Travails, Gynecology Edition, with side notes on Logistical Troubles

[lydy]

I sometimes wonder what gynecology would be like if the medical profession had any history of treating women's pain seriously. Of even their dignity.  Possibly it would be different?  

I have achieved a major life goal: no babies.  I have never been pregnant my entire life, and tests confirm I'm in menopause, so, Achievement Unlocked!  Howsomever, that also means that I need to have the IUD which has been my boon companion for the last five years removed.  The Mirena was lifechanging, I tell you what.  Gone were my periods, and with them crippling menstrual cramps.  I tried to talk my doctor into letting me just keep the damn thing, since any dilation of my cervix hurts like a whole host of blue demons, and this is gonna be terrible as hell, but she insists that no, just no.  Really no.  No with no sauce.  Under no circumstances no.  So I finally made an appointment.

And because the universe hates me, my car is in hospital.  The heating system has been wonky for about two weeks, and for the last week, the heat simply refused to come on.  Occasionally, there was a bad smell, like a skunk a long way off.  On the way home from Jen's wedding (which was very fine), I noticed that the engine was making a weird noise.  I looked at the temperature gauge, and it had pegged in the red.  I was seven blocks from home, there was no where to park, and I said fuck it, and drove the rest of the way home, alternately cajoling and threatening the car.  

The car is old, and falling apart.  We have reached the point of nickel and diming me to death, but I need to save up a down payment on a new car, and I don't have that, yet.  So I'm hoping we can patch the poor thing up for a little longer.  I wish some distant relative I don't like would die and inexplicably leave me money.  My life would be completely transformed by twenty grand.  But that's not happening, so I muddle through as best I can.  If the car is not salvageable, I can probably patch together transport to work for a couple of months while I get it together to get a new car, but it would mean that I can't go to other labs if there was overtime offered, unless David can let me borrow his car.  Which is not impossible but could be inconvenient.  

There's a reason professionals talk logistics, man.  It impacts everything.  In the mean time, my very kind friend Eileen is going to take me to the aforementioned doctor, because god knows gynecological services can't be provided at the clinic 17 blocks from my house, but must be in the fucking suburbs because I don't even know why.  

Still, no babies.  So there's that.

Comments

[bibliofile]

Yay Eileen for the ride. And for an IUD solution that helped you so much.

Alas for the car ailments. Such a distration, and fixed for always random amounts of money.

[mrissa]

And for years and years no babies was a thing like laundry, that you had to keep doing all the time, and now it's a thing like giving away that shirt you always hated, where you can cross it off the list once and for all. So I hope that that's satisfying. I'm sorry about the logistics, though. Argh.

[lydy]

Birth control has gotten So Much Better! I am amazed by the amount of work fertility control involves, even in the modern era. Whether you want babies, don't want babies, want babies now or later, all of it is such a lot of work and attention, intertwined with the most intimate aspect of your life. I've also been thinking about the fact that the most foundational work of civilization, more foundational than new legal systems or tall marble columns, is the making and minding of children. In a real sense, there is no civilization if there is no next generation to leave it to. End stage capitalism, which aggressively monetizes every other aspect of our life and relationships, insists that child-bearing and rearing is a personal choice, a life-style issue, and should in no way be considered remunerated labor. Our civilization is built on work that people insist isn't really work, and an aggressive denial of the economic costs of doing that work. And yet, the people who do talk about childing as a necessary function of society are racist, fascist motherfuckers like Steve King, who thinks that women's bodies are a public commodity. Why are there no other models for understanding the role of procreation in relation to the rest of society? Neither of these models is good. (Also, and tangentially, is capitalism actually built on unremunerated labor? The labor of women, the labor of enslaved peoples, the labor of vastly underpaid workers?)

The logistics suck, and the procedure was very brief but hurt like hell. But I am pleased with my personal life choice, and I truly wish all my friends could have their choices supported and encouraged as well.

[mrissa]

PREACH

[quadong]

"My life would be completely transformed by twenty grand."

I am in this club. My life would be noticeably affected by the *interest* on twenty grand even if I weren't allowed to spend the twenty grand itself.