ava's tummy hurt. now mommy's head hurts.

ava: i went to the doctors house. my tummy hurt. they checked my ears and my tummy. i had juice and water and watched harry potter. harry potter is scary. (mother's note: i did not approve the movie, ryan did. and he said nothing else was on. and he was desperate for her to stop crying. please cut us some slack, it was a long night.)

so, we had quite the night the other night.

ava went to the emergency room due to some serious stomach aches that magically disappeared when she puked. i joked with the nurse that we took her to the er so she wouldn't puke in the house, but the nurse didn't laugh. you know what else? she didn't even crack a smile. unforgivable, if you ask me. we need to do something about the healthcare in this country.

you know what else needs to be done about the healthcare in this country? we need to somehow fix the gaping hole that is making everything awful for everyone else. there we were, two young parents with a child who'd had severe abdominal pain and we couldn't get a straight answer from anyone with a medical degree. they just wanted us to do tests. and tests. and tests and tests and...

when they suggested a unrine test which included a catheter i interupted, "you think that's necessary? she seems calmer now."

"well you said she seemed like she was in a lot of pain."

i paused, not know what to do. i was weighing the pros and cons. the pros, as far as i know them are nonexistant unless she has something scary. the cons? well that's easy: do you want to hold your screaming two-year-old down while some stranger inserts a catheter? yeah, i thought so. i look at ryan for back up and he shrugs "well..." i start. then i end in a shrug, too.

"it all depends on what you want us to do." says the nurse.

well, that's helpful. did i mention that i studied literature and cultural anthropology in college? there is very little medical anything covered in those subjects. so why is she asking me what i want to do? why doesn't someone in that hospital man up and tell me what they think is going on?

because my fellow americans sued them to death. and then a bunch of other fellow americans never paid for their medical care. so i'm stuck with a nurse who is so busy trying to cover her own rear end she hasn't noticed that i can't properly understand the importance of this urine test because when i went to college i wanted to talk about how that short story could be about war. or sex. or war and sex.

so we watch ava drink a styrofoam cup of apple juice and notice that it has no effect on her, we sign some papers and leave with a teddy bear named casey (ava's delighted with him) and a HUGE hospital bill. because we drank their juice and watched five minutes of harry potter. and talked to a nurse who wouldn't even use her medical expertise to help me understand what was best for this situation.

on top of that, taxes are being raised and ryan and i are already poor. or broke. or whatever you people are calling it these days. we have very little money. and now, we'll have less because a bunch of idiots can't stop spending money they don't have and keep asking me for more. in fact, california is keeping our tax return because they don't know how to stick to a freaking budget!

i'm so over humankind right now.