You’re gonna be in the emergency room.

February 17, 2011


Atonement.

I'm think that cosmic forces are sandbagging me for something I did and was never, apparently, punished for.

The car.

Food poisoning.

Now, the flu.

Meaning I may not have food poisoning at all, but instead early signs of the flu.

The kicker?

I couldn't cancel another class this term and a. live with myself, b. incite riots among my students, and c. keep my job.

So sick or not, coughing, hacking, sore throat, fever, aching joints aside, I will be in my classroom this morning discussing research ethics with my intro methods class.

And showing the end of Milk to my advanced class as a means of setting a social and political context for Tearoom Trade.

Carrying with me a cadre of cold and flu medications, cough drops and hot tea.

It is going to be a very long day.






I've missed so much class time, I have to drop Em off at the Emergency Room this morning, instead of packing an overnight bag and staying with her.

She has a doctor's appointment but not until March and what is bothering her is getting worse.

And the only time she can go to the ER is during the day.

The clinic isn't even an option because they open at 5.00 and by 5.05 the sign that they aren't taking any more patients is up.

Now THAT is a comment on the state of our health care system in New Brunswick.

I can't tell you what's wrong with her.

Because then I'd be in the ER with head trauma and several broken bones.

The thought of spending time in the ER makes me nauseous.

My mother was a nurse, so everytime we got a sniffle, she packed us off to the ER.

The repercussions of her actions are that I am VERY reluctant to go to to ER unless under the most dire conditions.

An action that cost me more than once.

When she was about 14, Mer was complaining that she had a sore throat.

I did all the things I was supposed to do.

Medicines, cough drops, sprays, etc.

It's not as if I ignore them forcing them to fend for themselves.

And then one morning, at 4.00 am she wakes me up, says she simply can't take the pain any longer and I have to take her to the ER.

An abscess had formed in her throat.

A week later they let her out of the hospital.

In my defense, Mer can be a bit of a drama queen, and has cried wolf many times.

I never know whether or not I should take her seriously when she comes to me with some malady or other.






I don't know how many times I've spent 8 or 12 hours, and in some cases even longer waiting with the kids so they can be seen by the doctor.

Mer is at the ER so often they've named a chair in her honour.

Inevitably, whenever I'm there, a male between the ages of 18-24 is always there ahead of me, and has, in typical male fashion, taken control of the tv remote.

I've watched more TSN at the ER then anywhere else. . .actually I don't watch TSN anywhere else.

I hate it.

Basketball, NASCAR, hockey, football, soccer. . . .I detest them all.

My father was a sports-junkie and the entire time I was growing up, my brother and I were routinely booted from the basement television and whatever we were watching so my father could watch teams of men act like little boys and get paid exorbitant amounts of money for it.

Think about it.

In what other context is it okay for me to touch each other's butts?

Call me an awful mother, but I think at 17 years of age, Em can manage the ER on her own until I can get there later.

And she'll take the remote and change the channel, no matter what is on or who is watching it.

I'd kinda like to see that.



Title Lyric: Emergency Room by Rhianna