Sick Leave

I am for the most part, very healthy. I have no complaints. I'm not a hypochondriac. While I really dislike the doctor, I do go for my yearly physical and occasionally go to the doctor when I have certain concerns.

With my employment, I earn two hours of sick leave a week. We can take two consecutive days of sick leave without question. Anything more and a doctor's note is required. I have friends who will take "mental health" sick days. I used to think that by taking one of these days, then I would get sick. Karma.

I have over the past couple years begun to realize that I earn my sick leave. If and when I leave my employer, I will lose my sick leave. I anticipate that when I leave, I will have some doctor's note that will justify my mental illness leave of many months prior to my actual termination date. While I'm not big on the lying and deception, I have tried to embrace the idea of using my sick leave intermittently. I stopped using my personal time for doctor appointments and started using sick time. I will occasionally take a mental health day and find myself sleeping in or cleaning the house. Things that I don't want to waste my weekends on.

I've also found that occasionally, I look for small medical reasons to use my sick leave. I know that this may sound odd, but it's the truth. Granted if I wanted to perfect myself, I could have surgery to make myself prettier. I could have a boob job to enhance my feminine qualities - however I have many reasons for not doing this: 1) My mom had a single mastectomy for breast cancer and never had reconstructive surgery, 2) God and my parents made me - I am who I am, 3) Being physically active I prefer to not have to wear the over the shoulder boulder holder or have chronic sore back and 4) I really prefer that men look at my eyes than my chest (one can hope, right?). I could also have a nose job. But like the reasons for not having a boob job, I haven't done that. I'm not really into cosmetic surgery, per se.

Having said that, I did have my tonsillectomy back when I was married - guessing at least seven years ago. I have absolutely no regrets - other than I wish I had done it sooner. I had reconstructive knee surgery in 2000 - again no regrets, wish I had done it sooner. So as I mentioned, I occasionally wonder what other small thing I can do to take some time off work and better myself.

My latest...I have Varicose Veins. I didn't know that's what they were. And when I work out, they get more intense and severe. I don't know how long I have had them and honestly I thought there was only one, well I guess I only took notice of the one. I have them on both legs. This summer, when I wore more dresses, I've had people question me about them. No one questions the long scar on my leg from my surgery, but they point out the purplish discolored looking bruise. I mentioned it at my recent physical and was referred to a specialist.

A few weeks ago I went to the specialist and he scheduled an ultrasound. I have never met someone who spoke so fast, I had difficulty understanding the doctor. I really have no idea what the procedure is. I went and had the ultrasound completed and learned that in fact the blood is not flowing the way that it should and fortunately I don't have any clots. The doctor informed me that I should call my insurance and that the procedure would be in the "high deductible" range and likely have a $1000 deductible. I found this odd since with my insurance I can't recall ever having a deductible but I figured this might be considered cosmetic. He then went on to say that while they had to charge the deductible if I wrote a letter that I couldn't pay, they would waive the charge. Odd.

I called my insurance company and talked to someone about the potential procedure. Since the doctor is "in network" the procedure is covered 100% and I don't have a deductible. Fabulous. So my gift to myself for post birthday, Endovenous Laser Treatment of the Saphenous Vein (EVLT). I could have had it done ON my birthday, but decided maybe if my son isn't with me for the weekend before to actually celebrate my birthday - then maybe a few days of sick leave and recovery time would be needed!

The doctor suggested that I could do both legs at the same time. But I figure I'll try one at a time and see how it goes before subjecting my other leg. Afterall, that's what I did with my RK eye surgery - and never had the other eye done.