dread dentists in general.

The last dentist visit I had – granted, this wasn’t 15 years ago but I don’t really count this one – involved reprimands for not brushing more often and not flossing more often, telling me I’d need cavities filled, and suggesting thousands of dollars in cosmetic stuff. He also took a sharp metal instrument and stuck it between my gums and teeth on every tooth, calling out numbers to measure the health of the gums. It was a nuisance, painful, and made my gums bleed. I never went back. My teeth weren’t causing me discomfort in the first place – I just wanted a check-up – and it was an unhappy experience.

This guy was completely different. He said my assessment was correct: an abscess that was deep and would need a root canal, which he did on the spot. It took about an hour. After X-rays he told me that really, my teeth are in good shape. I’ll need a few fillings but it’s not bad. The dental assistant said I was really lucky to have so few problems for not having had dental work for a decade and a half. No lectures, minimal criticism, and he pointed out that if I want my daughter to have good dental health I’d better start with myself. That was it, though. I didn’t leave there today feeling like an immoral human being for neglecting my teeth.

Now my cheek is sore and probably will be for a week, but no more loose filling (actually, you can’t see the filling at all anymore), and I know I won’t die from a brain infection. And I’m on painkillers and antibiotics. Next week: tooth cleaning and scheduling fillings. And talking my husband into going, too. I’m such a convert!

Living in Germany has had a major impact on my own perception of health care. Even though I’m middle class now, I grew up in poverty so the way I learned to deal with health issues is pretty much to suck it up and fix it at home unless it can’t be dealt with. Seeing a dentist every six months hasn’t been a part of my life since I was about 8 and the child support including health insurance my father had been paying stopped coming. Talk about deadbeat dads… I digress.

So the times I ever saw doctors were for pneumonia to get antibiotics at the student health center in college, getting some inhalers to deal with my asthma, and finding a doctor for pap smears and birth control pills.

Then we moved to Germany. THEN I got pregnant. I kicked my health up to a higher priority since it wasn’t just my health anymore, but my kid’s health, too. My OB/Gyn was phenomenal. The pregnancy was complicated with blood pressure issues and circulation problems and bladder infections, but he was excellent and the baby was just fine – one week overdue but the labor was only 4 hours and I got lucky.

Do you know what the cost was after insurance for a prenatal health class, labor in a hospital that included an epidural, optional physical therapy afterward, and due to breathing concerns, my daughter being admitted to a children’s hospital for a week with intensive care and follow up visits (after which she’s completely fine)? $0. Insurance covered it. I think I had to pay $15 for the glucose test while I was pregnant. And, of course, there are the $10 copays every three months…

Because of the bladder infections my OB/Gyn had me see a urologist who noticed I had a double-kidney. I’ve had a predisposition toward getting bladder infections my whole life and was even hospitalized when I was a kid for one. No one in the US in 30 years ever thought to check for that. But here they found it and were surprised no one noticed. He said a double-kidney can make a person more susceptible to bladder infections.

Now I’m getting dental work done that I haven’t taken care of in a very long time. Part of it is covered by insurance and part of it isn’t, but it’s getting done and the part that isn’t covered is still affordable.

I’m am American. I have generally American values and I’ve been taught that socialism is a bad thing. I work in Germany and I pay German taxes, but I don’t mind high taxes at all. The health care system over here is awesome. Doctors with private practices that I can call up generally take my insurance, even though the insurance is statutory. Health care costs out of pocket are affordable and I’m getting taken care of better over here than I was in the US. Now part of that is my own doing, but part of it is doctors over here and their foresight and recommendations.

It’s a different state of mind over here. In the US I could get a doctor if I needed one, but there’s this feeling of vulnerability I didn’t like and my method was to avoid doctors unless I had a reason to see one. Here, it’s different. Part of the health care system dysfunction in the US is people like me – who can see a doctor if they think they need to but generally don’t because there are no problems. That’s not preventative care. That’s a different mind set.

My daughter, who is covered by my insurance, now has a pediatrician who prescribes homeopathic remedies when she can but mainstream drugs when she can’t, is getting my daughter up to date on vaccinations and check-ups, and teaching me tons of things I didn’t know about what to do when kids get sick.

My husband gets disposable contacts whenever he needs them and antibiotics when he gets a really bad cold. There’s no hassle. There’s no arguing. He calls up a doctor, asks them if they take our insurance (haven’t met anyone yet who doesn’t, actually), makes an appointment (never more than a week) and gets taken care of for little or no cost.

I’ve come to think about health care in a completely different way. Preventative health care is easy, convenient and either cheap or doesn’t cost me anything. Now, explain to me why socialist health care is a bad thing?

A woman sitting across from us was distracted from reading her morning news and hid from Sophia behind the paper, checking every so often that Sophia was paying attention.

This sweetheart of a stranger turned my frustrated baby into a giggling one. That was awesome.

That being said, shooting a laptop is displacement. It’s punishing an inanimate object because of anger at a girl. I can understand being really angry, but shooting it? No, just go sell it.

But, just like with headlines, if it bleeds it leads and this combines revenge against an annoying teeny-bopper Facebook-addicted demographic with a bit of violence so it’s popular. It’s not, however, productive.

And getting back at someone for posting crap on the internet about you by posting crap in the internet is hypocrisy.

This is what bronchitis looks like at 7 months. Scary, isn’t it?

If you’re going to write an article and put it under the category of “science,” don’t try to write about how the Earth is thousands and not millions of years old. Save that topic for theology or “Bible Buddies Suspending Disbelief.”

Sure, think with your guts all you want. Just remember your guts have shit for brains.

See, my friends think they flatter me when they tell me I’m a master baker. What they don’t know is it’s not flattery; it’s fact.

(I’m currently having a love affair with semicolons; they’re so satisfying.)

In my defense, though, the kitchen was hot, the frosting was falling, and the picture was taken while it was resolidifying in the fridge. We apologize if you’ve experienced any viewing displeasure.

Another one of my excellent qualities: modesty.

I was thinking about places I’d like to visit someday and I thought to myself, “hmm, Texas might be nice. I wonder what it’s like.” Then I pictured what it was like in my mind. It was surprisingly similar to my memory from my trip to Texas.

So. I need to stop for a moment and consider… where have I been?

Countries:
Italy, Australia, Germany, USA, Canada, Spain, France

States:
Texas.
Oregon, Washington, California, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Arizona, and Arkansas.

Places I’d like to check out:
Louisiana, Tennessee, Colorado, and Texas. I wonder what Texas is like.