Great testimonial to what will surely be a bygone era in a generation. So glad to hear you’re ok, cableguymn. Hope the gall bladder removal and recoup goes well.
I spent EIGHTEEN HOURS at the VA Medical Center emergency room last year and still hadn’t seen a doctor when I finally gave up and left. But it didn’t “cost” me anything. so there’s that...
Good luck with your gall bladder surgery. Had same @ 2-3 years ago.
I hope FReepers all file reports of their experiences post-Obamacare. So far I’ve only seen my eye doc and no problems, just $5 higher co-pay.
I'm down with that. Just wait until we get Socialized Single payer Health Care and check the wait times.
First of all: are you still alive?
I guess waving your credit card around might have helped.
My sweetie’s had a couple of emergencies this past year - chest pain (no problems detected) & then kidney stones. Also had surgery to remove plaque from a carotid artery. We have a pretty good hospital here & everything went well. No knowing what will happen in the future, though.
I hope your surgery goes well!
After hanging out in the ER waiting room for ~4 hr, I went home, slept and went back in the morning. After hanging out most of that day's daytime, a CT scan said: Yep.
The surgery crew asked me why I waited so long....
What state/city?
With the coming decline in medical care, people ought to start thinking about moving to less populated cities with populations of 15-20,000 if they want a fighting chance.
We have been having to deal with healthcare a lot this year. My husband had a kidney stone on New Year’s day. He spent New Year’s day in Urgent care, had surgery last Friday, and then his blood pressure spiked up yesterday and had to go to the emergency room.
Really, not noticing any changes, except that we will have a huge bill!
He’s been seen quickly and been well taken care of. We did like the Urgent Care better than the emergency room.
On the other hand, there is an angry and vindictive part of me that sees all the abuse that hospitals and ERs receive…and I'd like to see those hospitals threaten to shut down their ERs entirely. They could, you know. You'd be surprised. There is no law that says a hospital has to have an ER.
Particularly for lawyers. They shouldn't be allowed to go to ERs or hospitals, at all.
Within 90 minutes I had a CT scan, complete bloodwork and relief from the head pain.
No meningitis, btw just an insanely bad headache that lasted days.
Incidentally, my hubby had his gall bladder out in August. Seemed incredibly painful ( the attack). Good luck to you!
My story (well, my hubby’s story):
On Monday, he called me at work and said he didn’t feel well and needed to go to the hospital. He has A-Fib. His heart was racing like crazy and he was dizzy and weak. I rushed him to the ER. He was taken in immediately and put on an IV drip to try to get the heart rate down. They did not ask for insurance info until he was settled and hooked up. He presented insurance cards (not O-care here either). After a relatively short time in the ER, he was transferred upstairs to a room where they kept him under observation overnight until he heartbeat was normal. They kept him two more days to get him acclimated to a medication that would control the A-Fib, and was released Thursday. The nurses were wonderful, so were the doctors - and everybody else there who we had contact with.
I wonder how long before this will be a thing of the past?
I also had chest pain last February that similarly caused me to go to the hospital ER. My private health care plan through my wife's employer paid almost 90% of the nearly $12,000 bill which included an overnight hospital stay and stress test in addition to my ER visit.
I have a friend in Georgia who just had surgery this week..
her operation was planned since last month..
she thought everything would be covered..
but when she got to the hospital she was told she could not have one of the necessary procedures because she was “too old” shes in her late 60s...not because it was dangerous due to her age but because of her age..
then she didn’t stay in hospital as long as she was suppose too..and is home already today...
and when she was getting her prescription filled when she left, she found out that she would now have too paid $200+ for one medicine that was previously free or not costly..a medicine she will need for the next few months as she recovers..
Since she had insurance and was already getting medical treatment for cancer before ObamaCare she did get a lot paid for but not what she should have..
My friend is a Conservative and when I talked to her on the phone today she said “ObamaCare”
When we had discussed last month about whether her insurance would still cover in January what she knew it to cover in Dec 2013..she was confident that it would..
this is a patriotic American lady who has worked her whole adult life and paid taxes and didn’t vote for Obama...
These Americans are the ones I am sad for ..the ones caught in this ghastly trap through no fault of their own..
the Obama voters called this down on themselves and unfortunately also my friend...
If my friend had that operation just last week it would have been different for her...
Google “gall bladder flush”. Follow the instructions. You can get rid of gallstones without losing your gall bladder. PM me if you need additional info.
Gall bladder is pretty easy stuff these days with the golf ball retriever.
When I had mine yanked in ‘79, it was a bit more cutting.
Good luck, I never spent even 10 seconds missing mine after they took it out.
Whenever I make a co-pay I get a refund check back for that amount in a month. I have no idea why, but I don’t want to ask.
First and foremost: Never. Ever. Drive to the hospital if you are having chest pains.
The ambulance will get there faster and if you crash on the way, your wife would not be able to drive and help you at the same time.
My daughter is a paramedic who has picked up more bodies on the side of the road for exactly this reason.
I don’t get it...
Gall bladder is on your right under the rib cage so you get pain there. I know because I get it from time to time.
There are alternatives to taking out the gall bladder but to each his own.