Why medical costs are high.

About four months ago I sprained and or strained my Achilles tendon on my right ankle. Many of you know that I have been nurse for many years so; I believe that I know what needs to be done as far as treatment. I attempted to rehab the injury over time but, I thought I needed some physical therapy and called the doctor for an order. Well, one might think that it should end there with an order and that was that. However, after a week of waiting I received a call to go and have an x-ray and it was negative for fracture. So, time for rehab right? Wrong, my physician requested to see me for an exam and the results of that meeting suggested an MRI to rule out a tear in tendon. Anyone want to guess what happened next? Well, the insurance company denied the request stating that I had not had a course of guess what ……..rehab! After some conversation with the insurance company the MRI was allowed. Anyone want to guess what the result of the study was? Bursitis and tendonitis and do you know what is indicated to remedy this problem……….Wrong again, refer to an orthopedic surgeon.

The cost so far, the flat plate x-ray was $30.00, office exam $200.00, MRI $1000.00 and I must give my physician a brake and she has ordered all these tests to cover her posterior. She as a physician cannot take a chance so all the tests take the chance of being sued to a low level.

I am stopping it there and not going to see the specialist. Rehab well somehow I think I'll be doing that on my own.

Home from the hill

I always expected that even into my seventies and later that I would still be a hunter. Over the last few years that feeling has begun to fade and now it is all but gone. I think as I have grown in years the value of life has very important to me and that means any life well, almost any I still have little grief over smashing a spider. Hunting which in the past had brought so much joy now seems like an enormous waste of time and effort and the actual kill leaves me sad and almost ashamed.

Some things never change

The Labor Day weekend brought a long awaited reunion of what I thought was for the flight nurses past and present. Well, I and three other flight nurses from years gone by showed up. After some checking on Face book the reunion was not a reunion at all. The 30^th anniversary was for EMS and not for the nurses at all. While EMS deserves to be invited for sure the act of not officially inviting the flight nurses is just a slap in the face.