Why didn’t you guys TELL me there was a bad link to Chaz’s shop? Hmmmm??? (I fixed it) And why didn’t I tell you that maybe I could get you a ten percent discount on anything you like there? Maybe. If she lets me.
We saw a movie last night, a French film I took a chance on at Netflicks, called The Choir. We loved it. We also enjoyed Mostly Martha, a German flick from which Without Reservations was taken. Oh, and we’re trying out some BollyWood stuff (love the music). But The Choir? A sweet and sometimes difficult story with wonderful music. Not like BollyWood. Like choir.
I have found out something about Valium. Isn’t that the drug people used to call “mother’s little helper”? Well, if they offer that to you when they are shoving a small tube up the great saphenous vein inside your left leg? Take it. Chew it up (yucky) and take it. I have also found out something else: whatever drug-liking people may think of this stuff, it does nothing for me. Or very little. I will admit, it kind of mellowed out the abject panic I’ve had since I decided to do something about my pregnancy ruined vein. But it didn’t really kick in till Chaz and I hit the bead store on the way home.
She thought I was very funny. I thought my knees were dizzy. But here I am, a few hours later, making sense. (Am I making sense?) And I have great hopes of sleeping very well tonight.
Here is what I hate about dealing with the “health” world:
1) There is a complete separation between the doctor and the price tag. He talks to you and presents these alternatives (I am speaking of experiences I have had over the years), but he doesn’t TELL you that alternative A is going to cost fifty bucks and alternative B is going to cost seven hundred and fifty bucks.
Once, at our old family doctor’s office, this on-staff doctor gave us a big song and dance about a procedure for one of the kid’s ingrown toenail. So we said, “Sure. Why not if it’ll take care of the problem.” He didn’t tell us that it would make the toe look weird for the rest of this kid’s life, or that when we went up to the window to pay, the girl would say, “That’ll be three hundred and seventy five dollars.”
Keep in mind this was like twenty five years ago, so three hundred and seventy five dollars would have bought a lot more then than a family dinner at Olive Garden.
My mouth must have dropped wide open. It doesn’t usually do that. And I said, “NO WAY. I NEVER would have done this if I’d known it would cost this much.” But if I’d asked that doctor, he’d have said, “Duh. I don’t know.” Like did he not sell me on the concept? And he was not the helpful young new age type of doctor who’d be glad to whip down the hall and check on that for you. Luckily, our usual doctor, the one who owned the clinic, liked us and negotiated the price way down. Thus, I did not key his BMW when we left the building to go home.
How many businesses have this model: you walk through the showroom to check out the wares, the salesman explaining the virtues of each product – but there are no price tags. And the salesman has no idea how much any of the things cost. “Just pick out the one that appeals to you. They’ll tell you what to pay when you get to the cashier.” Grocery shopping would really be fun in a place like that, wouldn’t it?
2) When I went to this popular NY dermatologist when I was in college (hoping for dates, and tired of zits), he stuck my face under an X-ray machine and then wanted to give me these shots. I, being a grad student and so no longer afraid of asking questions, said, “What IS this stuff, and what’s it going to do in my body?” This doctor laughed and said to his nurse, “Look who thinks she needs to check up on me.”
3) What do you do when the specialists EVERYBODY recommends aren’t on your insurance list? So much for free will. (And with universal health care, these things will only get worse.)
What I like when I’m healthing it:
I like to be greeted by the office people like they’re glad to see ME. Like I’m not an intrusion on their day. Like they might even be grateful I’m bringing them business, or like they care what happens to me. Or like I’m more interesting than whatever they’re doing on the computer.
I like not to be left waiting and wondering if my file has been lost. I LOVE being offered a drink or something while I wait – but that’s only happened once. Like, today.
And doctors who talk to you like you are a fellow creature. They explain what they’re doing and why. They ask you questions. They ask about your family. And of course, I like people who really, really know what they’re doing and are gentle and deft in the doing of it.
I like when you get an initial exam, and then the doctor sits and TALKS to you, or they have you sit and watch a video that teaches you all about the thing that concerns you, including detailed info about procedures and about meds they might prescribe, including all possible reactions, drawbacks and results – and stats. And recovery times, and what the routines will entail.
I like it when the office girls give you paper work that explains what everything will cost, comparing it side by side and naming the procedures in English rather than in insurance code. So that you know what you will pay. Period. No extra this or that.
In short, I want to know what I’m getting into. I want to understand the science. I want to GET it. I want to know what I’m buying and what I’m paying for it.
And so I am recommending, to any woman whose veins have taken a beating (that would be all women who have ever been pregnant, crossed their legs, had a desk job – well designed, these great saphenous things) The Intermountain Vein Center. So there you are – a great business model, a really swell staff, and a job well done.
Oh, and it helps to have a good luck charm that an angel makes for you so that you can hold something soft and full of love – just in case.
Which is why……..I take my kids to Dr. Clayton!
I’m so glad my “good luck charm” :D worked cuz I put a lot of love into the making of it. Probably shouldn’t tell you……but stayed up until 1:00 in the morning working on it. Just for you!! Cuz I wuv ya! SO SO SO glad that everything worked out well today……even if you are boring and no fun on valium. What a let down. I was really hoping for some entertainment. What a pathetic life I lead. Me on the edge of my seat hoping you’ll entertain me in your drugged out state! :D
And I meant Sponsor. I really did mean Sponsor. How embarrassing that I cannot spell. If my life depended on it. Spelling bee? Like I’d even show up. Phooey.
Rachel – there are charms to being boring. I just hope I don’t pack on weight while I limp around here. Because I’m feeling pretty darned hungry already . . .
Aaargh. “Health care.” The no (revealed) prices thing really does drive us crazy too. But it’s nice to know that a place where they set it all out for you, side by side, clearly so it actually makes sense, actually exists! I hope you sleep well tonight, too. :)
p.s. What have you seen, Bollywood-wise, that you like? We loved “Bride and Prejudice” but that’s all I know about.
It was Bride and Prejudice that we rented. But then I looked at similar movies on Netflicks and we were supposed to get one yesterday, but the French one came instead. Actually, what hooked me was Bend it Like Beckham. The music in that was FAB_U_LOUS. They did a bollywood dance on So You Think YOu Can Dance, which was amazing – one of the few routines I have really enjoyed on the show this season. Something about that Indian rhythmic tradition.
That’s why I LOVE Primary Children’s. They spoil us rotten and the doctor is humble — he has to be, having Michael as a patient, but he was humble before we got there.
I think health care providers are doing a better job these days. Rachel, I LOVED dr. Clayton, but 21 years ago his staff was horrid to work with and I left a doctor I loved because of his staff. Fortunately, I found another doctor I loved, then another when he left town.
Next time someone wants to do something painful to you in a clinic of any kind, as for VERSED. It doesn’t knock you out, but you don’t feel anything or remember what happened — so it’s kind of like being knocked out. I had it once and Michael has had it a few times.
My mom hated doctors, because I guess her experience with them over the decades made her feel that they were arrogant. That they couldn’t be wrong, even when they didn’t know the answers. My mom was always one to research on her own – and to talk to a doctor and find him amused at your poor little efforts to figure things out on your own – it didn’t sit well with her at all. Dr. Clayton was our doctor all the time the kids were little. I know people who really had problems with his staff, but he was an utter saint. And now Rachel goes to his son, who has followed where the saint had printed (allusion alert).
Kathy, Can I have some of that VERSED to last me……let’s see. Jadon is four……21 minus four is………I need some for that many years!
Rachel, forget the VERSED. If you think the bunny was mutant, what kind of things would happen if you were on THAT?
At least when it was all over I wouldn’t remember the mutant bunny. :D
Well, it’s all over and I-I-I-I remember the mutant bunny. Wait. Is it over?
Ultram is good too :) I like it. I’m funny and fall off my chair often when I take it (abcessed tooth). I still have a bit of pain but “Pain? Who cares about pain…I feel GOOD”….:)
Wish I had good Dr’s nearby. Our insurance doesn’t give us many options.
I had to take Percidan (sp) once – gave me a very soft, distant view of things around me and made me feel very peaceful. But I prefer my good old nervous sheepdog state. Then, if I get a laugh, I know I worked for it.
I’m sending to my doctor your brilliant post about REAL ISSUES FOR THE COMMONER DEALING WITH THE MEDICAL SYSTEM. She’s accessible and non-demeaning. She’ll love reading your viewpoint.
BTW, My kids loved Dr. Clayton SO MUCH and still talk about him today. He was a bright spot for all of us while I raised my kids as a single parent.
What I loved about Dr. Clayton was his opening: “All right, Mom – what does your heart tell you is going on here?” He believed that it was given to mothers to have a sense of their own children. He didn’t shut you out or dictate to you. And I think his work was deeply meaningful and effective because of that. And there’s this, admittedly coming from a person who aspires to faith: I trust a man whose life is marked by respect, humility, prayer and the courage to delve. Yeah. And I am told his son Matthew is JUST like him. Oh, and I loved the train.
Ginger – maybe I want to know who your doctor is. I love mine, but you have to wade through clinic and assistants and crowded schedule to get to him.