The Medical Thread

Because I'm actually going to a doctor.

Achievement unlocked - my cholesterol apparently broke the meter. So in a year I've managed to roll from a little high to catastrophe. That sounds maybe a little off to me, but we'll find out tomorrow.

I have no clue. Appointment isn't until tomorrow. I'm sure as hell terrified off my ass, though, so maybe this will give me the necessary inertia to make some permanent changes. I've certainly got the mass element of that equation down. I just got done doing an half an hour on the goddamn stupid exercise bike and I'm about to eat a fucking thrilling goddamn salad and some piece of fruit or another. The trick will be making this stick. Might have to rejigger my travel plans for the short term to avoid giving myself an excuse to stop. The lady said triglycerides were over 1600 if that's any indication.

Of course, there's also the possibility that the beers and late snack (maybe seven hours or so in advance) I had the night before the extraction could have thrown the results off. I'm thinking that almost has to be the case to some extent, given that my triglycerides were a little over 300 a year ago and I've changed virtually nothing about my lifestyle. I'm also going to experiment with kicking all liquor for the duration between now and the next check (after I make him retest me) to see what influence that has, because one actual change that I did actually make was the introduction of whiskey nightcaps. No more than two to three big jigglers of it, mind you, but it's one of the few changes (the other being the ingestion of psyllium fiber supplement pills to prove to this moron that his super powerful herbal supplement wasn't doing anything unique).

It's probably wumpus.

My latest doctor appointment told me that my blood pressure was too low.

Yes, really.

The first number was 90, yes. Don't remember the second.

I have rather low blood pressure, too. Runs in the family. The good news is that you can have as many salty snacks as you like!

And I am a mutant. Officially. Type 4 mutation or some nonsense. So now I get to take prescription strength fish oil forever. So, what is that:

Type 1 Diabetes
Hypothyroidism
Allergies
Aspergers
and now I have a blood type of "gravy?"

The fuck, mom?

Congratulations, you are now 90% of the internet. Welcome to the majority. I think they have cards.

I was on this for almost 2 years - called Lovaza. It lowered my triglycerides from 350 to 90 (while losing weight at the same time).

Since this is the medical thread, perhaps I can interest you in this especially gruesome brain disease that affects an estimated 2000 Americans and millions worldwide?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If so, that can be hunted. It's dangerous, and you have to kind of shoot blindly, but you can get a basic feel for the proper direction, if you are real careful. Check for blood spots on the ground.

I wasn't a fan of pork before, but yeah, I think I can understand why some religions just outright ban that shit.

*uncontrollable sobbing and rocking back and forth*

That's both profoundly disturbing and utterly fascinating.

And here I thought nothing could creep me out worse than botfly larvae.

Remember that you asked.

Toxoplasmosis might bother me more if I didn't already think that cats were parasites.

One of the cool things about my apartment building is the gym in the basement with, among other things, a set of free weights and both a speed bag and heavy bag for boxing practice (which according to MyFitnessPal is about the best calisthenic exercise out there). One downside, however, is that me being me occasionally I forget to tape my hands before going down and working on the bags. From a former boxer's perspective, you do this not only for protection from abrasions and minor impact, but it also helps keep your hands in the proper position for punching, as well as providing a degree of wrist support.

Which of course, today I did not do. And the result was as such. (Picture of knuckles and not the echidna follows behind cut)

As determined after a few hours of rest and ice, nothing's broken. That middle knuckle there's swollen up to a decent size, though. Lesson learned, kids. Don't do your workout angry and forget basic safety preparations.

Owwwwww.

I'm having some fun post gall bladder surgery. Today the surgeon told me I shouldn't be having this much pain, so Friday I get to do a CT scan of my guts. Three bottles of "berry barium smoothie", plus an iodine IV. Joy. And tomorrow morning I get to have bloodwork done. And since Quatoria and I just moved to a new town, we've got to find new doctors. And the surgery was in our old town, so I'm driving back and forth for the surgeon appointments and the CT scan. At least I can do the bloodwork in our new town. I hate moving.

Edit: Moving this post here so as not to clusterfuck the interesting thread.

Sorry for inadvertently making this thread somewhat (temporarily) political. I'm just upset and trying to navigate the seemingly endless "none more black" depths of insurance (to figure out how screwed we are) is only serving to make me more upset. :(

The cost estimate for the CT is less than $1,000. My insurance estimate top-end is $891, low-end $641. (I wish my doctor had ordered a CT immediately following the inconclusive ultrasound, but he didn't.) I expect this to be accurate considering I wasn't given the scan at the ER, but at the imaging place adjacent to the ER that is owned by the same company that owns the ER. That means the rest of it is being eaten up by the ER. The emergency room is a stand-alone, fully functional ER that was opened across from a brand new hospital - you guessed it, to compete with it - that is a lot nicer than the ER at the hospital it is under the umbrella of. There was no line and, aside from the guy who got stung by a scorpion, I was the only patient in there the entire time. The ER visit was ordered by my doctor's partner (who was overseeing my care at the time) due to the (1) severe pain I was in and (2) I had begun exhibiting symptoms that were indicative of some sort of abnormal appendicitis (one where the appendix was inflaming my bladder) that was in the process of rupturing. I try to own my health, do my due diligence in researching every aspect of my care and treatment, but I feel like you should get a pass when it feels like someone's taking a fire poker to your guts and it makes your brain so stupid you keep repeatedly pronouncing "abdomen" as "adominable". It's just a clusterfuck of a situation.

TheTrunkDr, this isn't the answer you are looking for, but I need to answer it, so indulge me if you will: ten years ago I was still on my parents' insurance, so I would have gone to the doctor and not worried about the cost; five years ago I didn't have insurance, so I would have risked "dying" (because I was either stupid or depressed or both) or waiting until someone, most likely a parent or grandparent, volunteered to help with the cost versus being put into bankruptcy; now, I have a family and for the first time in my life feel like I have actual, attainable dreams and goals that make it completely not worthwhile to do the cost/benefit analysis of suffering through the pain or risking potential death vs going to the doctor and risking a massive insurance bill - so I just go to the doctor and worry about money later. I will likely incur four or five thousand dollars worth of debt out of this, it might prevent us from making a move we have spent the last year planning and saving for and it could end up wrecking our living here if we can't move as our living and working situations have all ready been sewn up. On top of that, it will bother me to no end that my doctor's office is unwilling to own their share of that debt, considering this is directly their fault. (Disclaimer: I understand that the human body is an imperfect machine and that medicine is an imperfect science.) To make matters worse, my wife's "best insurance in the corporate world" (as considered by just about everybody who doesn't actually stop and think about it) is getting markedly worse next year despite the company being in one of the best financial positions it has ever been: employee premiums likely going to $100/month, spouse/deps to $150+/month, deductible to $4000+/yr+15% increase/yr, oop to $10,000+/yr+15% increase/yr, HCRA reduced to $1,300/yr... and that's the best case scenario, as employees haven't voted on the plan yet. I realize that's not the worst insurance in the world, but it's wiping every raise she's ever gotten, including promotions, right off the books and making insurance essentially useless to us - nearly unaffordable every month and one major emergency or illness is still lifelong debt territory.

Taking all of that into consideration I do not see how anyone could conclude that a person would be anything other than relieved at not having to worry about anything but their health when they are sick, injured, etc. (That's not a snipe at you, Trunk! It's merely a statement.) The monetary aspect of this ordeal has now caused me more anguish and has lasted for longer than the actual illness has and that will not cease anytime in the near (or far, considering our finances) future. People who are dealing with the medical industry are dealing with it because their bodies or minds have been broken and they need to mend - burdening them with additional and unnecessary weight, all under the guise of not wanting to harm the fragile free market or some other such bullshit, is cruel. It reeks of the same corrupt protectionism as the English landlords were afforded during the Irish potato famine - nevermind that millions of people are forced to make the choice between dying or losing their homes, or end up losing their homes and then dying anyway - except that I'm fairly sure Victorian era Liberals had better PR than their American counterparts.

And I'm done complaining. Sorry guys. Let's return this thread back to its regularly scheduled program.

You can definately set up a repayment plan, but I think the bigger issue is that a lot of insurance has gone into the territory where you end up responsible for relatively big chunks of money. What is being removed from a lot of insurance plans is coverage for chronic or small/medium events. So you are responsible for a relatvively small portion of a catastrophic health problem and you are covered if you are healthy and just have regular checkups, but things spiral quickly out of control in that middle ground. Depending on income, of course. A $5000 medical bill is annoying if you make 10+ times that in a year but its a financial disaster if you make half of that.

I have what is called a 'high deductible' insurance plan, and it sure sounds like you do to. They key to managing it is that I use a HSA so the costs don't come (directly) out of my pocket, but that account I put money into (pre-tax out of my paycheck). They key is to build that up before using it so that there is a buffer big enough to swallow that deductible. This can be difficult, and a $10,000 deductible is horribly high (mine is $2,400 for my wife and I, and would not change if we had kids). We hit that max out of pocket the first year I had it (which is $6,800) so I know how much of an ass kick that can be. Two years hence I am still trying to manage it, but am getting better. The relative good news about an HSA over an FSA is that you don't lose the money at the end of the year and can carry it over. It will also earn nominal interest so it doesn't depreciate (faster) if you don't need to use it.

I hope this helps for the future, not sure if it's what you were looking for, though.

This is going to seem silly, but I figure I'd troll for some advice. I got a pretty nasty bruise on my forearm and I haven't had a bruise for awhile. It hasn't hurt all that much, though some sharp pain seems to be popping up near the edges where it's spreading. I also haven't noticed much swelling if any and of course and I can still use my hand which I guess is a good sign.

But over the past few days, the dirty coloration under the skin has gone nearly to my wrist and the veins are showing underneath in dark purple. I assume that's pooling blood, but the darkening veins seem to be extending (and growing) beyond the area of impact. It's now approaching my elbow.

Should I be worried? Will I become a zombie?

Edit: It was silly. It looks a lot better under normal daylight. Though, it looks a lot lighter in the picture too. Anyway, last night I was just tweaking by letting my paranoia get to me. Now I know it's normal for bruises to migrate and that was my main concern.

Yeah, I'd get it looked at. How did you get the bruise? If it is unexplained, then definitely get it looked at - I'd be concerned about your coagulation function if it is unexplained,

Oh it's explained. I did something boneheaded, but not in a ha-ha-awesome way. I don't think it's helping that I find myself resting my head on it when I sleep. I'll keep an eye on it over the next week as I want to avoid the cost of going to a doctor. The minimum at the local clinic is still 30 bucks.

Thanks for the advice!

Ah ok. Yeah, just keep it elevated where you can. That will help a lot with the bruising.

You can probably call a nurse-advice-hotline thing at your local hospital. I've gotten a mixed bag of information but it can come in handy.

at least post a photo of it so we can all say "ewwwwww".

Hurt my finger on Friday. (yes, i went to a doctor)

Pic of said finger:

https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=F4C14A6EB9D0535D!339&authkey=!AM7Snq5MVwiR1pM
It doesn't look too bad, the lower part there is the other 1/3 of my fingernail, and still attached to a good chunk of my flesh.

Typing is a pain, i have to go back to hunt and peck.

Ouch! Hope you have a speedy recovery. :)