insights into the world of caffeinated monkeys
|
|
| javamonkey insights into the world of caffeinated monkeys |
|
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 Which Internet Do I Use, Again? Best line ever! My former boss thought that I installed a whole new internet on his computer when I installed Firefox. :) That's just too good not to share, even though I haven't worked with the old boss since May. Which is probably the last time I updated ye olde blog. And then it was to gush over Kurt, so it wasn't really an update. So, updates--summer's been fun, glad it flew by and fall is here again. I will be back East in October--grad school residency in VT, followed by Homecoming at Juniata. I'm excited about both, but have a massive pile of work to plow through before I leave in, gulp, a week and a half. I'm working on some of it from home, amazingly enough. Those of you who keep up with me on Facebook have heard of the sinus infection of doom, which started last Thursday with me being incredibly exhausted. So I went home and slept on Thursday. From 5 pm at night til 8 am the next day. Friday, I got up, went to work, and felt my sinuses slowly turn to concrete--I left work early on Friday, hit the drugstore then back to bed for me. I woke up Saturday morning a pile of pain and ouchy, and willingly went to Urgent Care at 8:30 am. On a Saturday. People, I was dying! This is proof. So the Urgent Care PA, who used to be the PA at the primary care guy's office (til the bastard left town and left me MD-less), saw me on Saturday; we've been through numerous sinus infections by now, so I got my antibiotic cocktail and was out the door and back to bed. I was prescription-filled, medicated and back in bed by 10 am. Sleep, sleep, sleep only to wake up at 1 am on Monday morning (I count that as late Sunday night) because I thought my left ear had ruptured. I went to the ER, willingly (that's 2 doctors in a 48 hour period, both seen willingly!), to find that my eardrum had not exploded, but that my sinus infection was trying to take over my head (my left eye was swollen and goopy, my left tonsil was swollen to the point where I couldn't swallow). A quick swap of antibiotics to something stronger, plus the ear-numbing drops and Vicodin for the rest of the pain, and I was on my way back home, to bed. So, let me now rant about why our healthcare system is fubar. I'm a single woman. I make decent money for a single woman (which is shit, just so you know), I have health insurance, and I take fairly good care of myself, for someone who tries to avoid the medical profession. First, let's take the insurance, the one that yet again jacked my rates, the 5th time in 9 months, because they just don't get enough of my paycheck every month. I think they'll cover the urgent care visit, but I'm sure they'll fight me on the ER visit. Probably because I wasn't actually dying, and I didn't call for pre-authorization. Dude, thought my eardrum had ruptured--not the time I'm thinking "hey, let's see if my insurance covers it" because I was too busy thinking "dear God, make the pain fucking stop!" So, thanks. Makes me really wish I didn't need to have insurance, because if I just saved my monthly premiums, I could have a health emergency fund to cover my own self. Except that if I tried that, something catastrophic would happen, like my colon would literally explode. It's just waiting for that moment, I tell ya. And what's more--my insurance doesn't cover prescriptions, but offers me a discounted rate on drugs. I paid $80 for 10 antibiotic happy pills, the ones that the ER doctor prescribed. After the discount. Without insurance, it would have been $166 for 10 pills. That's groceries for me for a month, and I just blew it on 10 pills. That have to be taken with food. Guess who would be eating rice if she weren't going back East for grad school? So, I have shitty insurance, and I'll probably have to fight a bit to get the ER bill paid, but at least I have some semblance of coverage. But why did I have to see 2 doctors this weekend? Really, one visit should have covered it. But the Urgent Care guy didn't want to break out the big gun antibiotics, because it probably would have set off my stomach issues and prescribed a Z-pak, which has worked swimmingly in the past. But he should have noticed how bad the infection was, as it was already spreading to my ears (he commented on the left ear being swollen), and given me a script for something stronger if need be so I could just have it filled later Saturday or Sunday even. (Because heaven help if a doctor work on Sunday, unless it's the ER doctor). So, I had to go to the ER, and that guy could have killed me. I know that the ER dude doesn't have my complete medical history, and when I'm in pain, I vacillate between moaning in the fetal position and yelling incomprehensible things at people. So, not a good person to get medical history from. So I brought my friend, Janelle, along to provide said history, and I brought a tote bag full of all of the drugs that I am on. The nurse went through everything, including Janelle telling her what I had taken within the last 24 hours, which included a Z-pak pill not even an hour prior to my ER appearance. In comes the ER doc, with the "no, you haven't ruptured anything, but your ear is infected, and yeah, I can see why that would hurt" routine. He swaps my antibiotic, gives me drugs, and I get my first dose of the new antibiotic before I leave the ER. The next day, I get a call from the pharmacist at Walgreens--that Z-pak is designed to stay in my system for the next 2-3 days, and I should wait to take the new antibiotic, because those drugs can't play nice together, and can cause cardiac arrythmia. Well, oops, too late for that--already took the first dose in the ER, not an hour after taking the Z-pak pill. So, um....making my heart explode certainly would resolve my earache complaint, but not in a desirable way. If I had a patient come in with a freakin tote bag of medicine, I'd at least check the PDR for interactions before I gave them something to take. So, I made an executive decision that if the new antibiotic didn't kill me in the ER, I was going to proceed in taking it. I feel better-ish. I can sit upright without being dizzy. Sinuses are draining properly, although it's still ouchy up there, and my nose is all sore from blowing it. And I'm out almost $200 right now for meds and urgent care, not counting whatever the insurance doesn't cover for the ER visit. I should be better by the 11th, when I fly out. I got some much-needed rest, although I don't think Vicodin-induced sleeps count. I'll be back in the office tomorrow, trying to get through what I need to so I can leave with a clean desk. As for Kurt, I'm not sure what's happening there. I like him, I do, but I've realized being sick for so long that I want to be with someone that is there when I don't feel good. I don't want them to hold my hair out of my face when I puke, but I do want someone who will rub my back or make me soup or hold my hand in the ER because I think my eardrum ruptured and I'll be permanently deaf. Kurt's reaction was "I feel fine and can't risk catching anything" which is not what I wanted to hear, especially not after it was confirmed that it's a sinus infection, and I'm not contagious. I have a feeling that things will work themselves out when I'm in grad school--if I don't hear from him while I'm away, I definitely know where I stand. And if it's where I think it is, I'd rather be single. posted by jaime | 8:04 PM 0 comments |
|
|
