Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Rant

When I woke up this morning and read my comments from yesterday, I had a comment from a new reader to my blog, a wonderful young woman with a young family, that has a whole lot going on in her life, as all young mothers should and do. The problem? She lives with excruciating back pain. She is only in her thirties, like my youngest sister who called me yesterday in tears, she was unable to get up from her bed and take care of my three year old niece, and her husband had to be home from work, again. I spoke with my most wonderful older sis over the weekend, and she had spent several days in bed with her back...and my own mother is once again in horrendous pain, and having more tests on her back today. You all know and love Soul, and know that she deals with pain from her back daily, so much so that it's debilitating. Another new blog that I visit daily, is a very beautiful young woman that just had the same surgery that I did, Foster Communications, and while I have no idea how she will fare after healing, there is a pretty good bet that she will have some lasting effects. My point? This back pain and trouble is ridiculous. There should be more help available to those with these issues, and I'm finding more and more folks that cannot even live their lives because of it. I never hear of any sort of breakthroughs in the medical field for anything like this, but maybe I am just not listening in the right areas. I do know that the amount of money charged for anything back related is absurd, and sometimes I believe that people are pulled into it for the money alone. I am getting the bills from my surgery now,(thank God for health insurance) and I knew it would be alot. I didn't think it would be more than fifty-thousand dollars, though. That is literally absurd. Remember that I was in the hospital one night. ONE NIGHT. The actual surgery lasted less than two hours. That's pretty good money, when you consider that the hardware that was put into my neck could have been purchased at Home Depot for a buck thirty-two. I read about people that are suffering, and I honestly do mean suffering, with back issues, no longer able to work, no longer able to do anything, and it seems that so many have even no doctors that are willing to help them. Unbelievable. Honestly, it is. If these folks had cancer, there would be doctors falling all over them to help. Cancer--why would I say that? Because it can be as bad as that, only it won't kill you. Enough said.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can believe it. There are too many people that believe back pain is not "serious" enough to be dealt with. But without a strong back..ALL the things we take for granted simply can not be done. Good rant Jamie!

SOUL said...

ya, jamie-- if we had the damn strength to do it--we should band together and have a fricken million back / chronic pain people march -- just so these idiots could see just how many people really are affected by this-- or should i say "NEGLECTED"? cuz that's what it is.
ya.. very well said.. too bad it won't reach the proper ears.
hope you have a better day than lately-
ox

SOUL said...

ps--- that's a new pic of OS-- much different lookin.. of course it was a distant profile pic b4. you do have some good lookin kids...too bad i'm not twenty years younger :))

anyhow.. i meant to tell you-- my cpu is fine. soulman checked it out all is good.. k?

take care
byeeeee
0
x

Karen said...

Hey Jamie, I'm delighted to see that Kelly Jene came to see you. I really feel for her having such a young family and having to try and soldier on. I thought maybe the two of you could chat and keep each others spirits up. It's hard for the rest of us to imagine what it's like but I for one do try. I don't blame you for being angry. You have every right and $50,000 is an absurd amount of money for one night.

Aussies get a good deal. If we need medical attention, we get it whether we have insurance or not. When I was pregnant with my girls and was in hospital for 7 weeks it didn't cost me a cracker. I had scans once a week, bloods taken every 2 days, monitoring of the babies several times a day AND a private room. They treated me like a queen and every bit as well as someone who did have insurance. I guess we really are the lucky country.

Mary said...

I shudder to think of all the people living a limited life in chronic pain. Not to mention those either directly or indirectly impacted. I agree that research $$ aren't always properly allocated based on need. Spinal injuries/trauma affects millions. It would be cost effective to spend $$ finding cures/fixes. Think of the savings that would come to other areas if those affected were restored to a pain free life. Cost savings/avoidances are the least of the issues here. Compassion for those suffering every day of their life alone should dictate attention to these issues. Oh my goodness, I re-read what I just wrote and realized I'm on my soap box. Sorry. I'll step down now and wish you a comfortable day.

Dave said...

Chronic pains can never be judged by those who have never experienced it.

Now for medical expenses.... I am surprised that there is even enough money in the world to cover all the operations done in a 24 hour period let alone on an ongoing basis.

Thanks God for medical insurance in the States. We in Canada are very fortunate for our Government health plans... We never see a bill for any doctor's or hospital visit.

I truly feel for those who have no way of seeing a doctor without writing a check from their bank account.

Hope all goes well with you.

Golden To Silver Val said...

That's my daughter's life...chronic back pain that has made her lose her job. She's had the surgeries and they help for a while but she has to be on pain meds and so she has to see a pain management doctor. We have found that doctors often don't believe you when you say you have back pain, as it can't be proven or disproved. She's actually been accused of doing this only for the pain meds. (blame the addicts for that). Its just awful and I could go on and on, but if you suffer like this, I'm sure you already know it. My heart goes out to everyone who has this.

Portia said...

It is amazing with all that we know, how little we still know. (And by we I don't really mean me.)

Moohaa said...

Amen. It's so frustrating and helpless. My husband and I agreed tonight that we will now go into debt and start pushing someone to help me. Lord, help us. It's pathetic that it comes down to that.

I'm glad Gypsy pulled me over.

Maria said...

This is precisely why I am for national health insurance. Too many people neglected. And you have good insurance. I have seen so many who don't and what do they do? Bite on a stick when the pain gets so bad that they cannot bear it?

It is a disgrace that in a nation such as ours we don't have good health insurance for every citizen AND more research involving chronic pain.