Updates

Okay, well, it's been a really interesting month so far. My toe/foot is still very, very painful. I can be up and around for about 20 minutes before I MUST sit, though, so things are starting to get done again.

Hubby went to the doctor to get refills on all his prescriptions. Without insurance, just walking into the doctor's office cost $120. He's down to four Rxs now, and thankfully, the expensive one has gone generic, so instead of $500, it's "only" $300. Yowza. We can't even afford to pick them up, so I have no idea how he is going to get through the next 1o days of no sleep.

Several other unusual payments have come due this month, and with 13 days left in the month, our bank balance zeroed out. We gathered up all the money we were given for Christmas (thanks, Mom!) and deposited it, so at least we're not in the red. But I have no idea at all what we are going to do for food and gasoline for almost 2 weeks.

February is going to be even worse. In February, our property taxes (of $1000) come due. We also have several other major expenses that put our budget out of whack by more than $2500. I can't wait to see what God does to rescue us from this annual pit. Yeah, sure, it'd be real good to set money aside all year for the February pit, wouldn't it? Sure, if there were no such thing as car breakdowns, sudden medical costs, and the like.

I've asked for all the hours I can work, which means bad food, unattended kids (no, not really, we both work at home so they aren't unattended, just not as attended as they usually are) and stress. Yuck. But I'm thankful for the hours that will bring in a teensy bit of money. It's not enough for groceries even (nope, not even beans and rice three meals a day) but it's something.

Then there's chicken pox. When the Christmas break was over and the public school kids were ready to go back, we had a snow "storm" (half an inch) that cancelled school for three days. My two youngest got to play with a friend they haven't seen in a year. She's just been through a divorce and there's no time for friends anymore. Three days later, we get a call: she's got chicken pox and my girls have been exposed. Oh, and the little girl had been immunized, so we have a 50/50 chance that the variation we have is beyond our immunity.

Back in October, my mother in law and I began planning a big surprise birthday party for hubby. He turns 50 this year and LOVES parties. This would be his first since our marriage. Of course, with a pending plague in the house, we had to cancel the party. And the plane tickets his brothers bought to fly out. And his mother's plans. And, and, and...

Oy.

I've been kind of low the last couple weeks. I'm sure glad it costs nothing to lay in bed because that's just about all I'm interested in doing right now.

Who ya gonna trust?

A friend of mine is considering a very invasive and painful surgery done with only local anesthesia. She asked if anyone had comments and I sent her to a website where people who have actually had the procedure DONE discuss it. After reading it, she said, "I saw this website when I did my research online. All these kinds of comments prove what my dad's doctor says: Don't read that stuff!"

Hm.

So, the debate boils down to a guy who 1) has never had the procedure performed on himself personally and 2) stands to gain financially from the procedure vs. people who have had the surgery and have no vested interest in sharing their stories?

Wow. Really? Boy, I don't know. I've become so distrustful of the medical establishment lately that I would really think long and hard about it. Other considerations my friend is facing: The surgery has a documented success rate of under 30%. It's an elective procedure, not covered by insurance. The side effects of the surgery include a possible worsening of the symptoms the surgery is supposed to alleviate. There are proven alternatives to the surgery that are less convenient (namely altered diet and exercise) but have higher success rates.

Just because it's true doesn't make it helpful

Back around Christmastime I hurt my back and it hasn't improved a lot. About two weeks ago my sciatica started acting up big time, so I made an appointment with hubby's chiropractor. Last summer when a similar thing happened with my hubby, the doctor put him on a special traction table three times and it was better. The insurance didn't cover it, but it was only $50 a treatment and worth it for the amount of pain he was in. They offered to let him go only when he needed to, he didn't have to sign a contract or agree to a certain number of sessions.

But today, they wanted me to sign a contract for 20 sessions at $125 each. I asked when the price went up, and the office manager started going on about how they are lower priced than the other offices that offer the same services. She started quoting me what other offices in the state charge. Like I care. I'm sitting there in pain, needing treatment, not being able to afford the treatment I need and she's going on about maintaining a "level of profitability"!?

I respect the free market system. I realize that just because as a patient I would like my doctor to demonstrate compassion doesn't mean that their business is compassion. They are in business to make money, I know that. I also know that if all the other chiros charge upwards of $200 for a certain service that this Dr. is only charging $50 for, that he's driving the market down and making a poor name for himself among his peers. I know all that in my head, but my back is crying and screaming about how unfair it is. And being told that they increased their prices beyond what I can afford simply because there is money to be made that they're not making, well, that's just rubbing salt in the wound.

What the office manager said was absolutely true. But it was not helpful.

A medical mystery, solved.

So, all the tummy issues hubby was having...

Doctor error.

No kidding. He's one of the hundreds you hear about. Here's how it all went.

In 10/07, our long-term meds ran out at our mail-in pharmacy, so we went to the doctor for written refills. He wrote hubby's meds, but changed one. I don't know if he meant to or if it was an accident, but he changed hubby's Benicar (for high blood pressure) to Benicar HCT. But he also wrote him a scrip for HCT (lowers BP through its diuretic action) which hubby had been taking for several years. Hence, a double dosage of HCT.

Within weeks hubby was sick and getting sicker. After two months he was too sick to work. They put him through all kinds of blood tests and even a colonoscopy, and although his electrolytes seemed wrong - normal for diarrhea - they couldn't find the reason for his tummy issues, muscle fatigue, joint pain and fever. Diarrhea is a side effect of HCT, magnified by the overdose. Now, class, can you guess what the symptoms of HCT overdose are?

Muscle fatigue, joint pain and fever.

HELLO!!

Of course, we didn't associate the meds with the issue because 1) the doctor never told us he was changing the scrip, so we didn't know, and 2) I had been ill with tummy issues myself, so we just thought it was him getting it from me. And the #(*%#(%^@ doctor didn't make the connection because he didn't bother to look at the meds he himself was prescribing!

A month of not being able to work. Hundreds of dollars of tests performed. The inconvenience and discomfort of those tests. A specialist's time taken up doing unnecessary tests. We have since changed doctors and learned a valuable lesson. Here it is, kids, and there will be a test:

YOU are the only one who cares about the state of your health. Get informed. Know what you are taking and why. Know dosages, research side effects and overdoses. Yes, go so far as to find out if your meds will cause vitamin deficiencies or react to vitamins you take. Don't trust your pharmacist to know this information, and don't trust your doctor to tell you.

Oh, by the way, while we were learning this lesson, we discovered another little tidbit. We kept wondering why people kept talking to hubby about managing his diabetes (he isn't diabetic.) Turns out one of the meds the #(*%#(%^@ doctor had him on was for managing blood sugar. Why? We can't figure that one out. His only blood sugar tests were done non-fasting (the only accurate tests are done fasting) and were barely on the high side of normal. Not even borderline. So, hundreds more dollars for drugs to treat a disease he didn't have.

Medicine is a business, boys and girls. Doctors, pharmacists, hospitals - they are in it for the bucks. Not for some lofty humanitarian aspect.

You live in your body. You know it best. Listen to it and learn what you can about taking care of it.