an update on my health that isn't much of an update

[wheezinggirl]

So, since my appointment with the specialist he sent me to have an upper endoscopy and an MRI. I have had both of these things

Comments

[friggasgirl]

Yesterday, I call to follow up. I hate telephone voice menus and so I just keep hitting buttons until a human answers.

I usually just keep saying curse words when it tells me to say what department I want. "I'm sorry. I didn't understand your answer. Please repeat the name of the department you want." "F%&* you" "I'm sorry...etc." Usually takes me two or three vulgarities and I get a person.

i.e. Pancreatitis: I hope things work out for you and it isn't autoimmune. He's right...it's rare to have that kind and something tells me you wouldn't be as well as you are if you had it.

i.e. Socialized medicine. You're right. My family is very anti-socialized medicine because people don't understand how bad it could get. Competition encourages excellence in procedure. Our procedures and skill are top notch. It's the red tape of the system that sucks. Kill competition and why would any doctor care about being "the best." He won't. He'll get the same pay as every other quack out there and not care if he's good or not.

[elorie]

Re: Socialized medicine. Depends on how it's done. It can be done badly; on the other hand, there's an assessment of medical care done by the World Health Organization, and *every one* of the 38 or 39 countries that are further up on the list than the US is, has a national health care system. Red tape isn't just a government problem; most of the craziness in our current system is directly caused by red tape imposed by insurance companies.

Anecdotally, I know graduate students who have spent significant time in France and they said they got seen promptly and treated effectively, and no one even bothered to ask if they were a citizen or not. The fact that they were residents was enough.

[watch4whales]

My friend's step dad just had pancreatitis but I don't know what caused it. My sister in law who is a nurse said that doctors usually assume you're an alcoholic because that's "usually" the main cause. LOL (I know you're not an alcoholic but it made me chuckle)