Vortex, did you call the insurance nurse?

I did, they want me to go to urgent care, but they were fucking USELESS. They asked where I was, I said that I was at work, and they wanted to know exactly where I was. I asked why they needed it, and she huffily explained that she needed it in case she needed to send an ambulance. I conceded that she had a point and then she said "Do you know the address of where you work?" Are you fucking kidding me? And it went downhill from there. I told her that it was condescending that she asked if I knew the address, and she claimed that lots of people don't know. I said "I doubt that, but what's the harm in just asking for the address?" She said that she was following the protocol. @@

She asked a bunch of questions, and then was clearly reading from a script where she said "based on the answers to your questions, we recommend . . . " Ridiculous.

Honestly, I don't feel like she really knew enough to make a good recommendation. I might call back and see if I can get someone competent.

I've had insurance nurses quote WebMD at me, and I couldn't work out if they thought I was stupid as well as worried.

But the last one got me to go to the ER for what turned out to be hepatitis, and also followed up and got me an early appointment with the doctor who is my new GP. So now I'm a bit of a fan.

"When there's something to know, I'll tell you. Until then, the only person that I'm discussing anything with is my husband, who is the person I talk about private matters with."

Yes, exactly!

I'm sure a lot of people may not know the address of their workplace (I have to look mine up when I need to give it out) but why not just ask "What's the address?" That makes no sense. I'd say call back and talk to someone else. If it wouldn't be detrimental to your blood pressure.

If it wouldn't be detrimental to your blood pressure.

she asked if my heart rate was elevated right now and I said "seeing as how I'm a little irritated right now, I'd say yes, but not the same as before"

Even if you don't know the address offhand, how far can you be from the nearest letterhead? jerks.

It makes me wonder how many calls they get from homeless/couch surfing folks that they think anyone might not know? The script sounds like it's tailored to people who are calling either a) not from somewhere familiar to them and b) so hopped up on drugs they don't know the day, the president or where they are. Someone who is confused from a stroke or anxiety attacks and calls the line might honestly answer "I don't know." So that may be one of the things they're trying to verify.

ita, I'm here to report that today Matilda wore the Krav shirt you gave her.

However, according to my hair stylist (I got my hair cut last week), I still have no grey/white/silver hair. None. I can only assume there is a wig in an attic somewhere that is slowly going grey.

I'm jealous. Tho' I don't take greys as a sign of age, as they started showing up in my early 20's. Thank goodness for blonde hair that still disguises them, so I still haven't had to pay to cover them up. I'm hoping mine will just go like my Dad's - he transitioned so cleanly from blonde to white there was never a clear line and some people still think he's blonde.

I continue to be very, very grateful that I never had kids, but part of me misses them at this point in my life. I know it's for the wrong reasons, though, because I'm missing the dream of having family around me in my old(er) age.

Oh, Connie, this is 100% me. I don't want kids at all, but thinking about not having family as I age is a little sad-making. Tim has fantastic nieces and nephews, and I'm truly grateful for that, but it's still not the same.

I overheard my mother (whose health is deteriorating and depends more on me all the time) recently on the phone saying she worries about me because who will take care of me when I get old like I take care of her? She was mildly comforted that my best friend promised to take on the job, just in case.

I'm still not 100% sure whether I want kids, but REALLY HATE the feeling that it's becoming less of an option all the time.

Oh, and filling out a form earlier this week, I had to cross out and rewrite my work address because I screwed it up - it's all 1's and 6's, but I got the arrangement of them wrong. Still agree that the way she asked came off as either snotty or insulting, though.

I found turning 40 back in April to be pretty uneventful. I've had grey hair since my late 20's.

Yow. I won't even admit how many calories I eat if I'm trying to lose weight. It's so far beyond 1500 I'm a little croggled. (Granted, I am a large human being, so my caloric needs are large, and "cutting back" still leaves me with more calories than smaller people eat just to maintain.)

Didn't mean to make you feel bad! It's just what I've found to work for me - the place between being HUNGRY and taking in too many calories to lose weight is 1500-1800 calories a day. The rest of my family seems to think 1200 calories a day is dieting, which, well, I tried that and couldn't make it even one day. (Granted, they are all smaller persons than I am.)

I've never wanted kids, and never regretted not having them. The idea of being surrounded by a large loving family in one's old age is a fond one, but I know many people with lots of children/siblings who aren't close and aren't getting taken care of by family in their old age. Having kids is no guarantee that anyone will nursemaid you when you're 80 or sick. Banking all the money you'd have spent raising them and having a good lawyer, OTOH, is a pretty good bet. (Not that I'm banking jack, myself. I'm putting all my spare money into paying off my house.)

However, I know a woman who's in her early fifties who just had two babies in three years. Both totally healthy, full-term, easy pregnancy, no complications at all. So, you know, it is possible. Just like it's totally possible for a woman who's not in the high-risk category to have a difficult pregnancy. I don't think (based on my vast experience of, um, listening to other women talk) that a pre-menopausal woman should feel like she's "too old to have kids" just because of statistical averages.

I also know two women who were told they were infertile, adopted babies, and almost immediately got pregnant. Maybe there's something hormonal that happens when a woman's around babies a lot that revs her own baby-making system up? Can I get a grant to study that?