A step closer to understanding health care in America

[Ian Gills]

I'm slowly getting it.

I have always qustioned how the poor and uninsured get access to healthcare in the current farce of a country you/we live in. That joke being that the richest country in the world does not have universal access to health care, so the poor suffer just because you don't want to pay a dime in extra taxes.

But today I finally understand how the poor and sick survive here. I had the privilege of taking my wife to an Emergency Room at the local hospital. I was quite scared. I was expecting it to be like in England. A real emergency room full of people with broken arms and cuts. But no. It looked like a doctor's waiting room, full of people who were clearly not in any state of emergency. They were, however, clearly all poor, all from minority backgrounds and few of them (if any) had jobs. And there, clearly on the wall, was a poster that read that it was the hospital's legal obligation to examine, stabilize and then move to another facility (if needed) any patient that could not afford to pay or did not have insurance.

So this is how the system works here. ERs full of people not facing emergencies, just sick but unable to pay for treatment. They sit there and wait for hours, not to be treated but just to have their conditions stabilized. This country's health system is a joke. And Obama was right to fix it.

[Cookie]

You could also fix whatever ails you yourself. I did once. I was using a trowel to remove teak tile from a floor and missed the floor and got the top of my other hand. It was a gash which was deep, and wide, so, I just got out my sewing kit and sewed it myself. Then, I drove to the doctor's office and waited until, my turn, and he did nothing but give me a shot and some antibiotics and said, I was a pretty good seamtress. I saved a bundle.

[Ian Gills]

Thanks Cookie. I figured that was the other way they did medical treatment here. DIY.

[Cookie]

If you can stand more. You really don't need health insurance if you got the know-how.

I was 8 months pregnant with my second, carrying a heavy table down a long flight of stairs and my dog got under my feet which I couldn't see. I dropped the table ontop of my foot. I was at my parents and didn't want to worry them, so I just drove home. It was bitterly cold then and snowing like crazy.

By the time, I got home, my foot was huge, my ankle was huge. I didn't want my husband to take other son, a baby, too, out since he was sick so, I drove myself to the ER. But, before I did, I set my ankle and foot back into place. I twisted it until, I felt go back in place.

I wouldn't allow xrays since I was pregnant so, the doctor just felt it, and said I set it as far as he could tell well enough. It was wrapped and I was on crutches.

Well, they said, I couldn't drove home. I asked, " who do you think drove me here?" They said, "NOT WITH YOUR FOOT BROKEN!"


I drove home. And, everywhere else. And, after I gave birth a couple weeks later, I had it xrayed, it was broken, but the doctor was amazed at well I set it. It was then, casted up.

You just think... you need health insurance.

Anyone need any surgery? I can save you some money.

[Ian Gills]

You're in the wrong job Cookie. Open a surgery. A cheap one.

[Cookie]

You can be the first, what do you need fixed?

[Cookie]

The brain has always interested me, lol.
I got a co worker I always tell let me look...

[Basement_Lurker]

Cookie, you are one determined (and slightly crazy) lady! You set your own broken foot while being pregnant...wow! How did you not pass out?
Yeah, I bet you did a fine job of stitching your own wound if you had sewing experience, probably better than some idiot intern.

[Terry]

I sent Jamie to the doctor for a cut and nobody knew where the stuff was for stitching. I was kind of bummed. He went, but couldn't get the work done.
And the last visit I had on Monday to mine? I mentioned that something felt funny in my chest when I pressed, something I didn't notice before the examination with a scope. He said, Oh Yeah, that's a perforation in your intestine. Don't worry about it, we can fix that at anytime. Well..........Okay I guess.

[Cookie]

I'm getting my tools ready Terry. I didn't think, you, would be first.

I don't know Basement L., I just twisted it until, it felt "normal" it hurt, but it hurt worse wallking on it prior to twisting it back into place.

I fell several months ago at my camp walking up a hill, not down a hill, but up a hill, lol., ( the ground was loaded with vines) and, my shoulder near the top of the arm pops out and at night, if I lay on it, just right, it gets pushed back into place. I can hear the thud and feel it slip in where it belongs.

I am a DIY'er all the way.

I got to save money because I have to always buy tires.

[Cookie]

I made these great tiny little stitches, and luckily I had a heavier thread in my box which worked out pretty well, and when it healed I just snipped them out. I was born determined. I was so small and so premature that my dad sat me in his toby box. Which I use now to hold extra little twinkle lights for Xmas. I was born at home in the livingroom, they don't know how much I weighed but, I wouldn't had won baby pretty contests for I didn't have hair, eye lashes, fingernails, and I was transparent looking. I was told, that if I didn't gain weight they were going to take me to the hospital.

Right after I was born I caught measles. I caught them 5 times in my lifetime, the last time being I was 17. I had whooping cough at 22 months old. Mono at 13. Anemia is my middle name.

I was diagnosed with JRA ( juvenile rheumatoid arthritis) at age 9 in my knees. It has never gone away yet, still waiting. I started running at age 9 to control it, I still run, even in marathons. I will always be a kid at heart.

Cancer at 44, 46, 48, 50, 51. My first kidney stone was on my 21st birthday. and the last time at age 48. My first brain tumor was found at 46 by my husband looking at the MRI'S while holding them up to the diningroom ceiling fan. He was an electrical engineer, I guess that is close enough to a radiologist. The brain has electrical charges.

I have no idea why my dad used to tell me, I was head-strong. But, I am damn tootin glad, I am. Most of this, I did without insurance.

I'm getting my tools ready Terry. I didn't think, you, would be first.

I don't know Basement L., I just twisted it until, it felt "normal" it hurt, but it hurt worse wallking on it prior to twisting it back into place.

I fell several months ago at my camp walking up a hill, not down a hill, but up a hill, lol., ( the ground was loaded with vines) and, my shoulder near the top of the arm pops out and at night, if I lay on it, just right, it gets pushed back into place. I can hear the thud and feel it slip in where it belongs.

I am a DIY'er all the way.

I got to save money because I have to always buy tires.

Cookie, you are one determined (and slightly crazy) lady! You set your own broken foot while being pregnant...wow! How did you not pass out?
Yeah, I bet you did a fine job of stitching your own wound if you had sewing experience, probably better than some idiot intern.