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?
Yeah, back in February, I had that horrible cough during Middle Earth Madness and didn't know what it was. I went to a clinic in Glendale and I was so dehydrated that in the waiting room, I started to feel lightheaded, like I was about to pass out (less than a month earlier, I'd had the 24-hour stomach flu that left me so dehydrated I actually did pass out in the kitchen). So I was laying down in the waiting room to aid my circulation, afraid to sit up. It felt like it took forever, which was annoying, because I'd called ahead and they'd said I didn't need an appointment; I could just show up.
ReplyDeleteFinally, the doctor sees me and he says the oxygen level in my blood is way down and I need to hydrate, and he thinks I either have the flu or pneumonia, and he could give me the anti-pneumonia stuff or something, but he didn't want me to have to pay out of pocket for the X-ray. I was like holy shit doc, give me the fucking X-ray; I will find a way to pay for it. The whole time I was waiting for the results, I was thinking of Bernie Mac and Jim Henson. It just turned out I had the flu, so I was couch-ridden for a week, popping gross antibiotics and stuff. And they gave me a little discount on the bill, which I think was because they saw how awful I felt in the waiting room.
But yeah, it's so crazy how doctors are RECOMMENDING that people not get useful tests just because they're expensive. I may not have all the money in the world, but I think I can move some things around for a timely picture of the inside of my fucking lungs!
Hope they figure this thing out soon. And stay hydrated! :)
-d
Poor You, I didn't know all this! Are you better now! I have to play devil's advocate though, because I have seen both sides:
ReplyDeleteI do think that it was kind of Dr A to consider the fact that you didn't have insurance, though he should have been upfront about the cost, the necessity and what your options were. What would have been more frustrating is if he ran a whole bunch of tests, found nothing, and slapped you with a big bill.
Having worked in an emergency room, I have had to make a poor girl wait 12 hours with a broken toe because there were drunk people and drug overdoses in front of her, which doesn't seem fair. The main reason that ERs and free clinics can have such a long wait and are so inefficient (reason no.1 that I don't work in one anymore) is because people don't have good insurance or primary care doctors so they use the ER as their Drs office. Let me know if you need help finding an insurance that will accept a pt with pre eclampsia.
I do think that Dr A sounds good, like he is considering your whole situation and trying to make it easier for you, to the best of his ability. You would be surprised at how many people would rather have a crappy spleen than pay for an MRI or labs drawn.
I could go on and on about the sad state of Medical Care, but what's most important to me is that you are feeling better now. I hope you are. Love you,
me