For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for April 30, 2010

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    ellisaana Premium Member over 14 years ago

    Doctors have a license to practice medicine. It sounds like he is practicing.

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    gobblingup Premium Member over 14 years ago

    I think she’s feeling much better.

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    Jascat  over 14 years ago

    Q. What is a person called who graduates last in the class at medical school?

    A. Doctor

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    kittylover2  over 14 years ago

    The poor Dr. is doing the best he could with a child who is pulling on his examining tools, sticking them in her mouth, and wiggling like no get out. Do any of you bashers what to do that for a living?

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    Dkram  over 14 years ago

    She’s a live wire alright.

    Otitis media?

    Edit: thank you Kyrrdis

    \\//_

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    Kyrrdis  over 14 years ago

    Otitis media = inner ear infection

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    jimgamer  over 14 years ago

    fdjsr Ithink our president said it was the BANKERS NOT THE DOCTORS !!!!! 8^)

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    ninmas  over 14 years ago

    “all sanity is lost.”

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    ricer46  over 14 years ago

    jim12345: No, he said both bankers and doctors, and oh yes, Republicans too.

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    Kyrrdis  over 14 years ago

    They’re in Canada.

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    Smiley Rmom  over 14 years ago

    This reminds me of my oldest son when he was that age. He had a lot of ear infections, but once the Tylenol kicked in, it was difficult to tell he was ill by his actions.

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    notinksanymore  over 14 years ago

    I don’t think the strip is suggesting that he is incompetent. I think it is saying that the medically she appears to be rather ill, but her behavior does not reflect the diagnosis. I remember having an ear infection when I was a kid, and all I wanted to do was lay there.

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    bald  over 14 years ago

    okay lizzie, now for the next part of the exam,

    we need a few blood tests

    hold her tight elly …

    this won’t hurt me a bit

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    mooseleger  over 14 years ago

    You know, if you do a little research on why a child would have an ear infection and how the normal function can be restored, you would find the nearest chiropractor and get your kids checked out. Generally ear infections occur when the upper cervical spine is misaligned due to the natural birthing process. Look at www.icpa4kids.com or www.icpa4kids.org for more info.

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    kab2rb  over 14 years ago

    My kids when they where little never acted like that. My son at Elizabeth’s age little did we know had our son at the wrong Dr. couldn’t hear us he had ear infections. Got the right Dr. sent us to an ear specialist two years of ear tubes and doing okay that was 23 years ago.

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    Mythreesons  over 14 years ago

    I think the president has focused on insurance companies and their practices as one of the main problems in the health care system, not the doctors themselves. Also mentioned have been the mal-practice attorneys. Hospitals which have gone in the hole taking care of non-insured should be glad there should be less accounts that have to be written off and/or passed on the insured patients. By the way, in my working days, I was an office manager for three doctors. Oh, how wonderful it would have been not having to collect overdue bills!

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    gene2u  over 14 years ago

    @howtheduck,

    Speaking from experience, Lynn Lake, Manitoba is far from EVERYWHERE. :-) Very isolated little place.

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    JanLC  over 14 years ago

    This is Lynn’s own “biography” of Dr. Flett:

    At the age of ten, Norman Flett had one burning ambition in life; to be a Super-Hero. Which is why he thought it a good idea to tie a rope to his family’s backyard basketball hoop, climb onto the garage roof with the other end in his hand, and clinging tight to it, jump off when his older brother ambled into the back yard.

    It worked, too. For one glorious rush of a moment, Norman was Spiderman, swooping down from the heights to punish the despicable Evil-Doer. Fortunately, his brother managed to leap out of the way in time to avoid a painful collision. Unfortunately, the family car did not.

    It was in the Emergency Ward that young Norman discovered a new breed of hero to admire, as the resident doctor on call skilfully eased his pain, set his broken arm, and sympathized with his ambitions. By the time the plaster of his cast was set, Norman had decided that he would be a doctor when he grew up.

    Twenty-five years later, Dr. N. Flett has a busy family practise. There are times during his more hectic days when he feels more like a slave than a superhero. Still, there is nothing else in the world he would rather be doing. Even if he did have Spidey-powers.

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    mroberts88  over 14 years ago

    Doc is doing pretty well under the circumstances.

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    JanLC  over 14 years ago

    Also, here’s Lynn’s response to the “child seats should be in the back” posters:

    According to our research, car seats for infants and small children first became mandatory in Canada in 1982. This strip was originally published in April 1981, so Elly was ahead of her time! At that time, child car seats were usually front-facing and in the front seat. Once air bags became standard in automobiles (1988 - 1998, depending on the make and model), the laws changed to require rear-facing car seats for infants and placement of all child seats in the back seat to avoid air bag injuries.

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    Wildmustang1262  over 14 years ago

    Boy, Lizzie is surely restless while Dr holds her and tells Elly about the ear infection Lizzie has. She looks playful but more restless!

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    summerdog86  over 14 years ago

    Hmmm….serious discussions about a comic….

    I like them!!!

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    1148559  over 14 years ago

    What’s wrong with having a serious discussion about a comic?

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    Gretchen's Mom  over 14 years ago

    Tonsillitis … the only word I understood amongst all that medical gibberish!

    “Her glands are up” and ”a touch of otitis media” … he thinks! Why can’t doctors ever learn to just speak English with us non-medically trained people and tell us what’s really going on with us, our kids, or our pets?!?!?

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    Gretchen's Mom  over 14 years ago

    NoahsMama:

    I left another message for you on yesterday’s board.

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    pattybf  over 14 years ago

    Hi GretchensMom:

    Swollen glands, middle ear infection in the US. Maybe they understand medical terms more in Canada. Our pediatrician was a saint and always explained stuff in terms you could understand. He was always great about answering questions especially when I was a new Mom and, looking back, asked the most stupid questions. He was always on call, also. I remember calling him one time when my oldest was orange. He stayed late to see the baby and asked me if he liked carrots. I told him it was about the only thing my son would eat. He said “there you go!” He also told me to watch the whites of the eyes for liver infections but the skin color was caused by the beta carotene. Very funny family story.

    He was also my older brother’s pediatrician. When his children were small his wife was in a traffic accident. My brother called the doctor in a total panic and told him that his children were “hit by a car” (he didn’t say that the car had been hit by a car and implied that the kids had been hit by a car. (They were fine, by the way. It was a minor traffic accident). The doctor showed up at the ER in evening clothes. He had been at a dinner honoring him as Pediatrician of the Year in our community. He missed the ceremony completely. Some of you can dump on Pediatricians if you want but maybe we were lucky. Ours were great!

    Unfortunately, this Doctor died of cancer when my son was 3. His partners were very good but we all missed him greatly. So did our kids. When they saw him they all had Elizabeth’s reaction. YAH!! They were never afraid of him.If your kids have a great doc please appreciate him.

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    Mythreesons  over 14 years ago

    I don’t start political comments, but will respond when I think a previous post is either unfair or wrong, or I just have a different slant on the subject. I do wonder why a comic strip will start an anti-government diatribe.

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    bluetopazcrystal  over 14 years ago

    Inflammation of the middle ear, or middle ear infection. Otitis media , very painful, no wonder she was up all night, poor baby.

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    lindz.coop Premium Member over 14 years ago

    Many of the doctors I know were quite in favor of that awful Obamacare we all hear about. The main objectors are those who think their own insurance plans are threatened by it – and since it doesn’t even hava a “Public Option” I can’t figure out where that threat even comes from. I find it hard to find fault with health care for millions who didn’t have it before (and for whom we all pay when they frequent the ER), children up to age 26 allowed to stay on their parents’ hc plan, no pre-existing conditions etc. Are there actually people out there who thought it was good to have millions without hc (including young folks in college) and pre-existing conditions banning folks from hc? Who are these people?

    Re- the cartoon – the doc is having a little trouble seeing those tonsils and inside those ears because the bambino is not exactly cooperating. Does that make him incompetent? I think not.

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    NoahsMama  over 14 years ago

    Hi Gretchen’s Mom!

    Thanks for your post, and I totally agree with you. I love my furbaby, but right now he’s dwelling in a very large doggie house (a heated shed), because my three year old is frightenend to death of him…He’s outdoors as much as possible, and I have nightlights plugged in and a radio plays for him, but I can’t have him in the house anymore. I hate that, but my child comes first. We try to get Noah to even look at Riley, but as soon as poor Riley comes near the door, Noah runs screaming. I just hope someday it gets better as Noah gets bigger. :(

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    Gretchen's Mom  over 14 years ago

    NoahsMama:

    I’m so sorry to hear that your son is afraid of your dog. :o(

    I hope you’re right and that as your son becomes a little older, he’ll become less afraid and you’ll be able to welcome your furbaby back into his loving home!

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