Doctor Do Little, Doctor Do Less
75Doctor Leave My Wife In A Terrible Mess
Nice to have printer ink available once again, but not nice the way it came about. Yesterday, Pam's doctor gave her a death sentence. Not a new diagnosis, but a refusal to take her back as a patient although three weeks earlier he had agreed to do so as soon as asked.
Not only did he refuse to help with pain medication, which he no longer prescribes for anyone--no doubt due to governmental pressure--but he wasn't interested in prescribing any of her other essential medications, either. He knows my sweetie does not abuse pain pills, not even with her extreme pain levels due to fibromyalgia, but to back off from the cough syrup for her excess phlegm, a congenital condition inherited from her father? Ah, but he would prescribe virtually nothing. Not the methocarbomal which helps her muscles unclench enough to allow her some small freedom of movement. Neither the Effexor which addresses her lack of natural dopamine and seratonin production in the brain nor the Trazodone billed as an antipsychotic but which in her case allows her to combat her lifelong insomnia. Not even the diazepam, i.e. Valium, which does help her find a little calm but also helps her small muscles relax. Not Actonel for her bones or Spiriva for her breathing.
He refused all this...despite being the doctor responsible for helping her to set up this specific regimen in the first place and the first to diagnose her COPD. It almost seems like he wants Pam to be in such emotional and physical agony that she can't eat at all, maybe even ending up looking like the huge but unbelievably thin-waisted insect I photographed this morning.
What--Does The M.D. See Pam As Less Than Human?
The Cold Turkey No-No
We now face what could be endgame for Pam's life. True, we don't currently have the income--and absolutely no insurance--to allow purchasing all of the prescriptions even were they to be prescribed as they have been in past years. We were already crossing our fingers on the most expensive items: Effexor and Spiriva each cost nearly $300 for a month's supply, and I'm barely bringing in enough to cover the land payment plus a few hundred for pork and beans, bread, and gas for the car and portable generators. But with no prescriptions forthcoming, she's a dead woman. Even if all we could get for her were diazepam, methocarbomal, and a workable pain pill, she'd have a chance.
There's no question that the doctors are running scared. During our so-called appointment, the errant M.D. specifically stated that he was not willing to go along with Pam's existing medication regimen.
"You had no problem with it before!" Pam shot back.
"I have changed," he admitted.
He's got that right. The PDR (Physician's Desk Reference) warns strongly against going off a number of Pam's prescriptions cold turkey. This particular sawbones is not a stupid man, and he's also pretty sharp when it comes to pharmacology. He knows her life is at risk if her program is suddenly chopped down to literally nothing, and he knows he's committing malpractice by omission. But he's also smart enough to know that if my wife dies from this, and I sue him for a wrongful death (just in theory, you understand)...hey, that's not a patch on what will happen to his life if the Feds come down on him and he loses his license to practice medicine.
Or so he sees it.
The Beetle And The Fly
If The Doctor Can't Or Won't Help, Then Help Yourself
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Beauty Truly Can Be A Curse
A wonderful lady named Lisa saw Pam's agony in the grocery store after the physician's betrayal. She instantly went to my lady, hugged her, and before it was over, she explained that she, too, had suffered from fibromyalgia (one of Pam's many, many ailments). She'd been in five car wrecks. Then one day God healed her. She fell down in church, no recall of it, but when she got up she was healed, or in the process of healing anyway. She told us she could feel that healing coursing through her even after she got home that evening. And she assured us that she would be praying for Pam, for which we thanked her.
Since this is the second M.D. in this county who has most thoroughly rejected my sweetheart, we're agreed that attempting to telephone other doctors or to walk in to ask them about taking on Pam's complicated and difficult case as a new patient...would be entirely fruitless. Besides governmental pressure, we know that part of the problem arises from Pam's appearance: She fakes it so well, fights her pain and disabilities so hard, that to the ignorant eye--and most of these doctors are definitely ignorant--she looks a lot healthier than she is. Since she's still slender and shapely, those who misdiagnose her psoriasis often (we suspect) jump to the erroneous conclusion that street drug abuse caused the sores and also caused her to lose her teeth. There are other factors, but you get the idea
Would YOU Believe This Lady Was Terribly Ill?
The Search Continues
I have not given up trying to find the right physician for her. I've allowed myself the 4th of July weekend to craft a "Health Synopsis for Pamela". Once that is printed (the high priority reason for spending precious dollars on a new ink cartridge), a cover letter will be crafted and added. Using a touch of common sense and a whole lot of intuition, a number of doctors--the number not yet determined--will receive the letter with synopsis enclosed. Each will be advised (a) no need to call if Pam is not a cup of tea worth considering, but (b) please do call us only if they are willing to take on Pam as a new patient without gutting the medication regimen that has worked well for her these past half dozen years.
Do we believe my expert writing skill can make the needed connection when nothing else seems to be working? No. Quite frankly, we do not. We estimate our chances of success at no more than one in a thousand. But we do see this as having some chance of success as opposed to none.
The Odds Aren't Great, But You Go With What You've Got
Sleep On It
Knowing haste would be deadly in this process, I slept on it last night and woke up with the beginnings of the "Synopsis" wording in place. Additionally, a very clear dream series confirmed our longstanding knowledge that physicians are running scared, especially in Arizona. With the Mexican border as a drug war front and pressures from the Feds running rampant, more and more doctors are shying away from prescribing the more "looked at" meds and rejecting patients who might actually need such.
In the dream, there were no drugs or doctors. The dream censor had it switched around to a city setting in which I was participating in some sort of tournament. The nature of the sport didn't matter. What did count was where we contestants slept at night. All of us were from out of town. The practice had been for three or four tournament types to be put up at a resident's home for a single night, maybe two or three in some cases. But suddenly there was no homeowner or landlord willing to accommodate even one overnight guest. The entire city had decided to turn against us Evil Lowlife Tournament Types.
This does not necessarily mean that there's no chance whatsoever of finding a right doctor for Pam, but it could well be trying to tell me that such a person does not exist in our current hometown and/or county, which is where we've been trying. That interpretation received reinforcement this afternoon as I was buying live crickets to feed our leopard gecko. The lady who always waits on me is a jewel and fast becoming a true friend. She strongly recommended Tucson as a source of quality physicians.
We shall see. Driving to Tucson would add another eighty miles round trip each time Pam had a doctor's appointment, a bit of a pain but really no big. Either way, the results of our last ditch M.D. Search will provide material for a few more Hubs at the very least. To pharaphrase a well known saying, You can't lose 'em all.
Thanks for reading,
Ghost32
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And thanks to you. Compliments from one's peers always welcome.
Something like this is so difficult for someone like me to even begin to comprehend surrounded as we are with doctors of every specialisation - and all at such affordable prices - not to mention the prices of drugs which are also so reasonable. I do hope you get the right doctor and the right care - it seems such a shame for her to have to go through this - for you too!
Thanks, Shalini. Guess maybe it is a shame at that...otherwise known as karma, no doubt.:D
Hey Ghost, find my hub on flu cure...there are herbs in that mixture which will stop the phlem.....and ease the cough as well.....try the cinnamon and honey cure for the pain....works on my degnerative arthritis....all in hub somewhere in my profile, as we are not supposed to leave links, they are in there.....Hope they help....I swear by them!!! Y'all have a great day!!!
Thanks; I'll check 'em out. As for cinnamon and honey, Pam does use them both--though she's a tad sensitive to honey and can't use much without regretting it.
Nice Hub - Thumbs up :)
Thanks. We did finally find a reasonably workable M.D. to be Pam's doctor--or rather she did. One name kept coming to mind, and that guy actually worked out. Sort of.
But it didn't happen until late in the year. She was absolutely without any prescription medication whatsoever for about 6 months. How she survived that, neither one of us will ever know.
Hi Ghost,
Do not give up. If you are down to the last straw, try researching MMS.(Jim Humble)
I have seen some amazing results with this stuff, however exercise extreme caution as this stuff is powerful.
Also check out DMSO (and a documentary on "60 minutes")
Thanks for the suggestions. We've actually tried both (MMS and DMSO)...and Pam can tolerate neither.
That's terrible.
If I was rich I'd help you out.
Coming off drugs like Effexor, ativan, and others cold turkey is very bad. I think a doctor that would cut her off without supervised and managed withdrawel, may even be criminal.
Thanks for the empathy. Fortunately, Pam currently (as of November, 2010) has a pretty workable regimen and a double-barreled doctor situation that does the trick. She was back on Effexor for a while but HAD TO go cold turkey (again) ON HER OWN (We don't let any doctor "manage" anything; it's her body and she-plus-me knows it far better than any sawbones ever will.) But the reason she had to do that was simple: She suddenly began manifesting drastic side effects including full body jerks.
But in the meantime, she'd gone through a mental health program we got from a TV offer that helps reduce and/or eliminate anxiety, panic attacks, and/or depression. She ACED that thing (I facilitated the program--my educational and some of my career background is in psychology.)...and for some months now she's been literally a "new person".
Plus, she now has both a doctor for physical condiditions with whom she works well...AND a shrink she really appreciates. Both of them actually listen to her, which is a remarkable improvement from just one year ago.
We are so lucky here with the NHS.If over 60 or in chronic conditions the drugs are free or reduced charge.I don't know how you manage over there.I hope that will improve.
Kathryn, I glad you're happy with what you've got--but, in all honesty, a whole lot of us here don't want ANY part of socialized medicine. When our Patrick Henry (back in Revolutionary days) said, "Give me Liberty or give me Death!" he meant it.
So do we.
And that means, quite literally,
"Give me Liberty or give me Death by untreated disease!"
"Give me Liberty or give me Death by an oppressor's bullet!"
"Give me Liberty or give me Death by any method you prefer!"
I have a tattoo on each forearm. One features a bald eagle (our national symbol) with the motto, "WE COME AS EAGLES". The other depicts the Liberty Bell with the New Hampshire state motto, "LIVE FREE OR DIE".
I was 50 years old when I got those bits of "arm art" because I took the concept very seriously--if I was going to label myself with pen and ink, the label was going to be accurate and meaningful...or why do it at all?
In our opinion--the opinion of most Constitutional conservatives in America, that is--our government should not be involved in health care in any way, shape, or form.
The liberals here believe otherwise, of course. It is in a real sense an all-out war between us...and there can be no compromise.
I must admit that puzzles me.You can of course pay for private care here,but I would find it very worrying to live with all those worries about medicine that you describe.We are all dependent on other people when we live in any society.I don't like to think of all your suffering with the above problems.I don't understand why our kind of system is considered so bad.I am free to starve myself to death.What does that mean?Even Conservatives live in a society with one hopes, police,firefighters etc.You are not living in thje Wild West now!!
Is it better for Pam to die than for the USA to have a basic medicine system for all?I don't get it.
Kathryn, I really don't expect you to be able to fully grasp the concept--from the time of King George III, Great Britain has tended toward "security" while we colonists tended toward "liberty". Where the twain can meet, it's a good thing, but often they do not...and in fact cannot. In many ways, they're quite antithetical.
However, there's another aspect to the entire situation. Rejecting government control of health care is NOT, for us, rejecting health care altogether. BESIDES the issue of freedom, we believe that government administration of any program is inefficient. It must be utilized for national defense; there is no getting around that.
Howver, medicine is another matter. Many, many tax dollars have to be collected for one dollar to come back to the patient in benefits. Additionally, government involvement encourages price padding on the part of medical personnel.
Let me address both issues.
Firstly, though Pam is the first to say (and mean) that death is preferable to slavery--which is how we see socialized medicine, whether or not the patient is conscious of the enslavement--that does not mean she is without care. She now has, for example, a doctor who is of his own free will (no government coercion) charging her VERY little per visit (I won't list the dollar figure, but you'd be amazed)...just to help out because he knows our situation and that we pay as we go.
We also have extensive knowledge of alternative healing methods. In fact, in late 2005, Pam was dying. She was on antibiotics for a flu-like infection, but no matter how heavy the dosage--and her M.D. at that time willingly went far beyond recommended amounts--the disease was still getting ahead of her. By the time I figured out a natural germ-killer I could buy online and got it delivered, she was very close to being in a coma.
Adding the Internet-purchased item to the antibiotics brought her back to the land of the living in very, very short order.
But none of that--NONE of that--was due to government help. Private citizens working together in the free market, yes. Not the nanny state.
Now, as to price padding: I saw a striking example of this when I was in my 20s. I was working night shift in an underground mine when an accident split my left index finger wide open. The next morning, after the doctor's office opened in our small Montana town, I went to see the doc. He'd been our family doctor growing up, we'd NEVER had insurance, and he'd always done a fine job for us.
That day he tried NOT to do so. Knowing that Workers' Compensation would reimburse him, he tried to force me to come back in to have the butterfly bandage replaced--but all he'd done was soak the wound in Epsom Salt water, which I understood quite well, and then wrap it. Nothing else, not even a stitch required.
I refused, knowing he knew better and that he was showing his greed by trying to go for that government payount. It ticked me off royally. He was adamant...but on his way out of the exam room door, he heard me yell at his back,
"YOU MIGHT AS WELL GIVE ME THOSE (extra) BANDAGES!! YOU KNOW I'M NOT COMING BACK!!"
He gave in..but he'd tried really, really hard to "earn" an unnecessary two or three additional government payouts at about $25 per.
I didn't trust government intrusion in the insurance field then--more than 40 years ago--and I don't trust it now.
A "basic medicine system for all", as you term it, would give government absolute control over AT LEAST another 1/6 of our entire economy. I, and millions of other determined Americans, have no intention of allowing that to happen.
But I can't expect you, who have lived with NHS all along, to "get it". It's outside of your experience and must seem as alien as any twenty-legged critter from outer space. Nor would I expect you to understand our country's fierce determination to keep our Second Amendment right to own firearms.
Um...about the Wild West. Some of us ARE living in it now. Yes, we have law enforcement folks--but when you live a mere mile from the Mexican border as we do, you'd better be prepared to defend your home and your loved ones in a pinch. The Border Patrol and local Deputies will get there as fast as they can if there's trouble, but it might not be fast enough.
Well,that makes it somewhat clearer.I suppose I am affected as my granny died in 1924 after her 6th child.They could not afford a doctor,Grandad was a coal miner.He brought up his 6 children alone and was delighted when our NHS was started as he didn't want more women to die like that.No system will be absolutely perfect but if you are happy with yours that is good.
I can certainly see how your family history would affect your viewpoint on the NHS!
Thank you.I hope Pam keeps up her spirits.You should write a book.you are very eloquent
Thanks, Kathryn. Pam's tough; her spirits are generally pretty good.
As for books, I wrote my first complete science fiction novel in 1975, though it wasn't published until 1982. It's long been out of print, but the last time I Googled it, there were still a few copies floating around out there. (If you search it by title and my name, that is: "Ptolia Book I Fred Baker".)
The sequel, Dwagelia Rises, is harder to find. The series was always planned as a trilogy...but I've never yet written Book III, The Ganeshan Claim. Figured out that distribution and marketing were a lot trickier than the writing part.
Tales of a Golden Heart, an anecdotal autobiography, is mentioned online but not easily found--which is probably good, since it has more than 35 typos (due to my stupidly doing my own proofreading--won't make that mistake again).
And, here at HubPages, about the first 1/3 of a science fiction novel written with Pam (my typing, but a number of the plot ideas are hers, as is the core personality of the top female therein). That's titled The Seeder. If you look it up, it's really a good idea to start with the first chapter.
Decided not to keep adding chapters (about 31 or so are on here now) due to low viewership. The readers who like them REALLY like them, but science fiction fans are and always have been a tiny slice of the overall reading public.
Thank you.I'll take a look.Happy New Year when it comes
Back atcha, Kathryn. You inspired me to reread those 31 chapters, too, by the way. Looked over the first 4 yesterday and caught half a dozen minor typos--so, thanks!
That is good news!I am pleased for you.
Some drug companies will help provide medicine which are needed. Your pharmacist should be able to help you identify which ones will help with which meds. Discount prices, they get a tax write-off.
Been there, done that. Mostly, no help despite they hype--but the few exceptions have been worth the hassle.
Firstly, though Pam is the first to say (and mean) that death is preferable to slavery--which is how we see socialized medicine.
------------------------------
Sorry, I know that everyone is entitled to an opinion but that little bit just there almost left me speechless!!
Anyway, I wish nothing but the best for her, however she gets her treatment.
Didn't mean to leave you speechless, but that's precisely how we see it.
Thanks for the good wishes. :)
It's okay, I've got my voice back now, it is strange how two countries that share so much can be so very, very different, isn't it.
We do tend to view the American way of life as somewhat undemocratic in this respect, we believe in freedom and equality for all, regardless of social or economic status. As such it is very difficult for us to understand the inequality the US health system represents. Good quality, free health care is very important to us and to see it denied to so many in a western world country appears almost unbelievable.
There are a lot of people, even in the U.S., who share your view.
The interesting thing here is that the destitute are NOT denied free health care, the well off (or for the most part, the gainfully employed) have reasonable access, and only "the folks in the middle" get squeezed, at least as it stands today. If you're dead broke and can prove it, most states will put you on the rolls for Medicaid.
But if you do have some income--though perhaps not enough to cover private insurance premiums--you may well be "disqualfied" for Medicaid, which is the "hole" in which Pam and I currently dwell.
Which does not mean she goes without care. Knowing we are self-pay, Pam's physicians and pharmacy all charge the lowest prices possible--not the tiny tax-dollar-supported "copay" of public health but a significant set of discounts nonetheless.
I also don't believe in democracy per se but in a Constitutional Republic. Every time a politician goes on TV to rant about our "democracy", I cringe. Our Constitution supports our right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"--not LONG life.
Regarding my own health (considered separately from Pam's), I have no regular physician and don't need one, being highly body-aware and a longtime student of alternative health methods. When I do need an M.D.--such as early 2006, when I had a hernia repaired and figured doing my own surgery might be a bit of a stretch--I met with a surgeon just long enough to work things out.
It was done under local anesthesia, with negotiated pricing for both the doctor and the hospital. I was in at 8:00 a.m., out by 11:00 a.m. Paid the doctor up front, had set up with the hospital to make payments--but lucked out and was able to pay them in full within a couple of weeks. Total cost including everything: $3200.
I doubt many "usual" surgeries of that type are accomplished for that price. The waste when you run things through insurance is truly astounding.
Fred, the way you were able to negotiate the cost of a hernia operation down to a mere $3200 is how things used to be done when I was a kid, before medical "insurance" became the greedy monster it is today. Getting medical care was similar to buying a car: the doctor showed you the car he thought fit your needs, you said 'Do you have one without all those bells and whistles?' or 'I can only afford one that cost this amount...what's on the lot in that price range?', and a solution satisfactory to both sides would be worked out.
It was when the patient receiving the care was eliminated from the price negotiation process that the cost of health care skyrocketed. The quite reasonable $900-$2,000 total bill (doctor and hospital) for an outpatient D&C for which the patient walked into the hospital at 10 a.m. and went home 4 hours later became $64,000 for the hospital alone!
Even more mind-boggling is that the hospital routinely uses a complicated system of creative bookkeeping to reduce or write off many of the charges, so the patient's insurance was only billed for (and paid) a "mere" $32,000. Highway robbery any way you look at it.
Exactly!
In 1966, my first wife and I worked the summer together on the same freeway fence construction crew. We used my wages (around $3 per hour if memory serves) for living and college expenses when I returned to school in the fall. She banked as much of hers as possible.
When your first daughter was born in June of 1967, the $500 she'd saved paid for EVERYTHING.
Fast forward that to today, say the wages were a healthy $18 per hour = 600% inflation. That would come out to $3,000 for the birthing, hospital stay, doctor and all.
$500 was around what the birth of my first daughter cost for the OB, delivery, my room and the baby's stay in nursery...for 3 days. Now I'm told the bill for all of that but only ONE night in the hospital for mom and baby is around $10,000. My, how times have changed. ;D
Time to bring back the postal service we had when I was growing up in Montana--RFD: Rural Free Delivery! LOL!
Yep. lol!
topstuff 2 years ago
Nice hub.thanks