Medical Bullshit

Twenty years ago a doctor in Kent, WA. stuck an x-ray of my chest up on a light box in his office for me to see. He said that I had a few cigarette butts in there but if I quit I might live long enough to see my son grow up and see my great-grandchildren. I proceeded to quit as I walked out of his office, and his prediction came true.

The physical act of a doctor sitting down with you and showing you the actual images that he sees when x-rays or CT scans are performed, just isn’t happening anymore, at least not at our local Teton Valley Hospital, and I’ve become pretty pissed off about it.

Last year about this time I went to the local clinic (part of the hospital) to get a physical therapy referral for chronic lower back pain. I had started taking Ibuprofen for it and as I look back on it, that’s what started this whole medical bullshit saga.

My strong position in life has been to not consume pills of any kind. My system is perfectly balanced and I’m insanely regular. Taking those damn pills caused me to start backing up, which put more pressure on my lower back. A couple of P/T sessions taught me some exercises to ward off the back pain but the pain was increasing so I went back to the clinic. X-rays were taken and all the doctor said was “Your back looks alright, except for one small thing” and then proceeded to prescribe some muscle relaxer pills. I was in too much pain to think about demanding to see those images, and to this day I still have not. The whole thing was starting to spiral out of control.

I had to drive an intercity Rexburg run that week and during breaks I would head over to the shade trees by the closed high school, lie on the floor of the bus and scream in agony as I tried to stretch my back out. Those muscle relaxers were crap and just backed me up further.

By the time Saturday rolled around my stomach was extremely swollen and I was afraid I had some sort of blockage, so Steph drove me to the E/R. They put me on a morphine drip, took blood and did a full workup, and performed a CT scan of my gut. The doctor told me my liver and kidneys were fine (no individual analysis of the blood results) and that he saw no major issues on the CT scan. He recommended a lemon flavoured liquid laxative, gave me a prescription for hydrocodone, and sent me home.

I took a couple of those damned pain pills and finally said Screw This! I managed to cure myself by downing a six-pack of those lemon drinks and stoping all of the pills. I exercised my back into shape and finally I was fine.

I put a request into the hospital to view all images taken, with an actual interpretation of such, by a physician. I received a CD with two CT scan images which mean nothing to me, a printout of my blood results which meant nothing to me and no x-ray images. I did receive a bill for almost $900 though.

Here’s my position: I’m almost 70 and I had pictures taken of my insides and my back and I never saw them! This policy of letting the doctor pass judgment on them, without sharing them with the patient, is bullshit. I started bugging them to let me see everything, but finally said screw it. Fuck our local hospital…

So here I am a year later, and the problem has returned. I again have pain that wraps around my back and stomach, but this time, I’m handling it differently. I haven’t taken a single pill, I just deal with the pain. I’ve got those heavy duty pain and muscle relaxer pills up in the cabinet, but they stay there…

I wonder if it’s seasonal? I guess I won’t find out because I’m not going back to our fucking hospital and I’m still paying off last years bill, fifty bucks a month…

This summer? Lot’s of hot springs…

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2 comments

  1. Interesting. Doesn’t Idaho have a Patient’s Bill of Rights? Sounds like your medical system in Idaho is not real great. I have access to all my blood work results and tests. I have Medicare and a supplemental insurance with SCAN Health plan that costs me $0 nothing. SCAN covers chiropractor visits, Holistic care, medical and free membership at 24-Hour Gyms, as well as my medicine – I know, you don’t take pills – but I have glaucoma and I need drops. Sorry you’re having pain. Maybe it’s your body trying to tell you that you need a vacation. I’ve heard of people who drive for a living having back problems, though, a sort of compression of the spine. Hope you feel better.

  2. Thank’s Skoge, yea I think it could be the driving, and vacation may be the solution. The only problem is, I drive a lot while on vacation :-)

    Your health system sounds so much better than mine, I don’t know what’s going on. The sad part now is, I have no place to go. The Clinic and the Hospital here are it, and I despise them, and I can’t afford them…

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