The Medical Racket

I am a single retired woman of limited means.  I do my best to live within those means, but life has other plans!

If you have followed me, you know that I tore a meniscus in my left knee on February 11th.  I did the ER, a follow-up with an orthopedist, two knee shots a week apart thinking that the knee was simply arthritic when I knew better, and a physical therapy session.  All of those had co-pays of $40-$45 each trip.  Then the orthopedist ordered an MRI.  Finally, a diagnosis!  So then there was the appointment with the surgeon for arthroscopic surgery....and a note to my cardiologist to ask permission for me to be off aspirin for a week prior to surgery.  Of course, the cardiologist only saw "knee surgery" and assumed I was getting a knee replacement rather than the two-poke arthroscopy...so he required that I come in a couple of months prior to my usual annual visit.  Can you see the dollar signs adding up?

I had that appointment today.  For the second time in a week, I had an EKG, blood work, BP check, etc.  All was well...but...at issue is the fact that one of my feet--the one on the injured leg--keeps swelling.  Being a "testing" kind of doc, my cardiologist has ordered a stress test to rule out congestive heart failure.  I'm thankful for that, but I just keep wondering where all the money is going to come from to take care of what isn't covered my Medicare/United.  He wants the stress test to take place before the surgery next Wednesday.  Ugh!  This isn't a treadmill test because I am physically unable to do that.  It involves injecting meds that will make my heart race, and I'm not comfortable with that because it is out of my control.  Hopefully, all will be well.  I'll soon know!

What I am finding out is that everything is intertwined.  We've done it to ourselves.  In our litigious society, everything that goes wrong has to be someone's fault, right?  I admit that I was perturbed at the first orthopedist that I saw before he ordered the MRI because I knew the problem was more than just arthritis.  Would I sue him?  No.  He told me, and I believe him, that insurance is reluctant to pay for expensive tests before other therapies are tried first.  We did the other therapies.  They didn't work.  The only person and/or company that was hurt was ME.  I continued to hobble around while the experts determined my fate.  That's still happening.  It's been over two months now.

When you get old, things get weird.  In the cardiologist's waiting room today were people using rollaters (as I was) and canes.  One even came in a wheelchair.  How dedicated can a doctor be when the people he is seeing are old and the quality of their lives is challenged?  All I want out of existence right now is to be happy and secure.  Both are subjective.  Today, the doc asked me if I was still living alone and able to take care of myself and my home unassisted.  The answer is no.  Yes, I am still living alone, but no, I can no longer do it all by myself...and it kills me.  In my brain, I'm still young.  My body says otherwise.

In spite of all, I keep moving.  That's the only answer.  Never give up.  Keep trying.  If you can't do it all, ask for help.  My father, in his old age, as I was leaving his home to go back to my own always said, "Go slow."  Daddy, I am!  Believe me...I am!