Our Medical System...

...while not Canadian, can still act FUBAR at times. The last five days I spent with my client doing errands, doctors' appointments, etc. He has been feeling pretty sick all week. On Tuesday, he really went south, getting incoherent, even aggressive at times. He made two visits to the emergency room before being medevac'ed out to Anchorage.

Here are some fun highlights of the last five days...

Both ER visits lasted about five hours.

Tanana Valley Clinic's "Urgent" Care Center made us wait two hours to see a Physician's Assistant who knew nothing. When he called the doctor on-call, that bastard simply told us to go to the Emergency Room. Didn't even bother checking in, didn't even see my client.

Now, here is a classic circle-jerk: When my client started really getting incoherent around 10.00pm Tuesday night, we went to the ER. They ran their tests, even put him through a CT scan and a chest X-ray, and blood work. Their diagnosis: low on potassium, has a urinary tract infection.

Bravo Sierra. We had just visited the urologist that day. He was fine.

But, we consulted with his urologist again. He said more or less the same thing (BS). Around that time, my client's sister arrived, and did not want her brother heading all the way back to Delta just to hear his doctor say go back to Fairbanks and go to the ER. So, the urologist made a recommendation at TVC. That's where we met the Double-D physician's assistant (not a busty female) and his putz puppetmaster, who tells us to go to the ER again.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot! We were just there last night! Medicaid don't have deep pockets, you know, they ration out their goodies.

So, grumbling, feeling we're going in circles, we go back. To find an enormous line.

The bright spot of this symphony of errors: the urologist. He happened to be in the neighborhood, and was decent enough to help get our visit expedited. We also had a pretty decent doctor take care of my client this time.

It was enough to really get me thinking about taking care of myself better. No way I would want my life in the hands of the circus our medical industry has become.