it begins here

Random thoughts...

Giving this blog-thing a try. I find it facsinating that you can type random shit and there are millions of people surfing the web that will read it.

Have you ever had a headache? Seriously... and blistering, head-splitter right between the temples. This is me most days. Why me? I don't have a clue. Started back in early March with something that felt like an earache that came and went. Loud noises drove me nuts. I started my HMO regiment to health care during this time. What a riot! First, I was diagnosed with an earache and I got those antibiotics that make your pee stink. I went through this the next week or so and then... nothing, earache and now a headache that came and went. So I went back to my HMO practitioner and we went over my symptoms. We apparently got to the end of his knowledge and he was like," oh you need to see the ear nose and throat doctor". I thought to myself as this guy searched the hospital computer network looking for my illness, this guy is a doctor, more educated than I ever will be, and he was baffled. So a few weeks later, still in some pain, I got to see the ENT doctor. And he determined my biggest fear... "Not my department, its for the Neurologist to look at." Funny, how these HMO's seem like department stores. They are convenient for one stop shopping, but I'll be damned if they'll help you outside of their department. So I, with my ear pain thing and the headaches, got my appointment slip and some more drugs to take home. Drugs are bad, but they are sort of cool in a way. Vicodin helps you forget pain for a few hours. And when you have no pain you feel better. And when you feel better you leave the doctors alone. Unfortunately drugs like Vicodin have side effects, like addiction and paranoia. Paranoia fortunately set in before addiction. I was paranoid that I was addicted. Paranoia set in when I tried to see how long I could go without dropping a Vike before the pain from the headache came back. That is never good. However, the bottle did say, take one tablet every four hours for pain. So if you are in pain within 4 hours what do you do? Wait? They are for pain. Finally, the day came and I saw the Neurologlist. He was nice. He had the goal to test me for everything. I gave 4 viles of blood, had a TB test and I even got a cat scan. I was quite proud actually to take all these tests. I sure hoped a failed at least one, one of the easy ones, like a viral infection or something. But no... I passed. Clean bill of health except for my ear pain/numbness and the afternoon pressure cooker that I call a brain. I got some more Vicodin and "some pills to help me relax (sleep)". WTF was the Vicodin for? And WTF are anti-depressants gonna do? Give a 30 year old man, menopause? Doctors at these HMO's draw me to one conclusion, they give you drugs until you go away. And you either live with euphoria from the drugs or you suffer in line waiting for the next appointment to get more drugs. They call them prescriptions but seriously I think they are grease for the squeaky wheels. I often wonder, 7 months later, after all this started, what my medical bill would be if I didn't have insurance. Thousands? Maybe. Maybe it's cheaper to treat me with drugs than it is to cure me. After all the HMO is trying to make a profit. Maybe I am lucky, I have insurance. There are starving people from China in this country that would love to have my insurance. Free health care for everyone. Ok maybe not, the Chinese grow the opiates to make Vicodin, thus by weakening our economic power with standardized health care for everyone, we'd ship our pharmaceutical jobs over seas to make Vicodin cheaper. Go with me on this. We'd have to buy the tariff ridden drugs back from our former US company that is based in China, with no standardized government health care. Have we not learned that we should not succumb to the power of a weaker Asian economy? Does anyone own a Honda? Could creating a health care plan for all American's to enjoy and the costs that go with it send more jobs over seas to keep costs down? Can you imagine the tax or the cost structure to pay our doctors to keep America healthy? Doctors ain't cheap. The first doctor I saw didn't know shit but I am sure he vacations well. And what about the ENT doc? Or the test giving Neurologist? Those specialists aren't thrifty either. I am sure the best ones don't work for nothing. You think doctors do what they do for the love of it or the money? See what happens when you remove the choice of money. Amazing... I'll stick with my HMO, at least the drugs are cool.