I hate to use this blog as a platform to complain, but lately being sick has taken over my life. I've had a fever for over three weeks now, and what started out as something that looked like the flu has become much more serious. Like many Americans, I don't have health insurance (I had pre-eclampsia while I was pregnant with Burrito so I was turned down as that was a "pre-existing condition), and that dictated what I did to seek medical care. Day 3 of my fever I went to the CVS Minute Clinic as I had before for a sinus infection. That's were I was diagnosed with the flu. For that I was prescribed anti-viral medication costing $100. At the time I was pretty miserable, with my fever running as high as 102, so I thought I should get the anti-virals to help purge the flu bug faster.
Three days later I was feeling even worse, and that morning I vomited. I talked to my cousin the nurse and decided I should go to the ER. I went over to the Cedar-Sinai ER that afternoon. I'd never been to the ER before so I had no idea what to expect. My wait time was incredibly short. Five minutes to see the triage nurse and ten minutes to go back to a bed. At that point I was so dehydrated I couldn't give them a urine sample, in fact, it took two IVs before I could give them one. I could tell they were annoyed. They took blood and ran some tests. I had a chest x-ray, and because my neck was hurting, I even got a lumbar puncture to check for meningitis. Everything came back normal so after nearly twelve hours and a hefty bill they sent my home with the diagnosis "viral syndrome." Believe me, I was not pleased to go through all that and be told essentially nothing.
Almost another week went by and I still had a fever, so I got a referral for a doctor from Cedars and made myself an appointment. My visit to Dr. A actually went very well. For the first time it felt like someone believed me that I was sick. He was very upset when he learned why I didn't have health insurance. The only thing I wasn't too happy about was that he decided not to run as many tests as he first wanted to because he didn't want me to have to pay for them. I appreciated his sentiment, but at the same time, I wanted to know why I was sick. The nurse checked the prices of all the tests he wanted to do and as none were more the $20 and there were less than ten that he wanted I said go ahead with all of them. That was a friday, fever day 11. The following Tuesday Dr. A called me just as I was getting in the car to drive to a birthday dinner. He had some distressing news. My liver enzymes numbers were up, and not just a little, up a lot. It was a lot to take in. He suggested I get another chest x-ray because of my cough, and said he would consider running some other tests, but he wasn't sure because of their cost. I took a few days to think about it, and a week later I was back in his office. Fever day 21: Dr. A decided I didn't need a chest x-ray (I agreed), but when he was inspecting me, he discovered that my liver and spleen may be inflamed. I was in need of either an ultrasound or a CT scan. Both of which Dr. A felt were too expensive for me to have to pay for out of pocket. He suggested I go down to the Harbor UCLA medical center in Torrance (an hour away) because it's a free clinic, and he happened to do his residency there.
The next day the bread man and I set out for Torrance. We got there and immediately the headache began. The hospital is under construction, and they were busy, so we had to park a 10 minute walk away from the door. We were greeted inside by a security guard and a metal detector. Right away I knew it was going to be a long day. Signing in and registering took half an hour. Then it was three more hours before I saw someone to take my temperature and blood pressure. And then, because of the nurses making a mistake, I waited another hour to see the triage nurse. At that point I was told I was the next in line for a bed, but it was going to be "a few more hours." By then I had a huge headache, was getting dehydrated (they only had canned soda in the vending machine), and feeling very dizzy and tired. To make matters worse, it felt like the nurses didn't think I was sick enough to be there. So we left. After spending four hours on a folding chair I couldn't take it anymore. I just wanted to lie down in my own bed. In the car on the way home I called Dr. A's office and made another appointment to see him so he can run the tests (it's tomorrow). Maybe it shows how spoiled I am that I wasn't willing to wait, but spending even just one more hour there would have been torture. I think at this point my health and my time are worth whatever the tests cost. And if a CT scan really is that expensive, I'll get one in Cleveland when I go there next week.
Where your health is concerned, is anything really too expensive? What is your health worth? For that matter, what is your life worth?
Three days later I was feeling even worse, and that morning I vomited. I talked to my cousin the nurse and decided I should go to the ER. I went over to the Cedar-Sinai ER that afternoon. I'd never been to the ER before so I had no idea what to expect. My wait time was incredibly short. Five minutes to see the triage nurse and ten minutes to go back to a bed. At that point I was so dehydrated I couldn't give them a urine sample, in fact, it took two IVs before I could give them one. I could tell they were annoyed. They took blood and ran some tests. I had a chest x-ray, and because my neck was hurting, I even got a lumbar puncture to check for meningitis. Everything came back normal so after nearly twelve hours and a hefty bill they sent my home with the diagnosis "viral syndrome." Believe me, I was not pleased to go through all that and be told essentially nothing.
Almost another week went by and I still had a fever, so I got a referral for a doctor from Cedars and made myself an appointment. My visit to Dr. A actually went very well. For the first time it felt like someone believed me that I was sick. He was very upset when he learned why I didn't have health insurance. The only thing I wasn't too happy about was that he decided not to run as many tests as he first wanted to because he didn't want me to have to pay for them. I appreciated his sentiment, but at the same time, I wanted to know why I was sick. The nurse checked the prices of all the tests he wanted to do and as none were more the $20 and there were less than ten that he wanted I said go ahead with all of them. That was a friday, fever day 11. The following Tuesday Dr. A called me just as I was getting in the car to drive to a birthday dinner. He had some distressing news. My liver enzymes numbers were up, and not just a little, up a lot. It was a lot to take in. He suggested I get another chest x-ray because of my cough, and said he would consider running some other tests, but he wasn't sure because of their cost. I took a few days to think about it, and a week later I was back in his office. Fever day 21: Dr. A decided I didn't need a chest x-ray (I agreed), but when he was inspecting me, he discovered that my liver and spleen may be inflamed. I was in need of either an ultrasound or a CT scan. Both of which Dr. A felt were too expensive for me to have to pay for out of pocket. He suggested I go down to the Harbor UCLA medical center in Torrance (an hour away) because it's a free clinic, and he happened to do his residency there.
The next day the bread man and I set out for Torrance. We got there and immediately the headache began. The hospital is under construction, and they were busy, so we had to park a 10 minute walk away from the door. We were greeted inside by a security guard and a metal detector. Right away I knew it was going to be a long day. Signing in and registering took half an hour. Then it was three more hours before I saw someone to take my temperature and blood pressure. And then, because of the nurses making a mistake, I waited another hour to see the triage nurse. At that point I was told I was the next in line for a bed, but it was going to be "a few more hours." By then I had a huge headache, was getting dehydrated (they only had canned soda in the vending machine), and feeling very dizzy and tired. To make matters worse, it felt like the nurses didn't think I was sick enough to be there. So we left. After spending four hours on a folding chair I couldn't take it anymore. I just wanted to lie down in my own bed. In the car on the way home I called Dr. A's office and made another appointment to see him so he can run the tests (it's tomorrow). Maybe it shows how spoiled I am that I wasn't willing to wait, but spending even just one more hour there would have been torture. I think at this point my health and my time are worth whatever the tests cost. And if a CT scan really is that expensive, I'll get one in Cleveland when I go there next week.
Where your health is concerned, is anything really too expensive? What is your health worth? For that matter, what is your life worth?
