Talk Story

How messed up are you?

POSTED BY: Iremisst
UPDATED: Thursday, January 21, 2010 23:52
VIEWED: 19073
PAGE 3 of 10

IREMISST

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 4:19 AM

I'll take drowning, thanks Chrisisall, keep your filthy grenades!

KWICKO

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 5:12 AM

Quote:

Example 1 - 70 yr old male in Canada. Bladder Cancer. Waited 6 mo's after diagnosis to remove and have a stoma put in. Neo-Bladder and replacement growth bladder surgery is unavailable. S.O.P. when operating in the stomach region is to take out the appendix. Canada does not follow this S.O.P.... too expensive. 2 days later the patient has his appendix burst and dies after a number of attempts to repair. Real story...My Uncle.

Example 2 - 75 yr old female in Canada. Severe back pain. Needs surgery. She is told she will have to wait 9 mo's for surgery. She waited 10 mo's in extreme pain. Real story...My Aunt.

Example 3 - It is illegal in the UK to purchase a cortisone shot even with a prescription from a doctor if you are 65yrs or older. Hope you don't have severe joint pain. Real story... Uncle on vacation.

Example 1 - 65 yr old male. Much-decorated Vietnam veteran. Purple heart, bronze star, silver star, all buried in the bottom of his sock drawer and never spoken about. Diagnosed with "cirrhosis of the liver" and sent on his way. Nobody even wanted to listen to him when he explained that he didn't drink alcohol, and never had. Four years later, he was finally diagnosed with liver cancer, which by then had spread to his brain, stomach, and lungs. He was given less than a month, and fought on for a year before succumbing. Real story... My Dad.

Example 2 - 32 yr old male. Severe back pain, subpluxation of vertebra in lower back (vertebra slips sideways and forward, pinching the spinal cord), which causes excrutiating pain and loss of mobility and inability to walk, stand, or sit. No insurance, told to basically "walk it off". Lived with the pain for 15 years now. When it's bad, I occasionally dream of suicide and stockpile illegally-obtained prescription painkillers, and keep a loaded gun by the bed, "just in case there are no more good days". When it's good, I only have to stretch for an hour and soak in a hot tub to get up and around for the day. Real story... Myself.

Example 3 - 45 yr old male. Crushed big toe, when a 350-pound pallet dropped on foot after falling off truck. Toe popped like a grape, bone shattered. (This was the third time for that toe, so the bone is basically powder at this point...) Went to emergency clinic, and was told to "try to stay off it for six weeks". Asked the doctor if he ever worked for a living. He didn't get it. Real story... Myself again.

So it seems we're at least as adequate at providing really horrible healthcare here in the good old US-of-Fuckin'-A. And as an added bonus, we also get the benefit of paying two to four hundred times as much for the "privilege".

Mike

Work is the curse of the Drinking Class.
- Oscar Wilde

KWICKO

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 5:13 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by chrisisall:
Quote:
Originally posted by Iremisst:

What about end-of-life management?

That's called a grenade.
Ever see "Aliens?"

The laughing Chrisisall

Three words: "Paging Doctor Kevorkian."

IREMISST

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 2:24 PM

Ewwww to the toe thing, did it heal ok?????
Do ya have any feeling in it & does it LOOK like a toe still?

Saw a Ziggy catoon this morning said; "Laughter is the best medicine, I want you to go home and giggle twice a day" which sounds about right...

If everybody is FOR humane assisted euthanasia, then why can't we set up some regulation for it?

IREMISST

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 2:37 PM

Well, hope you take a lesson from what happened to your dad and get all your tests and really learn to fight with the doctors...It's the only way... If you don't fight for your own life, ain't no one else gonna!

My dad went to the doctor 4!!! times for E.D. and frequent urination the year he finally got diagnosed with prostate cancer, and they never once ran a g*dd@am p.s.a. test... by the time they caught it it's too late. And it's not like they didn't know my father's parents both died of cancer, oh and two of my great grandparents, too, the doctors always say "Well, you can't think you'll get it, too- you just have to live your life" And a short one it will be too, if you let them tell you that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IREMISST

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 2:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 22Claws:
I have no health insurance.

How old are you? 22?
And how long have you not had any insurance?

KWICKO

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 2:48 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Iremisst:
Ewwww to the toe thing, did it heal ok?????
Do ya have any feeling in it & does it LOOK like a toe still?

It healed, mostly. Still throbs like a sumbitch sometimes. It looks like a toe, only canted over to the left a bit. The toenail even grew back, eventually. :)

As for getting tests, etc., good luck. You pay for 'em out of pocket, and if they DO find something, then you're magically either found to have a "pre-existing" condition, or they just drop you anyway. Awesome system we've got here.

I won't go to the doctor precisely because I'm afraid they MIGHT find something, and then I'd be royally screwed.

Mike

Work is the curse of the Drinking Class.
- Oscar Wilde

IREMISST

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 4:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Kwicko:
Toe popped like a grape,

BTW, I will never look at a squished grape the same way ever again

Could I reccommend a good titanium/steel re-inforced boot?

Simon: Could you just.. not.. do that again..EVER!

AURAPTOR

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 4:21 PM

Well, I feel limited about replying to this thread by keeping any political views out of it, but here goes.

I paid for my own healthcare for about 10 yrs, w/ no insurance, and now pay for my own insurance. I take care of myself so I don't have to pay as much, which is what we all should do. I don't smoke, ( never have ) and keep my bp and cholesterol in check so I don't have any prescriptions.

There is no 'crisis' in healthcare. That's how I see it.

The T.Rex they call JANE!

KWICKO

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 4:39 PM

Quote:

There is no 'crisis' in healthcare. That's how I see it.

Not to get too horribly off-topic, but that's the problem - you're basing your diagnosis of the ENTIRE healthcare system off of YOUR subjective experience.

If I were to apply that kind of logic to, say, national security, I could say that there 100% is absolutely no possible threat of any future terrorist actions against the USA, because I personally have never been the subject of a terrorist attack. And unemployment doesn't even exist in this country, because I've got a job.

I really, honestly hope you never lose your job and insurance coverage and then get sick, because you'll find out real quick that once that happens, you're basically out on your own, FOREVER, when it comes to anything even remotely connected (however tenuously) to that "pre-existing" condition of yours.

Mike

Work is the curse of the Drinking Class.
- Oscar Wilde