Ouch

[s1m0n]

After a sudden trip to ER, a couple of shots of morph*ne, the same again of dilaud*d, and a CT scan of my privates, the puzzled med student and his boss the ER doc decided that I must have passed a g*ll stone I didn't know I had, and sent me home. All I can say is "Ouch". And feel half proud and half foolish that I had described the pain as a 7, which meant I had to go on feeling it for another hour or so. If I'd said 10, the way everyone else (apparrently) does, they'd have broken out the morph*ne a lot sooner. And welcome it would have been, let me tell you.

But what I walked out at 4:30 a.m. thinking was that last evening was a really good night to be Canadian. If I was from Seattle rather than Vancouver, I'd have been without insurance since the non-profit I've been working for succumbed to the economic climate a few months back, which means that I'd have had to decide last night at about 11:30 or so whether it was hurting bad enough yet to be worth destroying my credit rating, or not.

*A no doubt vain attempt to fool google so we don't get spammed endlessly with online pharm*cy ads.

[mutepointe]

It's the morphine talking. Why would you want socialized health care just so that the old people in your life who probably already receive socialized health care but don't seem to acknowledge this will have to live in fear that the government agent is going to come kill them next because you've used up their ration of health care.

[devondancer]

Glad you are feeling b*tt*r!

[anniemcu]

Oooowwwoooooooooooooooooch!

Glad you had the option to get it taken care of. Hope I don't face that 'need but cannot afford healthcare' sitch again soon. It stinks!

[Celtpastor]

Oooooh, I'm truly feeling with Ya...
However - I would like sooo much to discuss this subject further... So many good points pro general&free health care in my mind, so many nice&nasty remarks against it's opponents... But, well - this is not proctology... Ooooh, it's itching so much...

[pipersgrip]

Ouch, how awful. I hope you are recovering quickly.

[cowtime]

Glad it all worked out for you.

(all kidding aside, I am glad that you are feeling better- I'm told gall stones are no fun)

[Lambchop]

Oh, dear! I'm sorry you had to go through that, but I'm glad you're ok. Kidney stones are miserable on the way out. Next time, remember they're rated at a "10." Always.

[chrisoff]

Ouch indeed.

[Innocent Bystander]

Just think of poor old Pepys, who, after he had his kidney-stones cut out of him, celebrated the surgeon with a good dinner on the anniversary of the occasion for the rest of his life.

Good to know you are better, Simon.

[tansy]

gal stones = a prefect 10
glad that's over for ye Simon

[Nanohedron]

*A no doubt vain attempt to fool google so we don't get spammed endlessly with online pharm*cy ads.

So far, so good. As I write this the banner ad is flogging whistles and helicopter balloons, whatever those are.

I have heard of these horrid little things called gallstones. Also so far, so good.

[Pammy]

eeekkkk You poor little thing. Glad it's over for you

[Doug_Tipple]

I'm glad you're feeling better, Simon.

My wife just went through a similar ordeal with a trip to ER and an overnight stay in the hospital. With chest pains they treated her for a possible heart attack first, and the surgical procedure where they pass a small camera through a vein into the heart turned out negative. More tests and finally surgery to remove the gall stones. The bill for what I have just described was over $40,000. I am thankful that we had insurance that paid the complete bill except for our small copayment. However, my wife didn't have health insurance until just a few months before the gall stone incident. It would have been a financial disaster for us to have had to cover the expenses with our retirement savings.

My wife tells me of similar times in her life when she did not have health insurance. She laid in bed with severe pain, thinking all the time that she was going to die. She felt that she couldn't afford to go to the emergency room for treatment. The fact that so many people in this rich country are in a similar situation is a shameful reminder of just how far we have to go to create a life-affirming society.

[dwest]

So ya didn't even get an ERCP with pictures to show us, huh? See that's the problem with socialized medicine, no good pictures.