Doctor Who?

I haven't had the worst immune system that a person could have, but being born with asthma, several food allergies, seasonal allergies, and being more susceptible to the common cold than your average bear, I'd say I'm a sure-in for the notorious H1N1. How I haven't contracted the 'Swine Flu' yet, I'm astonished.

But apart from my immune system's heroic efforts at keeping me alive this long, I've also been prescribed numerous medications for each individual 'illness'. I have a Ventolin inhaler, an Azmacort inhaler, an Epi-Pen, CounterAct daily allergy pills, and the occasional allergy shot, to name a few. One might say I 'need' these medications to get through my day sniffle-free, or to help keep me alive in case I happen to ingest a bite of food containing almonds (lame, I know, I hear they're delicious). However, I don't claim to have the worst day ever if I happen to skip out on my allergy pill, and I hardly ever use my inhalers regularly; they're more for emergency asthma attacks - which I'm fairly positive has only occurred once. Even though doctors urge me to maintain a consistent routine with these daily medications, I know I'll live to see another day if I skip a day, week, or month here and there.

So, with all of the back story on my medication history all out in the open, when I was in 3rd grade I contracted pneumonia and was out of school for an entire week (!!). My mom didn't take me to the doctor right away, thinking it was just another bad cold that I'd recover from within a couple of days, but when I didn't show any big signs of improvement, she took me to the hospital. The doctor that examined me diagnosed me with pneumonia, and mentioned that because my mom had waited the couple of extra days before taking me in, he had to prescribe me more expensive and sophisticated types of medication since my pneumonia had only worsened. Now, not saying I as a 3rd grader knew more than a doctor at the Mayo Clinic, but since I was the one with the illness, and I knew how I felt, I didn't feel that the couple of extra days had made my pneumonia that much worse; if anything I had almost started to feel slightly better.

But being a shy 3rd grader, of course I listened to whatever the doctor said. I took my medication, felt better after a few more days, and was able to return to school by the next week. But during that whole ordeal, I felt bad that my mom felt like she had been put under such guilt for being a 'bad parent' and allowing my illness to 'worsen' according to the doctor. Her mom was a nurse who worked with and befriended many doctors throughout her lifetime, and so my mom was raised to trust doctors and other medical persons up front, and she has tried to raise me to think the same way also. But I can't help but think that the doctor who had prescribed me all the medications at the time (and I'm kicking myself for not remembering what I had to take), might have had his own agenda during my visit.

Richard Lewontin makes a strong point in his book, Not in Our Genes, to remember that scientists are not free from biases, nor are they incapable of being affected by other outside influences. I'm not saying this applies to all scientists or doctors, especially all of the time, but one can't help but question if they're all for our best interest and health 100% of the time, or if my pneumonia was a great opportunity to guilt-trip my mom into buying the extra medications that I "could very well die without." My doctor might have been having a tough day, or week, or even month, and used my visit as a pick-me-up for himself; knowing he had an easy diagnosis and a simple prescription to make. The possibility of having a bad day/week/month might have also contributed to him giving my mom his honest opinion of being 'irresponsible' for waiting to take me to see him.

Who really knows now, but it's at least something to think about.