Pissing Sand

Had lithotripsy on Wednesday. This is an ultrasound procedure that breaks up a big kidney stone into sand-like particles that can be passed. The cost to me, above and beyond what my insurance would pay, was $1,420. I'm told insurance paid 90 percent, so an hour on this machine went for $14K! Damn. Seems like I should have at least gotten off for that much money.
The worst of it was Wednesday night, after the morphine wore off. By 11 pm, I was in so much pain that my wife drove me over to the emergency room. There, I waited for hours to be seen by another doctor, who shot me up with more morphine, and wrote me a prescription for Percocet. Arrived home at 3:30 am, and spent most of Thursday and Friday in a Percocet haze.
Although they took an imprint of my credit card at the emergency room, I haven't seen any charges against my account yet. Can't wait.
It's probably too soon to go into another rant about national health insurance, but I sure wish we had us some. My wife spent Friday near tears over her own medical issues -- couldn't get the pharmacy to give her two months worth of her prescriptions because she is going on a summer trip. She has to go see her doctor next week in order to get it straightened out.
Our health system is so badly broken that I can't believe anyone still is suffering under the delusion that we have the best health care in the world. We have shorter life spans, higher infant mortality rates, more paperwork and much, much bigger costs than the rest of the industrialized world. The fantasy that we benefit because we can choose our doctors is ridiculous.
Ever tried to see a doctor who wasn't on your "plan"?
Ever been caught between a doctor who recommends treatment and an insurer who won't authorize it because it isn't listed on their actuarial tables?
When the accountants are determining the course of medical treatment, the world is upside down.
Some days it's hard to decide which is worse -- the doctors or the insurance companies. I guess it would have to be the insurance companies, though. They're the ones that have trained today's doctors to be afraid of their shadows. It's safer to take the day off and play golf than to actually treat a patient.
Don't blame the lawyers. They're just reacting to the ridiculous situation that the health care industry has created. I'm tired of lawyers being the target. Everybody hates them until they need one.
Wow, this really is a rant. I don't care. The whole situation pisses me off.
Anyway, I've been pissing sand and blood clots for the past 3 days. The kidney pain has more or less abated, although I did take some drugs around noon today when I felt a twinge. I don't need another round of emergency room treatment. Interesting thing is that actually passing the granules is much less painful than it is when they leave the kidney and enter the urinary tract. I thought it would be the opposite.
I'm glad to have it over. I've dutifully collected all my sand particles in a jar so they can be analyzed and the docs can try to figure out what caused my kidney stone. I would be very happy to do whatever it takes to avoid another one.