I am a person that hates going to the hospital, seeing doctors, having tests done, etc. I put it off until; A.) Whatever was bothering me finally goes away on its own, or B.) It gets so bad I can’t stand it anymore. Even if I didn’t hate those things I still wouldn’t be able to go to the doctor as frequently as I should because I don’t have medical insurance. America’s healthcare system is joke, just like our legal system.

I had an appointment for a pelvic exam today at Planned Parenthood , but I didn’t go. Part of it was because I was scared to go and the other part was that I decided I needed to go to the doctor for something else too.

I had the flu in early February and the cough has not gone away; that’s five months I’ve been coughing my ass off. It started getting worse the last few days1. Additionally, I have a kidney infection from hell and cranberry juice isn’t helping it. It hurt so badly the night before last I was entertaining the idea of going to the E.R. I have a very high pain threshold, but it has gotten to the point where Lortabs and Somas aren’t killing the pain.

There is a new clinic here, the Bedlam Clinic, which is open at night and is completely free. It is run by volunteer doctors. Apparently, they do everything: lab tests, dental, medical, x-rays, , etc. However, it’s done on a first come first served basis instead of appointments.

I heard about it through my mom who learned about it through her case manager at Family and Children’s Services2. Tomorrow, I will go see my case manager and see what all I need to do to be accepted as a patient at that clinic. It’s time to stop neglecting my .

On this day..


  1. probably because I’ve been smoking more [↩]
  2. the clinic where we get our meds and see our psychiatrists; they also offer free support groups and sliding scale rates on counseling. [↩]