being a dumbass is genetic

My Daddy, having been born with a hole in his heart, having had open heart surgery, and having had a couple of heart-attacks, wrote off the warning signs of the heart attack that would ultimately take his life in August of 2006 as feeling tired and 'needing a nap.'

Despite knowing damn well it's something to do with my gall bladder, I undergo 6 months of tests, pain, black-outs, etc. and wait until I am throwing up blood and unable to stay conscious before I go to emergency and get the damned thing yanked.

Serejane has inherited this trait.  When my sons had ear infections, both of them, at very young ages (6 or 7 months) they tugged at their ears the second they felt slight irritation or sensitivity, whereas Serejane's first ear infection wasn't discovered until she was oozing blood and thick green ~I swear it was iridescent~ pus from her ear canal.  (We won't discuss my recent sinus-turned-ear-and-throat-dumbass-infection.)

She's had a bit of a cough and intermittent fever all week, so tonight, when Serejane was unable to sleep and said, "My ear hurts," we knew right away it was serious.  

Why, oh WHY, are we like this?