Guest Post by Rob in Nova Scotia
Just thought I’d give you folks in States a look at what Free Health Care looks like. Over the years the one constant in being Canadian is the boast that health care is free and universal. The statement is half-true. It is only universal, free it isn’t. In my province year over year budget increases have been well over and above rate of inflation. The Health Budget is getting squeezed each progressive year but Governments have been able to paper over the cracks. Well it looks like the days of papering over the cracks has come to an end.
There is a limit to what can be done when wage increases and equipment purchases gobble up more and more of the money each year. What ends up happening is health care budgets cut the only place they can. Maintenance is easy place to start and health administrators know that if they neglect building long enough they will get a new one. This is the Premier Hospital in my Province and sad indictment of what our once proud boast has become. Responsible households have to set aside money for upkeep. Not governments though! It’s tear it down and get a new one. All one needs is an understanding bank and a cash advance on shiny new credit card. It’s no wonder this province is broke.
Maintenance Inaction
1. Victoria General Hospital, Halifax NS
Above: In January, a woman from Edmonton was in the VG for four days to donate a kidney. She described the conditions there as “third world”. So Turpin Laboratories had a look during the first week of February. Our researchers confined themselves to public spaces on just a few floors. No patients or staff were disturbed, or even noticed our team. By way of further context, note that in 2011 the NDP government announced that planning had begun for a new building. Last month, four years later, the Liberals also announced that planning had begun. And Turpin Labs has reason to believe Capital Health actually SUBMITTED a rebuilding plan to the Health Department in 2009. Where is it today? We bet the new convention centre will open before you ever see that plan.
2. Entrance to Centennial Building, VG
Above: OK. It needs paint. No big deal unless it’s typical, right? Turpin Labs is familiar with five Nova Scotia hospitals. Medical staff at the VG have been the best from a patient point of view — professional, accessible and attentive. But maintenance at the VG is by far the worst. Cape Breton Regional, often criticized in this respect, sparkles by comparison.
3. Overhead light, elevator lobby.
Above: So what, eh? There are few brown spots on the light fixture. On the other hand, it IS a hospital and a squirt of Windex would have fixed it.
4. Oops. Just one of three public elevators is working.
Above: In April 2015 the sterilzing equipment broke down at the Halifax Infirmary. How is that possible? But then, how was it possible for an operating room and an internsive care area to flood at the VG last September? Perhaps the same incompetents are in charge of elevators AND sterilizers.
5. Confusing sign alerts public to broken elevators.
Above: Most visitors followed this sign to the stairs.
6. Correction, there actually appear to be five elevators …
Above: … but these two are out of commission. Good place to store beds, though.
7. A working elevator is found.
Above: Wall panelling needs maintenance. Surprised?
8. Stairwell
Above: Taking the stairs was faster than an elevator, but revolting. This appears to be a drywall repair gone south and/or forgotten. No maintenance in sight. But the pink railing is a nice touch and seems to be in great shape.
9. Same stairwell, different mess
Above: Again, a little maintenance would help here. It’s not brain surgery.
10. Don’t drink the water — legionella has plagued the VG since the 1990s.
Above: A warning to thirsty VG vistors. Note: the Royal Hospital of St. Bartholomew in London (Barts) has been on the same site since 1123. By contrast, the current VG site has been in operation since 1948. Do they have a legionella problem at Barts?
There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
I thought the title (Free Health Care in Nova Scotia) linked to the first photo (Parking Rates) was a wonderful juxtaposition. Funny, but not in your face.
Thank you Rob, good story with an Aesopian moral at the end.
I should point out that not the hospitals are this bad. Some of the smaller ones are doing a better job of upkeep. The one in my town is well run and clean. What bothers me is the contempt governments show for the spending of our money. They would rather cut ribbons opening shiny new buildings than maintaining what we already got.
Thanks for posting this. I’m not at all surprised, but it’s interesting to see a real current perspective from a Canadian.
I continue to be puzzled at why highly educated, resource-rich, low-crime Canada is not thriving to an extent equal to or greater than Switzerland and c. 2006 Norway. I can only surmise that poor management – aka the Democratic social welfare state – is partly to blame. (Yes, I realize Norway is somewhat similar politically, but it also was blessed with even more oil wealth per capita.)
Sad.
Know what’s even sadder? That hospital looks like a 4-star hotel compared to some VA hospitals.
Virtually every part of that visual essay is related to poor maintenance after the fact, some of it is due to shoddy work from the get go.
The photos of the wall delaminating? That’s not sheetrock, it’s concrete foundation wall that’s been parged. It is below ground level- I’m guessing a stairwell to the basement- and whoever did the foundation work didn’t properly coat the exterior wall, nor did they abate the ground water by using drain tile (perforated pipe).
Sub-par construction, code violation on the foundation work, shortcuts by contractor. If you looked into it you’d almost certainly discover a sweetheart deal for the primary contractor- probably a campaign contributor, some small amount of greasing the palms of the inspectors, and low paid labor who didn’t really care about the quality of the work because they are low paid.
That’s the hidden cost of free healthcare.
It’s pretty much the same throughout the socialistic “single payer” countries. Even the best of them are now on the downhill slide side of things as demands increase and there is little or nothing in the way of resources and revemues left to use for expansion.
Those who can afford it go somewhere else for care either through private insurance or by going abroad while the masses use the overburdened system and are frequently denied anything but critical care for very lengthy periods of time (in England this is actually official policy over certain ages where the waiting time is set to be longer than the time they are expected to live).
Sort of like the VA here, which is what we can all look forward to as the government takes over increasingly large amounts of the health care industry.
Even now in this country there are people doing without healthcare for anything but critical problems because they can’t afford the huge deductibles after they have paid the premiums, they simply don’t have enough money left over.
Sad. Know what’s even sadder? That hospital looks like a 4-star hotel compared to some VA hospitals. – Stucky
I was about to say the opposite.
Here in Lexington, we have two VAMC’s… Cooper Drive VAMC and Leestown Road VAMC.
There was talk of closing the Leestown Road one, but that got reversed – probably due to bad press.
Leestown Road VAMC is a beautiful place. Built back when Shit Got Done Right, it’s a big, beautiful pile of bricks on a sprawling campus. Walkways for the patients wind through truly epic hardwood trees with benches sprinkled here and there for those recuperating wounded to rest if they wish. Inside is neat and clean and even if the hallways are a labyrinth worthy of King Minos, places are well marked and maps are found at almost every major hallway intersection.
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A testament to what SHOULD BE, I know all VAMC’s cannot match this one. No way such a facility could be built today. Close examination of the main building (shown) reveals such touches as copper gutters, downspouts and flashing along with tile roofs, etc…
Do you know how much that shit costs today?!? I doubt there are half a dozen men in Kentucky who know how to install such things properly (like properly plastering an interior wall or building a proper dry-stacked wall for your fields), much less anywhere that produces such things…
Inside, the hallways are wide and well lit. Guys with push-brooms – usually vets themselves, sometimes volunteers – patrol the hallways. Waiting rooms are smallish, but the chairs are in good repair and reasonably comfortable. I have never waited more than 20 to 30 minutes to see my doctor when I had a legit appointment.
I have had issues with staff before – some of which I have related here, I think. But those were some time ago. By my reckoning, they got rid of the problem children. Or at least got me away from them.
Cooper Drive isn’t nearly as nice as Leestown is. But, they do have the advantage of collaborating with University of Kentucky Medical Center, so we get some pretty damn good doctors rotating through. While this means you have to get to know a new doctor every 18 months or so, generally they are good folks, knowledgeable, professional, etc.
Parking is a cast iron bitch, thanks to the VAMC’s close proximity to UK – parking is always a bitch near campus. There are only two elevators that lead from the underground parking garage to the main hospital, so it can be quite a wait during high-traffic times of the day. Sometimes, the specialist you need to see requires you having to go quite a distance and take another set of elevators, but that’s small potatoes…
It seems that Cooper Drive is ALWAYS under construction… don’t know why – it just is. You get used to dodging work crews or taking detours because the hallway you used last time happens to be closed off this time..
Worst thing was when they shut down the smoking area. They used to have a smoke hole up on the 2nd floor – totally sealed off from the rest of the hospital with it’s own air exchanger. Unless you were a smoker, you probably didn’t know it was there.
Now, if you want to burn a butt, you have to backtrack all the way to the main entrance and outside to yet another sealed in area. Could be worse though – they could have just given us a bench and a bucket instead of a glassed in climate controlled area with nice benches…
I’ve been to other VAMC’s and I have to say, I count my blessings when it comes to these two here in Lexington… others range from “good lord this sucks” to places like Leestown.
Pure garbage.
I have lived in second/third world countries where the buildings were run down but the quality of the care providers was top notch.
What do I care if the paint is peeling or the walls are pocked? I could give a shit less. What I care about is the ethics of the providers and their experience and training and skills.
This article is like posting pictures of the dreadful red delicious apples – some of the worst quality but shiniest apples grown – and comparing them to spotted central asian apples which are heirloom, delish, and flourish; and saying, look at these imperfect apples, they can’t possibly be any good!
Crap article. Admin I am ashamed of you.
Billy
I didn’t say ALL the VA hospitals were shit. You have a nice one. Good for you. I’ve been in shit ones. I guess it’s a stalemate.
If we had nothing but good VA hospitals we wouldn’t need organizations like Wounded Warrior Project.
It’s already begun
By Stilton Jarlsberg
TURN YOUR HEAD AND KAFKA
As you may recall (assuming you drink less than we do), as of our last Obamacare update daughter Jarlsberg’s insurance had been cancelled without explanation, leaving her without coverage for her critically important epilepsy medications and neurologist appointments. But at least her new policy was going into effect February 1st, so new bills would be taken care of while we tried to clear up the old mess.
And for the senior Jarlsbergs, Healthcare.gov was sending threatening letters about canceling our insurance unless we sent them further proof of income. Which we did. Multiple times.
So you can imagine our delight when daughter Jarlsberg called several days ago, trying to hold back tears, when she went to pick up this month’s medications and found out that now her new, fully paid up policy, has also been cancelled without warning or reason by Blue Cross Blue Shield.
This precipitated a one hour phone call over the weekend in which we tried to get things straightened out, only to find out that only “level one” employees staff the phones on the weekend, and they aren’t technically empowered to do any damn thing at all. In fact, we suspect that they’re only on staff to be used as meat in case their superiors go cannibalistic during a national emergency.
So yesterday we called again, this time a 90-minute call. The first 45 minutes was a woman breathing heavily and mumbling to herself in confusion while looking at her computer screen. She then put us on a “brief hold” which stretched into a full half-hour. She eventually returned to say that the problem was all in our imagination, and daughter Jarlsberg has always been insured.
It was at this point that heated words were exchanged and it was decided (unilaterally) that the whole fustercluck needed to get expedited to someone with both authority and, just maybe, a triple digit IQ. “I’m turning it over to Finance,” clucked the customer service person, as if this would fill us with ineffable joy. But we effed anyway – and demanded that “Finance” not only fix this problem but call us to explain everything in detail or we’d file a complaint with the Oklahoma Insurance Commission.
But…we were lying. We’d already filed the complaint online during that half-hour of nerve-shredding muzak on hold. And we’re ready to go to war.
For now, the situation remains hopelessly unresolved – but we’ve floated daughter Jarlsberg over $1000 to make sure she can buy the medications that Blue Cross, Healthcare.gov, and B. Hussein want to deny her.
As far as the senior Jarlsberg’s health insurance plan goes, well, Healthcare.gov just sent a forbidding collection agency-style “second notice” that our insurance will soon be terminated for failure to provide proof of income.
Speaking to a functionary who can only dream of someday becoming a “level one” employee, we were told that if we’ve submitted all of our documentation (which we have, four times), then “you should be fine.”
“Then why are we still getting threatening letters?”
“Because they haven’t looked at what you sent in.”
“Why not?”
“They got millions of files to look at. They way behind.”
“So what’s going to keep them from cancelling my insurance if they never look at my records?”
“If they do, you can call up again and say that you sent your records.”
“And will anyone look at them then?!”
“Maybe. They got millions of files to look at.”
Now, imagine these kinds of interactions for every aspect of your life – and you’ve got the Socialist utopia that Hillary, Bernie, and millions of brain-dead millenials are hoping to foist off on our nation. Your every hope, dream, and aspiration would depend on the approval of some anonymous, non-accountable dolt who would see you only as a file. Or would if you weren’t eternally at the bottom of a metastasizing stack of “millions of files.”
stanley
Go fuck yourself.
Cordially
Admin
Stucky,
I know you didn’t say ALL – which is why I specifically said I count my blessings when it comes to what we have here. The one in Denver I know sucks ass – been there and hated it.
Don’t be such a big baby. You’re looking for a fight where there ain’t none…
Thing is, Leestown was built like I said – back when Shit Got Done Right. If memory serves, it was built to take care of wounded WWI vets, so the construction and attention to detail is top-notch, though some things – like older window fittings, etc – are showing their age. I’m glad they decided to keep it up and running.
Best thing about Leestown is Taco Tuesday. If I have to go there, I usually make an effort to schedule my appointment on Tuesday so I can hit the cafeteria on the way out. It’s good and there’s lots of it.
You should see some of the hallways at Leestown. I have no idea why some are underground, but they are. One in particular is so long, I was thinking getting up a scratch competition of Hallway Luge – it has to be well over 100yds of polished tiles with a slight downhill grade – if the rent-a-cops wouldn’t get a case of the ass, zooming down that hallway in office chairs sounds damn fun…
I’ll try and get some pics next time I’m over there…
Health care is a mixed bag in this country.
There are many hospitals in the lower mainland of BC where patients lie in beds or sit in chairs in the hallways because they are full and the system is unable to cope with the influx of sick people. Folks will drive to neighbouring communities to avoid dealing with the worst ones.
When our daughter was first diagnosed with Uria Cycle Disorder we were in Edmonton at the Stollery. The quality was top shelf from the location to the staff. Long story short they saved her life. But Edmonton was a 6 to 7 hour drive from the remote community we were living in (and a province away ta boot) so we decided to move to be near better care for her.
We moved to Vancouver a short time later to be near a place that could care for her properly when she got sick. BC Children’s hospital was a stark contrast in the quality of the buildings (though the care was very good). With the exception of the halls and entries the rooms were dilapidated, needed painting and upgrades and looked liked no one had touched them since the 80’s. They are now in the process of erecting new buildings. It may have been needed to house more kids but what the place really needed was to be fixed up. Moreover, as Alberta’s economy goes in the tank I am expecting the piggy bank to run dry and to eventually see the same phenomena there.
There is a lot of corruption and waste in our system as it is a private/public partnership which in my mind is simply cronyism and rarely works out. Moreover, the percentage of taxes I pay annually (outrageous) tells me that it is anything but free. That is unless you are a new Muslim refugee or welfare addict living off the labour of others…..
Persnickety,
The best way to understand Canada is to see our gov’t as an entity with empirical aspirations but operating on a banana republic budget (remember we don’t print the world’s reserve currency either). Additionally, it has a population smaller than California spread out over a land mass that is the second largest political/geographical entity on the planet. It is essentially unmanageable in terms of logistics and cash flow. They cannot tax us enough to make it run properly. IMHO it needs to be dismantled and would function far better as a series of smaller independent states.
Stanley,
Which countries?
Every one I’ve been in during my life has been in the class of abysmal care unless it was a Doctors Without Borders facility (which are rare and overburdened). Care for the people there, other than the upper classes, ranges from scarce and poor to nonexistent as the norm.
I have made friends with an ER doc, an orthopedic surgeon, an optometrist and a dentist and have worked out a mutually agreeable barter system with them. These are the kinds of care our family needs, no diabeetus management, no psychotropic anti-anxiety prescriptions, no psychological/substance abuse counselling, just emergency and or basic maintenance healthcare at a price that works for us.
Everything else we do ourselves by staying healthy, not overreacting to every bump and cough and living a healthy lifestyle that features good food, plenty of exercise, a good night’s sleep and an anxiety free lifestyle suited to human nature.
Should I come down with cancer or some other catastrophic illness, I will try to enjoy my life as much as possible right up to the end, but I will not send my family into poverty to get another year of misery tacked on to the end of what has been, up until now, a fulfilling life.
The Health Care System is nothing of the sort. It is a complex and byzantine Ponzi scheme dedicated to the financial benefit of a few at the expense of the many and dependent upon the extremely poor lifestyle choices of the masses.
Hope this helps.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/anesthesiologist-trashes-sedated-patient-jury-orders-her-to-pay-500000/2015/06/23/cae05c00-18f3-11e5-ab92-c75ae6ab94b5_story.html
Here you go, quality healthcare in America.
To the best of my understanding, health care in Germany isn’t single payer.
I’m just throwing this out as an example, so if anyone was going to chew my ass for being an advocate of socialized medicine, calm your tits coz I ain’t…
Anyways, from what I remember (it’s been 15 years since I was last there) the cost of health care is borne by both the employer and the employee. I have no idea who pays what percentage, but I can ask my wife for clarification later today if anyone gives a shit…
So long as the employer and the employee do their part, nobody gives two shits which doctor you go to – your choice. There’s no “list”. You go to your family doctor if you want… or not.
So anyways, I had exactly ONE experience with the German health care system. It went like this:
We’re at the North Sea on vacation. When the tide goes out, the water recedes over the horizon – you can’t see it anymore. What is left behind is an almost perfectly flat expanse of mud… which, for some inexplicable reason, the Herms like to walk around in barefoot…
Wife: “You should take your shoes off and go walking with us..”
Me: “Why would I want to do that?”
Wife: “It’s therapeutic!”
Me: “How is walking around in mud barefoot in any way ‘therapeutic’?”
Wife: “Oh come on… it’ll be fun!”
I took off my shoes and socks and grounded them where I could get to them, hopped down the breakwall and started slogging through the mud with the other Herms.
I was still wondering what possible benefit this could have when it happened – as I slogged forward, a stick buried some ways under the mud punched a hole in the bottom of my foot. Great.
So, here I am, about 100 yards from shore. I got a hole in my right foot and the tide is coming in – fast.
Long story short, I made it back just as the water began lapping at the breakwall. There was a facility to clean yourself up some, so I hosed off my feet and calfs and examined my brand new orifice. Your standard puncture wound – it looked like someone jammed a freshly sharpened No. 2 pencil in the sole of my foot. Great.
So the wife asks around and finds out there’s a doctor who has a private practice nearby. We get there in short order.
Doc has an office in his house, complete with tiny exam room filled with all sorts of medical equipment. I think he would have given a modern ER in the states a run for their money.
He also has two smokin-hot nurses about my age (mid 20’s) – both blonde – that made the whole experience way more enjoyable… but I digress.
Doc takes a look and says in German – “Shit… you’ve got the whole world in there” and proceeds to blast the puncture wound with saline to clean it out. Some antibiotic ointment, a tetanus shot and a bandaid later, I’m out the door. Easy peasy japanesey…
They wouldn’t take my wife’s insurance card – her insurance didn’t cover me. I was an oddball – an American soldier that was neither fish nor fowl when it came to answering the “what insurance?” question…
They said cash was fine. However much DM’s it was later, we were on our way back to the bed and breakfast we were staying at… it really wasn’t that much and dealing with their system was easy.
I think the reason it wasn’t that much was – literally – the fact that there are limits on compensatory damages when something goes wrong. There are NEVER any court decisions for bazillions of dollars when something goes wrong – whomever it is that is at fault is ordered to fix the problem. If they can’t fix it, then they pay for someone else to fix it. Compensatory damages for shit like pain and suffering are downright puny compared to the Ghetto Lottery winnings we have here in the states…
All of which translates to lower insurance rates for doctors – they don’t have to pay tremendous insurance premiums because some witless shitbag is looking to hit the Ghetto Lottery and sue him for every tiny hurt – real or imagined.
And that translates into lower costs for Herman the German.
I think it has everything to do with tort reform – if people quit trying to hit the Ghetto Lottery and get a free lunch, it would have a great impact on the cost of health care…
I know it’s not that simple – it never is – but it’s a start…
@ Rob in NS – Great post!
Much of this is the direct result of bureaucratic interference on a massive scale – i’ll give an example: Working a service van for an electrical contractor we had an open contract with the city maintenance dept – doing the small jobs that could be done out of a van without a crew. Often we’d be called to go an clean light fixtures because policy dictated that an electrician was required to perform maintenance on light fixtures (luminaires shall be serviced by a qualified electrician only – if you want to get technical), cleaning the light was decided to be considered a part of ‘service’ (so is changing a light bulb). Rather than paying the building maintenance staff $20/hr (roughly $35/hr billed) they paid us $35/hr (roughly $85/hr billed) because ‘electricity is dangerous’. The elevator situation could very well be similar – a control system trip/alarm must be serviced by a qualified technician, even if it’s only a matter of pushing a button (elevator techs make sparkies look like paupers, and can be damn hard to get short of an emergency – as defined by them).
Even beyond the administrative constraints, much of the dilapidation can be chalked up to ‘deferred maintenance’, a fantastic line item that says ‘we didn’t get around to this work last year’ and has come to mean ‘if this number doesn’t go up each year they’ll cut our operating budget’. I could go on for pages wrt the deferred maintenance cancer (I blame ignorant accountants and MBAs) but have realized every post seems to be getting longer than the last so i’ll stop here.
Medical Service Premiums went up again in British Columbia for the 21st straight time. The rest of Canada doesn’t pay these premiums…… but we do. What do we get? Top two floors of the local hospital shut down due to lack of funding!!
If it wasn’t for rich folks passing away and leaving their collective fortunes to the hospital foundations, we wouldn’t have anything!!
You guys south of the border need to ditch Obummercare and go back the way it was!! Canada is a perfect example of why universal health care DOES NOT WORK!!!
Billy
Something was lost in the translation …. my fault. I wasn’t trying to start shit at all.
Just stating the very obvious, as mentioned by Francis, that health care varies wildly in this country.
The hospital where my mom got her new hip? I swear to God, it really is as nice as a 5-start resort hotel. OTOH, Ms Freud works in a very nice satellite office for a hospital … a two story professional office. But, the main hospital in Elizabeth is a run down piece of shit that literally stinks and has fucken rodents running around (as documented in a newspaper article not long ago.)
Again, I’m stating the painfully obvious … and probably should just have kept my mouth shut.
FM
I agree the country doesn’t function as advertised. Maybe a cordial break-up/trial separation is in order. The central point in all this is the health care authority doesn’t have the money to maintain and keep a hospital clean. How is building a new hospital going to fix the problem. But the Health Authority knows that they can “Rob Peter to pay Paul” it has worked like a charm before. Their solution to budget problems is to make sure everyone gets raises and some other government department can build shiny new buildings when the old ones fall down due to neglect.
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Looks like we hit a nerve with old Stan the Man. I concur with Admin on this one Stanley. You can go fuck yourself with a rusty chainsaw. There is no excuse for not keeping a place clean. None. You can have the best staff in world but if it is dangerous to go to hospital then all that training and professionalism is for naught. Also Nova Scotia isn’t a second or third world country.
Looking at it from afar it seems to me that the functionaries in charge of health just want a fancy new car. How much is this one going to cost. They just finished new hospital in Truro which was a dog and pony show of cost overruns. But it’s government, shuffle some paper and nobody gets fired.
Here is an blog post from someone I follow. It kind of lays out the clusterfuck that is health care in Nova Scotia.
I think the cost overruns are a bait and switch by people in charge. Unrealistic numbers to get project underway. Then come the inevitable extras after the fact due to poor initial design in contract drawings and specs. I know a bit about how this dance works because I work in construction. Hospitals get half built and then contractors and interested parties pile on with laundry list of things they need. How can anyone say no. Nobody wants to push granny off the cliff for want. Now this new hospital is going to end up costing in the neigbourhood of a Billion dollars if the Truro debacle is anything to go by. That is for a province of less than 1 million people. Do the math Stan. How in the hell are we going to pay for that. But it is all free. I just need to ride the train of delusion like everyone else I talk to in these parts. Then again maybe not. Reality is going to end up slapping everyone in the face sooner or later. In the meantime all the slapping I need can be found on my pay stub when I look at the deductions taken off my cheque at the end of week.
Should I come down with cancer or some other catastrophic illness, I will try to enjoy my life as much as possible right up to the end, but I will not send my family into poverty to get another year of misery tacked on to the end of what has been, up until now, a fulfilling life. – HF
Well, I did come down with cancer.
I’ve made no secret of the fact that I got diagnosed with CML a few years back.
The docs at the VAMC saved my life – literally. Without their diagnosis and subsequent treatment, I wouldn’t be writing these words.
They have me on daily chemo – what’s called “Gleevec” – which is the brand name for a blast inhibitor called “Imatinib” (which I think is something spelled backwards, but I don’t have confirmation yet). It was a new thing back when I was diagnosed, just approved, so there were no long-term studies done on the patients.
Happy to say, last time I saw my oncologist – which was just a couple weeks ago – he told me not to get my hopes up but that it looked like there is going to be a study released sometime in the next 18 months that says the chances are excellent that long-term recipients of Gleevec are in permanent remission…
What does that mean to me?
No more bone marrow biopsies.
No more donor lists.
No more thinking that I have a fixed expiration date – a thought that haunts me late at night when I’m trying to sleep.
No more hiding the fact that I have CML from my son – he is still yet too young to bear that cross.
No more blood draws – the number of which is probably now in the multiples of dozens of times.
No more puking or late-night cases of the Green Apple Quickstep – side effects of the chemo.
I’ve lived a full life. Fuller than most. Lot of miles and a lot of heartbreak. But some good times, too. But, I’m trying desperately to build something I can leave to my son when I’m gone. If my CML is in remission, that is a HUGE pressure off me… doesn’t mean I can slack off. It means what it means – a burden lifted from me that has colored my every waking moment for years now… It’s not my own death that I’m worried about – death and I are old friends by now – but what I will leave to my family. I am building something so that they don’t have to… and my work is not yet finished.
I got no complaints. No regrets. I have contemplated my existence and I am content that I have done right more often than not. For the “not” times, I have forgiven myself and sought the Lord’s forgiveness as well… If I get closed out tomorrow, well… it is what it is. I’ll tell my son’s Grandfather what a fine man he has become… but I think he already knows that.
Being “cured” is the Holy Grail… I might be an outlier. A special case. But it stands that without the care I have received, I wouldn’t be here. And, that is what it is.
Me: “How is walking around in mud barefoot in any way ‘therapeutic’?”
Sort of like how HSF walks to the barn in his bare feet??
It’s Earthing, and it’s good for you. And if it’s good for you, you won’t need as much gubbamint health care. Well, unless you get speared with a stick.
What is Earthing?
Earthing is a fast-growing movement based upon the discovery that connecting to the Earth’s natural energy is foundational for vibrant health.
Earthing has many benefits.
Just as the sun gives us warmth and vitamin D, the Earth underfoot gives us food and water, a surface to walk, sit, stand, play, and build on, and something you never, ever thought about—an eternal, natural, and gentle energy. Think of it perhaps as vitamin G—G for ground. What does that mean to you? Maybe the difference between feeling good and not so good, of having little or a lot of energy, or sleeping well or not so well. You can’t see the Earth’s energy but some people can feel it as a warm, tingling, and pleasant sensation when they are out walking barefoot along the water’s edge at the beach or on a stretch of dew-moistened grass.
Billy, congratulations on the recovery.
Be well.
@ILuvCO2
Us Southrons have been chided, derided and mocked for generations for going barefoot most of the time.. I was barefoot for a great deal of my childhood and still go barefoot when I can (though I can’t walk on hot pavement or gravel anymore like when I was 8 years old…)
Looks like us ignorant, barefoot Southerners were and are generations ahead of the curve… it’s just that someone thought up a trendy name for it.
Y’all need to get with the program. 🙂
@HF,
No harm, no foul. All is copacetic.
Don’t be too quick to congratulate me on any recovery just yet. Murph and I are also old friends. I caught a break, but I’ve learned the Universe doesn’t dish those out too often – and even when it does, something is always taken away to balance it. Giving me an extension from ~5 years to a survival rate that is about the same as the general population is catching one helluva break…
Still, there is hope. There is always hope. The absence of hope is despair. I’ve seen that up close and personal, and this ain’t it.
Even if they pronounce me “cured”, I still have to have the occasional blood draw to see if it really and for true “took”… then there’s talk of some “inoculation” thingy where you get some sort of targeted protein shot on top of the chemo. Some success there, too, sooo…
Wasn’t trying to pick a fight. No blood, then no harm no foul…
Be well and God protect you.
B
@Billy Yes. Be well and stay well. There is a Dr. Sircus who sometimes gets a thread on this site, and who also at times links to TBP. He has some great things to do on your own for cancer, and are not expensive. Look him up, he has e-books.
As to Earthing, I tend to go barefoot as much as I can, but not in the winter. I know there is something to it. There is even a whole market for Earthing stuff from pads you can ground to shoes/flip flops. I bought a pad for one of my dogs who is arthritic. Put it under his dog bed, ran the wire to the outside and attached it to a grounding rod I drove into the ground. Our Elvis became like a new dog. He has been hurting for about a month and I noticed his wire was disconnected from his pad just this morning. Anecdotal, maybe, but I am a believer. They sell sheets for your bed to do the same.
Obamacare sure as hell isn’t the solution to our healthcare problems but neither is “the way it was”. Big problem we have in the U.S. is the greedy private insurance companies that stick it to us with never-ending premium increases. We’re paying twice what it costs in other developed countries for less service. It’s not gotten any cheaper with Obamacare, the difference is
1) Now the Fedgov is “subsidizing” the cost depending on our incomes, and
2) we have yet another layer to glob through to get anything approved, paid, or settled. I once spent an hour & a half on a conference call with both Covered CA and Healthnut, and the problem STILL didn’t get resolved.
What we need do is excise the private health insurance companies and go Medicare for all. Then you’re dealing with just one entity, the question of coverage is rendered moot, and if you don’t like it you can opt to pay the high premiums for gold-plated coverage.
Looks like a VA hospital.
Westcoaster,
Do you have the slightest idea how much the medicare tax would have to be to cover everyone under it?
You think current Obamacare (and pre Obamacare which were lower) premiums are high you may want to get a thorough cardiac checkup before you do any realistic calculations about it.
It’s bleeding deficits now when it only applies to retired people of the SS age group with , in include everyone and you have real problems. And that is with it consuming a combined 2.9% of all gross wages paid in this country (there is no upper cap on medicare the way there is on SS tax). That means 2.9% from every worker in the United States isn’t sufficient to cover only the retired who paid into it for their entire lives before receiving anything.
Not that I would expect a leftist to care about such things as actually having to pay for government programs with money taken from those who work and given to those who don’t work for it and such.
Oh yeah, don’t forget that government programs and spending are filled with excessive inefficiencies, bureaucratic delays and red tape on top of everything else we are trying to deal with now. (Another thing I would not expect to be troubling to a leftist.)