Cold and Flu Season: Four F*CKING MONTHS LONG!
I have been mostly sick for 4 months. Four fricking months. It hasn't been one thing: it's been a string of things: strep throat, bronchitis, a stomach flu, a fever, a few ear infections. I spent Christmas Day doing a white-knuckle drug-induced haze of 12 hours of cooking and trying not to pass out. I am currently battling a chest cold and the left side of my rib case has been ripped up from coughing-- it leaves me with an average of three solid hours of sleep peppered with waking up to roll over; retch; or try to exhaust myself so that I can't help but sleep.
One solution to this cycle: therapeutic exercise. The problem: I am too sick to walk 50 yards, so I can't exercise to break the cycle. I haven't had more than four days in between illnesses.
My daughter has also spent much of this time being sick as well. These colds have resulted in trucking down to local clinics with some frequency. Why not use a family GP? Our regular doctor was replaced by a locum who shifted between inserting symptoms and leaving symptoms out. Cases in point: my blood pressure was high because of my coughing-- news to me, as I wasn't coughing; I couldn't have strep throat because I had too many symptoms-- luckily I insisted on a swab because she couldn't ignore a test result. She also took to writing prescriptions on tongue depressors. Was she trying to be cute? Maybe they didn't let her use paper-- even a circle of paper.
When my doctor returned, I went back to vainly trying to get through to his office. As a matter of practice they leave the phone off the hook to keep patients from getting through. I've broken through that blockade by going in person to book appointments, much to their chagrin.
My general impression: doctors suck. If I dump this doctor, I am left with no doctor; or a doctor with the same bag of tricks. I remember the overriding reason a friend of mine became a doctor: respect. Most physicians are not in medicine to help.
The batting average of doctors holds true. One third of the time, they help a patient; one-third of the time, they do nothing; and one-third of the time, they cause harm. Imagine if your burger flipper screwed up 2/3 of your orders? You surely wouldn't say they deserved a six-digit income or disproportionate respect. Eventually the light will go on: doctors give a very small net benefit to society, especially in view of the money spent to keep the infrastructure in place. The benefits of the health care system can be attributed to medical research; our current state of illness can be attributed to doctors.
One solution to this cycle: therapeutic exercise. The problem: I am too sick to walk 50 yards, so I can't exercise to break the cycle. I haven't had more than four days in between illnesses.
My daughter has also spent much of this time being sick as well. These colds have resulted in trucking down to local clinics with some frequency. Why not use a family GP? Our regular doctor was replaced by a locum who shifted between inserting symptoms and leaving symptoms out. Cases in point: my blood pressure was high because of my coughing-- news to me, as I wasn't coughing; I couldn't have strep throat because I had too many symptoms-- luckily I insisted on a swab because she couldn't ignore a test result. She also took to writing prescriptions on tongue depressors. Was she trying to be cute? Maybe they didn't let her use paper-- even a circle of paper.
When my doctor returned, I went back to vainly trying to get through to his office. As a matter of practice they leave the phone off the hook to keep patients from getting through. I've broken through that blockade by going in person to book appointments, much to their chagrin.
My general impression: doctors suck. If I dump this doctor, I am left with no doctor; or a doctor with the same bag of tricks. I remember the overriding reason a friend of mine became a doctor: respect. Most physicians are not in medicine to help.
The batting average of doctors holds true. One third of the time, they help a patient; one-third of the time, they do nothing; and one-third of the time, they cause harm. Imagine if your burger flipper screwed up 2/3 of your orders? You surely wouldn't say they deserved a six-digit income or disproportionate respect. Eventually the light will go on: doctors give a very small net benefit to society, especially in view of the money spent to keep the infrastructure in place. The benefits of the health care system can be attributed to medical research; our current state of illness can be attributed to doctors.
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