A little story about health care

As a dual citizen, (and my husband and I have each lived abroad in a third country--so, experience with 4 countries' health care systems between the 2 of us) I am often asked to compare our health care system in Manitoba with US health care.  This is an impossibility; it's like comparing anchovies with oranges.  If someone asked you to do this, you'd say, HUH?  Why?

In the US, health care is different in every state. Even more complicated, it varies enormously from one city or region to another.  (Health care in Northern Virginia, near DC, as compared to, say, the stats from Appalachian Virginia)  Health care in upstate New York or Durham, North Carolina was vastly different than when I lived in Kentucky...it varies so much in the US from one place to another and is so uneven that if you've lived in a variety of places, you know these generalizations are useless.

The same can be said about Canada--although health care is "free" here, it's actually paid for by our taxes, and there are fees on top of "free" that vary from province to province.  It's also different in each province, and again different, when comparing regions: a city, for instance, as compared to a rural area.

Just a couple days after I got diagnosed with pneumonia, one of my kids woke up in the middle of the night with something that looked a lot like mumps.  (and yes, we are fully vaccinated at our house.)

Here's my most recent CBC-Manitoba opinion piece about our experience, which ran on Saturday:
How would Manitoba handle an epidemic?

"glad it wasn't me?"

Thanks for the kind thoughts about my health.  I am working on it!

Recently, several people have commented how nice it is that I am laughing about things.  Honestly, I feel like the other option is crying, and well, that is the less societally acceptable option.

Yesterday, it was grandparents day at preschool.  Since all our folks live in the US, I had to wrangle the iPad, Face Time with two sets of grandparents, twins, an art project and fruit salad snack on my own.  It went ok, with the help of the great teachers.  Then I rushed out to grab lunch at a supermarket, and sat in the lobby for a few moments to knit before picking the boys up for naptime.  In that small window of time, I was asked if I could "demonstrate" or teach knitting to an older girls' class.  Before I could say something appropriate, someone jumped in to say that I was the mom of twins and then I said, uhh, there wasn't time for me to go home and do something--this is my only time off, I had only a few moments to knit.  That was all true!

After grandparents day at school, One twin would not go to sleep until 2.  The other woke up at 2:20. The mother's helper was still sick (with the same cough/sniffles that both boys have) so not here.  The professor came home a little early, which was good--the boys have been waking up a lot at night because they have a virus so I was super tired. We went off to get our flu shots, but the line was long, so we opted for dinner first. It was flurrying out. We went to the local felafel joint but the professor spilled an entire glass of water all over me by accident. My pants were soaked right through!  Luckily it was not below freezing outside, but it was nippy...

 

Then we got our flu shots and everyone was super well behaved. We rushed home for bath time and bed.  By the time I had a chance to change my pants?  They'd dried on my body.

 

I kept returning to two episodes at the free flu clinic.  One was an older woman complaining about the 20 minute wait and swearing this would be easier if they just paid for the flu shot while in Palm Springs.  I turned and said, well, maybe the flu shot is available there, but in many areas of the US, it can be hard to get and even then, you need money to get it.  (In Kentucky, I often had to work very hard to get a flu shot!)  It is still amazing to me how Canadians don't realize how lucky they are to have a functional and essentially free (tax payer funded) health-care system.  Americans have misconceptions about it too--and in the end, the grass is always greener on the other side of the (border) fence. 

 

Then, I recognized another knitter.  She wore a gorgeous shawl of natural colors of something that looked like Lopi.  She showed off her knit socks.  She admired one of the twin's sweaters, which was knit by a friend.  I never got to mention my handknit sweater (Thermal, from an old Knitty) before I caught her 3rd child, a 2 year old, kicking one of my boys, who was playing quietly with a matchbox car on the floor.  I said politely --3 times--, "Please don't kick us with your foot" until the kid stopped.  The mom defended her kid, saying he only meant to kick the car.  Then she took her kid and backed away from us.

 

What??!  If either of my boys were kicking somebody, intentionally or inadvertently, I would appreciate and welcome a polite reminder from another parent.  I believes it takes a village--and everybody has to say NO! sometimes.

 

Maybe I offended a neighborhood knitter, but if the only thing we have in common are two year olds and knitting?  Maybe it isn't enough. 

I am already very sore and achey and tired! Could it be because someone soaked me with water? A long walk? No sleep? Digestive troubles? Oh, no, it is the flu shot!  Right?!

:) in case you needed a "glad it wasn't me story..."  This might catch you up on life here and make you feel slightly less wet in the trouser region...