Blog #5

For the time being, I am choosing to be childless.

One of the reasons that I want to wait to have a baby is because I really want to make sure that I am going to marry the right person. My boyfriend and I have been dating for a little bit over a year and a half, but I definitely would not want a child. We have always lived in the same town, but next semester when I move to TWU, we will have to see if we can make a long distance relationship work. If we had a kid, it would add more stress to our lives on top of being full-time students and working. If it didn’t work, I wouldn’t want the chance of going through a messy breakup or divorce and having to figure out custody. I would like to marry someone and wait 2 or 3 years to have a child to make sure that we are compatible. 

I really want to finish school before I have a kid. I have a hard time being a full-time student and I know that I couldn’t handle going to school and trying to raise a kid. 

It is also important for me to have a job that can provide health insurance for my child. I want to be able to financially support my child. If my child had any health issues, I would want to get them taken care of and not have to put off their medical needs because of money problems. 

One day, I would really like to have children. I would like to have a big family. Both of my parents come from big families so I have plenty of aunts, uncles, and cousins. I love being around all of them and listening to them tell stories about growing up with all of their siblings. Although plenty of women can handle school, work, and kids (and I have so much respect for them), I know that I couldn’t. There is no way that I could raise a child when I don’t even have my life figured out yet. I want to be able to give my child the life that they deserve. 

Meghan McGehee

I spoke to a few women about going through menarche. 

The first woman that I asked said that it was neither a positive or negative experience. She said that she told her mom and that her mom just helped her get feminine protection and explained to her what was going on.

The second woman said she told her mom that she was having a period and then her mom told her dad. She said that she was very embarrassed and horrified when her dad found out. Her mom tried to send her to the store to buy some pads but, she didn’t want to go because she thought that the people at the store would know that they were for her.

The third woman that I spoke to said that when she started her period she started crying and wrote her mom a note that told her to come into the bathroom. She was very upset about the situation and didn’t want anyone to know.

The first two women that I asked are sisters, but they are 5 years apart. The third woman is one of my friends that I went to school with. My situation was more similar to hers. I believe that I was probably embarrassed, because I was so shy and boys at my school teased girls about it. Plus, it means one extra thing that you have to worry about!

Now that I am older, I realize how silly it was to get embarrassed about it because it happens to everyone. I just think at the age that most girls start, they are already having peer pressure, teasing, and crazy emotions. It’s just really confusing because you hear about what happens and then when it actually happens, you are shocked. I think the way you take it probably depends on personality, culture, and other things. But, I do feel bad for the girls like me that were really embarrassed and I hope that most girls will learn to accept it as a natural thing.

I chose to take the Preventative Practices Self-Assessment. Overall, I did pretty well because I only answered no to two of the questions.

The two questions that I answered no to were about getting enough sleep and eating appropriate servings of healthful foods. I know that right now I am not getting enough sleep. I stay up late and wake up early so that I can do things like exercise, homework, and errands. I tease my boyfriend all of the time and tell him that I can’t wait to graduate college so that I won’t have any homework and I can go to bed at 6:30. With the diet, I know that I should eat a few more fruits and a lot more vegetables. I love fresh fruit, but it seems like it goes bad so fast that I hardly ever want to buy it.

Many of the questions have nothing to do with me, like the questions about alcohol, and tobacco. I do not drink at all nor do I smoke.

Some of the practices that I already implement are the exercise, stress reducing methods, routine preventive care, and conflict resolution without violence.

I think that I learned most of my healthy practices from my parents. They are both physically fit and eat pretty healthy. They have also encouraged me not to drink, smoke, or engage in other risky behaviors. But I think what really helped was that they were up front with me from a young age so I never had to change my ways, it was already my lifestyle. I think that it really helps when the people around you practice healthy behaviors, because you learn from them. And let’s just face it. If someone is eating some really tasty, unhealthy foods right in front of you, it gets pretty hard to resist (especially dessert).

Meghan McGehee

Blog #2

It is really hard for me to look at both sides of the healthcare issue because I have always been insured and I have not had to pay my own medical bills. Both of my parents were able to receive family insurance through their jobs. At certain times, we would go months without going to the doctor. But, when I was a junior in high school I started having chest pains that were caused by heart conditions and I went to the doctor about twice a month for six months. Just to give you an idea, I had a checkup appointment in March and the clinic didn’t send the bill to our insurance provider in time. My parents got a statement today that said the insurance did not cover over $3000 of the appointment, because it was late. Luckily, since it was the clinics fault they won’t have to pay it, but I know that without insurance, my parents would not have been able to afford my medical expenses.

I believe that everybody should be able to receive quality healthcare.  I’m really not sure what the best way would be, but I really think that opening more clinics with sliding-scale fees is a good idea. I had actually never heard of a clinic that let you pay based on your income until I read Jeri’s blog. I looked up sliding-scale clinics, and I found several around Houston where the prices ranged from 0-150. I also found a website that has a list of clinics for the uninsured or underinsured. In the area that I live in, there are not clinics like this. For people without insurance, the only place to go for medical care is to the emergency room. Sometimes, they go for issues that could be resolved in a clinic but because they had to go to the ER, it may make it more expensive for people that do have insurance.

As for long-term illnesses that may require long hospital stays and other types of medical attention, I am not sure what the best way to provide healthcare would be. But I do not feel like anyone should have to suffer because they don’t have access to the care they need.

The current state of health care in the United States is okay for those with insurance. Although the bills can get a little bit expensive, it is better than having to cover the whole bill. There are millions of people without insurance that are not getting the care they need. I just continue to hope, that someday soon there will be a good solution to the health care situation.

(http://www.sjmctx.com/ourservices_clinics.htm) Houston Clinics
(http://www.needymeds.org/free_clinics.taf?_function=list&state=tx) Clinics for the uninsured or underinsured

HS 3133.50 Blog Assignment #1

This week, I interviewed three women about health issues that concern them.  The answers that I got were all different, but I believe that they were issues that many women worry about.

The first person that I interviewed was a friend, who is a Caucasian nineteen year-old college student.  Her main concern was obesity.  She is most concerned with obesity because many of her family members are overweight. Due to this concern, she makes it a point to exercise a minimum of three times a week. She is a healthy-eater and loves fruit, so she tries to choose fruit over sweets and keeps track of her diet.

The next woman I asked is a 44 year-old Hispanic woman, who has been a family friend for many years. This is what she had to say:

“The most complicated thing in my life is diabetes. My mom died from complications of diabetes, my sister has it, and I have it too. Not having adequate health coverage makes it even harder. Medicines and testing supplies are all expensive, so I have to really watch what I eat. I worry about the many complications that are involved with this disease.” 

The last woman I asked is a 56 year-old Caucasian.  She has many concerns because one side of her family has heart disease and cancer. But her main concern right now is mobility. She has been having trouble with her knees and right hip.  Her father was in a wheelchair, because he had Peripheral Neuropathy and her siblings also have joint problems.

At this stage of my life, I am not concerned with Diabetes or mobility issues. However, I understand why both of these women are concerned with these issues. It would be frustrating to me to have a disease and not be able to take care of myself because of a lack of money. I can see why not being able to get around easily would be frustrating. If I had trouble walking, it would take away some of my favorite things such as walking the mall, walking for exercise, and attending sporting events that require getting to and from the parking lot and into the bleachers.

As for my concerns, I am on the same page as my nineteen year-old friend. When I started dating my boyfriend a little over a year ago, we began going out to eat all of the time. My weight at the time was 148, about 10 pounds more than when I was running everyday.  Well, for my boyfriend, who is 6 feet tall and only weighs 127 pounds (!!!), gaining weight wasn’t a concern.  I was having so much fun on our dates that I didn’t even notice how fast I was packing on the pounds.  I gained about 30 pounds in 10 months! Now that I know how easy it is to gain weight, I have become more careful about what I am eating, and started working out again.

Another concern that I have is cancer. I am adopted and I don’t have very much information on my family’s health history, but cancer has impacted my life in big ways. My biological brother was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma and passed away when he was 16.  Although I don’t have the same genes as my adoptive family, I have lost both of my grandparents on my adoptive mother’s side due to cancer. My grandpa survived lung cancer, but passed away from colon cancer and my grandma passed away due to breast cancer. My grandpa’s sister also lost her life to colon cancer. One of my aunt’s has breast cancer, just finished chemo, and for the time being it is gone. Watching all of these people suffer, has really made me worried about getting diagnosed with cancer. I just hope that one day there will be a cure, so that no one else will have to suffer from this disease.