One thing you have to admit--medical care in the US is quite the modern miracle. This is apart from all the "soclialized medicine" debates. Where else can one go in to surgery one day, and come out four days later with Frankensteinian staples, four cleaned out arteries (or valves, or SOMETHING!) and not that much pain.
But hey! Step away from the Percocet!
I have lots to say about the financial end of all this, but not a lot of energy.
Be assured that I came through the surgery well and my doctors are pleased with my rate of recovery.
More, later.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
18 comments:
Hello Grace! So happy to hear from you! Yeah! I am so happy to know operation was a success and you are up and blogging!
Praying for your speedy recovery.
Keep us all informed.
I'm sure you have lots to say.
Love ya!
Yippee!!! Welcome back Grace. I am chuffed everything went great. Rest up and you'll be as good as new, even better!
Glad you are felling better. But one must wonder: if this was Canada or UK, where you'd have to wait for such treatment, how good is socialized medicine at best?
Tracy
I'm so glad to hear from you and know that your recovery is going well. Take care of yourself. I don't know if you've ever had surgery but, if not, expect some down days when you're tired of working so hard at doing simple things such as bathing, hurrying to answer a phone, or something similar. They're just normal let-down days and to be expected. Don't let them get to you if they occur.
Glad to see you back. Take care of yourself.
Wow, that is amazing--it seems like such a short time (maybe not to you!) Glad things are going just the way the doctors want them to.
Thanks for letting all of us know you are a-ok so soon after your surgery.
glad to hear you are on the mend grace, take care and rest up!
Yes!
So happy to hear the good news.
Now go let everyone take care of you.
Love,
Beth
I'm a newcomer to your blog, but look forward to it. So glad you're home, and I'm wishing you a speedy recovery. Take good care.
So glad that things went well for you. Now concentrate on keeping those pipes clean!
Sooo glad to hear you are back!
I have my own rant about socialized medicine based on current happenings with friends both in the UK and Canada, and I am NOT impressed at all right now with that type of a system.
Get some rest and post when you can!
Good to hear from you! So glad everything is ok. Looking forward to your posts. Rest up and take care.
A.M.B.A.
YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm so glad to hear...I look forward to your next post!
Sharon
Grace! Glad to hear you're back and feeling better. Just don't do too much too fast.
As for the comments about "socialized medicine", I live in Canada and you couldn't pay me to live in the States until you guys get a decent medical system into place.
I have experience with many, many aspects of our medical system both personally, with my kids and my parents. Cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, joint replacements, pneumonia, asthma, broken bones, motor vehicle accidents, etc.
While not everything has run perfectly (there was the knee replacement that came with a staph infection, but that got my mother a 6 week vacation at a nursing home facility that cost $3,500 per month for free while they cleared it up and redid the surgery) it never cost money or caused a life-threatening delay.
We pay $108 per month for a family of 3 or more and that covers pretty well everything except medicals before summer camp or programs to quit smoking or purely cosmetic surgery. Prescriptions cost money, but there's a separate program for that if you don't have extended medical through your employer and even a person making $300,000 per year would never pay more than $10,000 for prescriptions. It's a sliding scale, so some folks pay nothing and the average family probably maxes out around $600 per year.
In answer to how fast Grace might have had her surgery in Canada, it would likely have been the same day that she sat there looking at pictures of her heart.
Generally, when something is urgent it happens immediately. I once had an MRI (something there is generally a couple of months wait for) done at 2 am because the ER doc wanted to rule out pulmonary embolism. It turned out to be pneumonia.
Where people often run into a wait is when they go to their family doctor who refers them to a specialist and the specialist orders a test without any particular urgency.
By the time you get a bad test result you're being booked for surgery 3 months from now. Whereas if you'd walked into Emerg complaining of chest pain you'd have been in a cardiac bed in under 3 minutes and would have had surgery that day.
While there could be improvements in our system it is still light years ahead of the US. You guys have a lot of wonderful medical centres and specialists but only a small fraction of your population can even dream of getting that care.
Grace is one of the lucky ones and I'm thrilled that she got the care she needed. Now you guys just need to work on getting the inner city grandma who works 2 minimum wage jobs and is raising her daughter's kids the same deal because she deserves it too.
(blushes, steps off soapbox and takes a big step back into the crowd)
Sorry, Grace. You just concentrate on feeling better.
Congrats on the successful surgery. Been thinking about you.
Actually Tracy, in socialized medicine you are prioritized by need. SO if it were dire, she'd be pushed to the top of the list.
My DH's grandfather had a brain tumor and had surgery the next day after diagnosis because they wanted to get him admitted to the hospital. This was in Toronto Canada.
Shevy hit it dead on. My roommate's mom has diabetes. Everything is covered, no worries, and she's been treated immediately when she was hospitalized for pneumonia. She refused treatment in the US because the bills would be horrific when she was flying back from Pakistan where she had been doing peace core work.
She said "why would I get stuck with bills like that?" So instead of stopping, she flew straight to Toronto as well and they aren't even from Toronto (another city in Canada).
Until you live it, don't knock it. Socialized medicine has a bad taste in Americans mouths because it's all about the greater good. Truth is our current system is a hybrid of capitalism and socialized. Which is a huge problem. We should either go truly capitalistic (pay for what we can afford) or socialistic. I estimate 2-3 more years before something gives.
Congratulations on springing back so fast. My father was knocked for a loop when he had that surgery...but then, he was 80 years old. He sure wouldn't have been blogging a couple weeks after the surgery. :-)
Get completely well soon!
Happy all went well and you are back. I just recently found your blog and have been reading all the past posts. Finally a PF blog for people like me!
I'm so glad you're doing well!!! I've been thinking about you!
Welcome back!!!
Post a Comment