1069

Yeah, that's me. Up until now, anyway.
I've been uninsured for most of my life, and I've dang sure never felt like wasting my money on a bunch of useless herbs.
We're young. We get sick, we recover. We get hurt, we bounce back.
But as people get older, it's not so easy anymore.
I'm glad I'm insured now.
The medical establishment and I have, no doubt, a lot of catching up to do.

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"I do love this idea that one can scream and scream and scream, with that utopia just one more scream away."
~ Scucca

Panache

I don't even understand why this was an issue. People who have recieved a Doctoral Degree from an accredited institution are doctors. Those who have not are not. I don't see what a dispute of this nature could possibly be over.

rivrrat

I absolutely agree. I only go when I feel it's necessary.

I very nearly died from a Thyroid Storm because I "felt sick" but didn't want to go to the doc.

Hell, when I worked on the river and as Ski Patrol, I had several fractures that I never had professionally treated because I didn't see the point. Both wrists, fingers, toes, ankles, nose, concussions. I splinted myself and/or just dealt with the pain. Since I had free range of movement in every case, and i knew that there wasn't much to be done for a fracture, I really didn't see the point in spending the money. I could splint my own wrists, fingers, etc. My nose... eh, it wasn't crooked, so whatever. Has a knot on it now, but they couldn't have prevented that.

When I fractured my back (and twisted the same vertebrae) it was weeks before I finally took myself to a doctor. The pain had to get that bad, and not show signs of improvement. It was the increase in pain that got me to the doc, not the pain itself. (If that makes sense. It wasn't getting better, it was getting worse)

When I tore up my knee, it wasn't until I was unable to walk that I finally took myself to the doctor. (4 months of physical therapy for that one)

When I had kidney stones, it was the unbearable, acute, ever increasing pain that made me feel that something was terribly, terribly wrong and thus I should go into the ER because I MUST be dying.

When my cat bit me, I took myself to a clinic and got penicillin immediately because I knew how bacteria ridden cat bites could be. I ended up in the hospital for that too, but it took days before I finally went (I could see the infection spreading up my arm) and I argued with the ER doc about admitting me. I didn't want to be admitted. But he insisted that if I wanted to keep my hand, I had to be admitted. I finally conceded. LOL

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A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.

new coup for you

These are the Doctors:

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======OBAMA
===========2008

And why does your tone suggest that you do not care about children?

1069

Yeah, my husband got bitten by a feral cat.
He had to have rabies shots (they billed us $6,000 for the series), and they also basically cut chunks out of his flesh around each one of the puncture wounds the cat's teeth made (there were four).
They said even with that- cutting all that flesh away- and antibiotics, he'd still probably get an infection. He didn't, though. He was conscientious about soaking it and stuff, and it healed eventually, although there are scars because they cut him so much.

He wasn't planning to go to the doctor about it, but I insisted, because of the possibility of rabies, and the fact that it's untreatable and terminal by the time symptoms manifest.
I didn't know about the potential for serious infection, until the doctor at the ER started cutting away at him.
He was given the first rabies shot that night, and was able to return to the ER for each consecutive shot.
We told the doctor we wouldn't be able to pay anything, and he said it made no difference to him.

rivrrat

Yeah, any animal bites are bad. But what's really bad are puncture wounds. They're nearly impossible to clean, and that's why there's a HUGE risk of bad infection with them. Dog bites aren't quite as bad because honestly, they tend to tear, bruise, and abrade more than puncture. More surface area wounding, but easier to clean and more open to air circulation and healing, thus less risk of infection. Cats tend to puncture when they bite... 4 holes. LOL Bad, bad risk of infection.

Same risk applies to non-poisonous snake bites. People think that if a non-poisonous snake bites them, it's "okay". Well it's not. Your risk of serious infection is HUGE due to the deep punctures.

Fortunately, I didn't have to worry about rabies since I knew the cat was vaccinated. (He was, however, ill and dying and I had inadvertantly hurt him) But I did have to have 72 hrs of IV antibiotics to clear up the infection. And even then they were worried that wouldn't do it and discussed "scraping" it out. /shudder