Introduction
Okay so here we go, another rousing rendition of facts about my life. While I try to regularly post these, I’ve begun to make them private (and no, they’re not on this server… hacking won’t really help you here, hehe). You’ll remember back in the day when I’d post these huge lists of things I wanted to get done during that day or week: These days, it’s becoming more of a priority queue.
Health Problems
Yeap, they’re continuing. And I’m glad to hear that at least I finally have a diagnosis to one of my problems: enlarged liver. (Insert your heavy drinking jokes here… although, I can still count the number of times I’ve drank with my fingers… and although I have alcohol in the freezer, fridge, and in the kitchen… moving on) It’s gonna be awesome going in to see a gastrointestinal specialist the day after Alex’s wedding.
Tomorrow I get to see a rheumatologist. And on Friday, I’ll be starting physical therapy for my ankles.
Isn’t insurance great?
Medical Insurance in the US
I’ve gone to the doctor more times in the past couple months than all times I’ve gone before that in my life. Now, this could be because I didn’t have the best of health insurance, or even had health insurance to begin (in certain points of my life), but I just haven’t had a need to go to the doctor. The only real time I had to go to the hospital was for the scar on my right forearm. (A story for later)
Over the past ten or so doctor’s visit I’ve had, from your general doctor to your specialists, I’ve learned a bit more about how this entire system works. And there are a few interesting things I’ve gathered.
Firstly, I wonder why I talk about my pains and ills to a nurse/assistant who in return write them down on a piece of paper that the doctor reads. Why don’t I just tell the doctor directly? Are the nurses/assistants some kind of filter? At least, in my case, I end up saying the same thing to the doctor after he or she enters. Eh.
Lots of old people are at hospitals. Who knew?
Oh, and about hospitals. Being silly and not knowing of the system, I thought you just went into a hospital and they fixed you. I thought the whole process was more or less like going to a computer place to get your computer fixed. I guess there’s this thing called being “in-network” and “out-of-network”. But now, after thinking about the money making part of the field of medicine (the field I like to call the “Bob Kelso” field), I see a clearly picture of it all.
tan(Medial Insurance in the US)
The huge pharmaceutical companies are like proprietary software vendors. You have to keep going back to them for your livelihood. However, there are generic brands that you can buy for, sometimes, half the price. The generic ones aren’t as advertised in the media and the doctors. And so, in this simile, the generic brands become the open source, reverse engineered awesomeness.
I was upset when I was told to take Lyrica for my ankle pains. Instead of actually freaking treating the issue, I’d just be paying some company to keep my ankles “fixed” for the time being. In actuality, it was just prescribed to me to see if the pain was caused by some neuropathic issue.
So was prescribing Lyrica to me like hiring consultants to fix a company’s internal IT? Tee hee. [runs away]
cot(tan(Medial Insurance in the US))
I do like how my health insurance is amazing: I didn’t know all my tests were free. I was curious as to why my doctor wanted me to get a cholesterol test, but after finding out that all lab work is phreeee, I decided to do it. (Hooray for normal levels.) Of course, I had all kinds of tests before a sonogram (yes, make your pregnancy jokes here, go… at least I can say that I know how that gel feels like…)… hooray for the sonogram for detecting the enlargeness.
Overall Realization of the Frailty of Life
In the midst of all this health insanity, I feel so… helpless. I can’t run. Heck, I can’t stand for too long. I can’t really type too effectively without these wrist supports. My entire abdominal section is killing me from time to time.
And all this time, I’ve been wanting to run and play and code. But without health, none of my dreams will ever be achieved. As soon as I’m allowed to go lift and run and whatnot, I’ll keep it going forever.
I’ve been known to be a bit extreme. During my junior year in college, I did go a little bit overboard with the eating of healthy greens, the running of many miles, and the lifting of heavy weights. Then I crashed, and tried as hard as I could to maintain. The entire system failed about a year after I graduated from college, and I haven’t been able to get back to the desired body shape. I’m actually heavier than I started out with. (I really hope my muscles didn’t run away with all this fat that’s covering it.)
So I was ready to go all out again. Then all these insane health issues occurred. I had to scrape my plan of becoming (using Dan Sun’s terminology) an adonis.
Start Your Old People Jokes… Now
To tell you the truth, dear reader, I know more people who are younger than I. I’m kinda getting sick of all the arthritis jokes. Heh.