More 3 am rants and ramblings
What is it about 3:00 and my body clock. Am I on some sort of internal alarm system that I don't know about?
The truth is, I am in excruitating, I'm-gonna-die pain. And do you know what it all boils down to? A boil.
A stupid boil.
And it's located in a spot that I'm not even going to blog about. Of course, just writing that lets you know it can only be in a few places... but I will just let you guess.. because I am not even going to write about it. And I'm not going to the doctor because I have this fear they'll ship me off to some teaching hospital where a crowd of 22-year old interns and visiting physicians from all sorts of countries will gather around to view the awful existence that is my boil. It would probably get published about in some high-falutin' medical journal - with pictures - and I would just die of embarrassment. So, no. I'm going to try and treat it myself.
The problem is that when you google "boil - home remedies" you come up with all sorts of crazy things. Hairspray - as in Rave #4? Ummm... not there, thank you very much. Hunts Tomato Ketchup? Tumeric paste. Baking soda. Black Salve. But the most frequent one mentioned was campo phenique. And don't you know I'm about to wake Simeon up an ask him to run to Walmart... because, you know, I can't drive in this condition. And if it works, I think I might get a bumper sticker touting the wonderful healing properties of campo phenique. So, if you ever pull up at a red light behind a white mini-van with a bumper sticker that says, "Campo Phenique saved my..................." then run out and say hello. It'll be nice to meet ya. Oh, and don't even try to count the dots. I put in a whole bunch of them to throw you all off.
On to a more serious note, my mom is in the hospital. And I am SO mad at her doctor. I'm just going to warn you right now that I'm about to go into a big fit and tirade about doctors and pharmaceutical companies. I just want to clarify that I have nothing against doctors. I truly don't. But I'm dismayed about the state of primary care physicans. And pharmaceutical companies - Big Pharma - yeah, they make me massively mad. Not the people who work in sales or anything like that - but the head honchos who know that they shouldn't be putting certain medications out and do it anyway. And, of course, I understand that it's probably medically impossible to make any sort of broad scale medication that won't have side effects in a few people... but if one those people is a loved one... then it changes the tide a bit. And I'm not really thinking about Mom here - although she did have a reaction - but when I think about side effects and reactions, I always think about Noah. But that's another story.
The point is that my mom has had MRSA Staph in her ear for a year now. A year. She's been living with excruiating ear pain for a year. They've tried everything, but it keeps coming back. Well, she's got a dodo for a doctor and he keeps refusing to culture her ear - even though she had MRSA in it last Spring and it hasn't gotten better. Now, yes, she should've gone somewhere else, but she didn't. Well, the doctor says she doesn't have MRSA anymore and to just come back every two weeks for the rest of her life to get her ears cleaned. Okay... let me interrupt right here. This is a problem that I have. Why not try to figure out the cause? Instead of making someone pay a $20 copay for the rest of their lives to suction out an ear canel, why not try to get to the root of the problem? I can't help it. I'm a cynic. How much money, dear ENT, are you going to get from my mom's insurance company if you require her to come in and see you bimonthly for the next 30 years? Instead of bandaiding the situation together, why not try to get to the bottom of it? Oh, but you know what? If my mom is still in pain between those visits, you can always prescribe her with pain medication. And when the pain gets so bad that it causes headaches, maybe you can give her something to help with that, too. How much financial kickback do you get from Big Pharma for doing that? Again, oh wise one, why aren't you trying to solve the problem and be done with it? And true, my mom is just one person... but how much money goes in the pocket when an entire practice is treated this way?
And before anyway of you get disgusted with me and vow never to read my blog again, just know that I'm a woman with a boil. I can't be held responsible for anything I write while experiencing such excruiating pain. I may actually have to go to Dollar Tree and buy one of those inflatable plastic pool rings to sit on just so that I can finish typing this.
How about that??
Anyway, my mom finally insisted that the ENT run a culture - and he threw a stinking fit over it, but finally did it. Well, the culture came back as Staph, but mom was specifically told that it was NOT MRSA. I guess he wanted to show her who's boss. Well, he prescribed Bactrim. And a few days ago, mom started feeling really bad. She was running fever and was lethargic. On Monday, Dad took her to the ENT and the dodo doctor was on vacation. So mom saw the visiting doctor who told her that she indeed DID have MRSA and that it says so right on her chart. She was concerned that the MRSA might have gotten into mom's bloodstream and she wanted mom to go to the hospital for an antibiotic IV. See... because she's been on antibiotics forever and is on a ton of medication - she's like her own walking pharmacy - so she shouldn't be running any fever, right. But the visiting ENT's hands were tied because only a PCP can do the hospital orders. And mom also has a dodo for a PCP.
Man, she just picks the worst ones, doesn't she?
Are you still with me? This is pretty long, isn't it. I understand if you need to take a bathroom break.
Okay, again, I'm not against doctors. I have thought many, many times of going to medical school. The lack of sleep would just kill me. And after spending considerable time in doctor's office and hospitals over the last few years, I know it's nothing like it appears on Grey's Anatomy. And I have yet to see a McDreamy or a McSteamy. Oh, I know they exist. They just don't practice in small-town America.
Seriously, though, I think everyone goes into the medical field with a good, pure heart. For every goofball doctor you get, there are 20 that are fantastic. And I've not gotten to it yet, but the medical staff at the hospital in Kaufman just rocks. We are so impressed with them. They have been a Godsend. Really and truly. But I think the thing with doctors - mainly PCP's - is that they're just too overworked. Go into any doctor's office and the wait is forever. Can you imagine the stress they're under? And exactly how many diseases and illnesses do they have to be experts in? And then every patient comes in with his/her own personal medical history and list of medications they're on. So the doctor or nurse has to make sure nothing interferes with this medication or that one. And what about family history? And what about this and that? And there are jillions of diseases and viruses and bacterias out there. It is impossible to know about all them.... which makes sense that many PCP's have to treat the symptoms, not the cause. I get it. I really do. But if you continue to treat the symptom and not the cause, you'll never get better. You'll be a dog chasing its own tail around and around and around. You get this medicine which helps that... but it causes a side effect with something else... so you go on a medication for that... which causes a side effect for another thing... so you take something for it, too... when does it end?
Does it?
So, the visiting ENT called my mom's PCP - who, as I've mentioned is also a dodo - and he has a huge practice and can't give anyone more than 2 minutes of his time. He said - without even seeing mom - that she probably has the flu and to give her Tamiflu and call back in 2 days if she's still sick. So mom spent $76 on Tamiflu, but it made my dad mad and he took mom to the PCP to ask if they could just please do a blood culture to see if MRSA has entered her bloodstream. The PCP refused to see dad and the nurse wrote a prescription for blood work and sent her to Labcorp. They get there - only to realize the doctor requested a blood test for the flu - not for MRSA. And guess what... it takes 2 days to get the results back. He really just wanted mom out of his hair.
This is all happening in Arlington. My parents drive back to Mabank and my mom is feeling worse and worse. By supper time, she has a fever of 103.7. I know God urged dad to take mom to the ER. He did and they waited 6 hours to see a doctor. The ER doc said nothing's wrong with mom and that she probably has the flu and to go home. Well, Mom sat up and got white, clammy, and dizzy - so the doctor insisted on vitals being done. Her blood pressure started to rapidly drop and got down to 43/29. He said that if she hadn't come in - or if they'd been seen earlier and gone home - that mom would be dead. She would've died in the middle of the night.
Oh, and they did a swab of her nose and she does NOT have the flu.
Now, why did her PCP request the 2 day blood test and send her home? Because he's an idiot who doesn't care. If they'd listened to him, Mom would be dead.
Anyway, Mom is stabilized now. They think she had a reaction to Bactrim. (By this time, her entire body was covered in a rash). They also think the MRSA is in her blood and the culture should be back on Thursday. The doctors and nurses in Kaufman (especially the ER) are wonderful. Granted, they tried to send her home, too, but once they realized what was going on, they were determined to find a cause.
One more thing. Mom asked how she could get the flu if she'd had a flu shot. She was told, "Oh, the flu shots this year aren't working against the type of flu that's going around". One of the guys at the hospital said he doesn't even recommend the flu shot - or Tamiflu - because they're worthless half the time. So, here I go with my little conspiracy theory. Everyone pushes the flu shot, so you pay $20 bucks to Big Pharma to get your shot. Then, it "conveniently" fails and you have to pay $76 for Tamiflu. Oh, but just to be sure, let's also do a blood test - just to be on the safe side. Do you have your checkbook with you? You do, good? Make it out to.....
How do we know they're not all in cahoots? Just answer me that.
(On a sidenote, I know how serious the flu can be - especially in infants and the elderly. I would never want to make light of a situation that could be fatal - especially if someone reading this has lost a loved one to the flu. Even though we choose not to vaccinate, I would never want to encourage someone against vaccinating. I just have a problem with vaccinations that don't tend to work. And after seeing what happened to Noah and what's happened to thousands and thousands of children, I am very skeptical of Big Pharma. Very skeptical.)
Okay, it's after 4:00 and I need Sim to get his bohiney off to Walmart. My boil is calling. Thanks for bearing with me.
Leslie
The truth is, I am in excruitating, I'm-gonna-die pain. And do you know what it all boils down to? A boil.
A stupid boil.
And it's located in a spot that I'm not even going to blog about. Of course, just writing that lets you know it can only be in a few places... but I will just let you guess.. because I am not even going to write about it. And I'm not going to the doctor because I have this fear they'll ship me off to some teaching hospital where a crowd of 22-year old interns and visiting physicians from all sorts of countries will gather around to view the awful existence that is my boil. It would probably get published about in some high-falutin' medical journal - with pictures - and I would just die of embarrassment. So, no. I'm going to try and treat it myself.
The problem is that when you google "boil - home remedies" you come up with all sorts of crazy things. Hairspray - as in Rave #4? Ummm... not there, thank you very much. Hunts Tomato Ketchup? Tumeric paste. Baking soda. Black Salve. But the most frequent one mentioned was campo phenique. And don't you know I'm about to wake Simeon up an ask him to run to Walmart... because, you know, I can't drive in this condition. And if it works, I think I might get a bumper sticker touting the wonderful healing properties of campo phenique. So, if you ever pull up at a red light behind a white mini-van with a bumper sticker that says, "Campo Phenique saved my..................." then run out and say hello. It'll be nice to meet ya. Oh, and don't even try to count the dots. I put in a whole bunch of them to throw you all off.
On to a more serious note, my mom is in the hospital. And I am SO mad at her doctor. I'm just going to warn you right now that I'm about to go into a big fit and tirade about doctors and pharmaceutical companies. I just want to clarify that I have nothing against doctors. I truly don't. But I'm dismayed about the state of primary care physicans. And pharmaceutical companies - Big Pharma - yeah, they make me massively mad. Not the people who work in sales or anything like that - but the head honchos who know that they shouldn't be putting certain medications out and do it anyway. And, of course, I understand that it's probably medically impossible to make any sort of broad scale medication that won't have side effects in a few people... but if one those people is a loved one... then it changes the tide a bit. And I'm not really thinking about Mom here - although she did have a reaction - but when I think about side effects and reactions, I always think about Noah. But that's another story.
The point is that my mom has had MRSA Staph in her ear for a year now. A year. She's been living with excruiating ear pain for a year. They've tried everything, but it keeps coming back. Well, she's got a dodo for a doctor and he keeps refusing to culture her ear - even though she had MRSA in it last Spring and it hasn't gotten better. Now, yes, she should've gone somewhere else, but she didn't. Well, the doctor says she doesn't have MRSA anymore and to just come back every two weeks for the rest of her life to get her ears cleaned. Okay... let me interrupt right here. This is a problem that I have. Why not try to figure out the cause? Instead of making someone pay a $20 copay for the rest of their lives to suction out an ear canel, why not try to get to the root of the problem? I can't help it. I'm a cynic. How much money, dear ENT, are you going to get from my mom's insurance company if you require her to come in and see you bimonthly for the next 30 years? Instead of bandaiding the situation together, why not try to get to the bottom of it? Oh, but you know what? If my mom is still in pain between those visits, you can always prescribe her with pain medication. And when the pain gets so bad that it causes headaches, maybe you can give her something to help with that, too. How much financial kickback do you get from Big Pharma for doing that? Again, oh wise one, why aren't you trying to solve the problem and be done with it? And true, my mom is just one person... but how much money goes in the pocket when an entire practice is treated this way?
And before anyway of you get disgusted with me and vow never to read my blog again, just know that I'm a woman with a boil. I can't be held responsible for anything I write while experiencing such excruiating pain. I may actually have to go to Dollar Tree and buy one of those inflatable plastic pool rings to sit on just so that I can finish typing this.
How about that??
Anyway, my mom finally insisted that the ENT run a culture - and he threw a stinking fit over it, but finally did it. Well, the culture came back as Staph, but mom was specifically told that it was NOT MRSA. I guess he wanted to show her who's boss. Well, he prescribed Bactrim. And a few days ago, mom started feeling really bad. She was running fever and was lethargic. On Monday, Dad took her to the ENT and the dodo doctor was on vacation. So mom saw the visiting doctor who told her that she indeed DID have MRSA and that it says so right on her chart. She was concerned that the MRSA might have gotten into mom's bloodstream and she wanted mom to go to the hospital for an antibiotic IV. See... because she's been on antibiotics forever and is on a ton of medication - she's like her own walking pharmacy - so she shouldn't be running any fever, right. But the visiting ENT's hands were tied because only a PCP can do the hospital orders. And mom also has a dodo for a PCP.
Man, she just picks the worst ones, doesn't she?
Are you still with me? This is pretty long, isn't it. I understand if you need to take a bathroom break.
Okay, again, I'm not against doctors. I have thought many, many times of going to medical school. The lack of sleep would just kill me. And after spending considerable time in doctor's office and hospitals over the last few years, I know it's nothing like it appears on Grey's Anatomy. And I have yet to see a McDreamy or a McSteamy. Oh, I know they exist. They just don't practice in small-town America.
Seriously, though, I think everyone goes into the medical field with a good, pure heart. For every goofball doctor you get, there are 20 that are fantastic. And I've not gotten to it yet, but the medical staff at the hospital in Kaufman just rocks. We are so impressed with them. They have been a Godsend. Really and truly. But I think the thing with doctors - mainly PCP's - is that they're just too overworked. Go into any doctor's office and the wait is forever. Can you imagine the stress they're under? And exactly how many diseases and illnesses do they have to be experts in? And then every patient comes in with his/her own personal medical history and list of medications they're on. So the doctor or nurse has to make sure nothing interferes with this medication or that one. And what about family history? And what about this and that? And there are jillions of diseases and viruses and bacterias out there. It is impossible to know about all them.... which makes sense that many PCP's have to treat the symptoms, not the cause. I get it. I really do. But if you continue to treat the symptom and not the cause, you'll never get better. You'll be a dog chasing its own tail around and around and around. You get this medicine which helps that... but it causes a side effect with something else... so you go on a medication for that... which causes a side effect for another thing... so you take something for it, too... when does it end?
Does it?
So, the visiting ENT called my mom's PCP - who, as I've mentioned is also a dodo - and he has a huge practice and can't give anyone more than 2 minutes of his time. He said - without even seeing mom - that she probably has the flu and to give her Tamiflu and call back in 2 days if she's still sick. So mom spent $76 on Tamiflu, but it made my dad mad and he took mom to the PCP to ask if they could just please do a blood culture to see if MRSA has entered her bloodstream. The PCP refused to see dad and the nurse wrote a prescription for blood work and sent her to Labcorp. They get there - only to realize the doctor requested a blood test for the flu - not for MRSA. And guess what... it takes 2 days to get the results back. He really just wanted mom out of his hair.
This is all happening in Arlington. My parents drive back to Mabank and my mom is feeling worse and worse. By supper time, she has a fever of 103.7. I know God urged dad to take mom to the ER. He did and they waited 6 hours to see a doctor. The ER doc said nothing's wrong with mom and that she probably has the flu and to go home. Well, Mom sat up and got white, clammy, and dizzy - so the doctor insisted on vitals being done. Her blood pressure started to rapidly drop and got down to 43/29. He said that if she hadn't come in - or if they'd been seen earlier and gone home - that mom would be dead. She would've died in the middle of the night.
Oh, and they did a swab of her nose and she does NOT have the flu.
Now, why did her PCP request the 2 day blood test and send her home? Because he's an idiot who doesn't care. If they'd listened to him, Mom would be dead.
Anyway, Mom is stabilized now. They think she had a reaction to Bactrim. (By this time, her entire body was covered in a rash). They also think the MRSA is in her blood and the culture should be back on Thursday. The doctors and nurses in Kaufman (especially the ER) are wonderful. Granted, they tried to send her home, too, but once they realized what was going on, they were determined to find a cause.
One more thing. Mom asked how she could get the flu if she'd had a flu shot. She was told, "Oh, the flu shots this year aren't working against the type of flu that's going around". One of the guys at the hospital said he doesn't even recommend the flu shot - or Tamiflu - because they're worthless half the time. So, here I go with my little conspiracy theory. Everyone pushes the flu shot, so you pay $20 bucks to Big Pharma to get your shot. Then, it "conveniently" fails and you have to pay $76 for Tamiflu. Oh, but just to be sure, let's also do a blood test - just to be on the safe side. Do you have your checkbook with you? You do, good? Make it out to.....
How do we know they're not all in cahoots? Just answer me that.
(On a sidenote, I know how serious the flu can be - especially in infants and the elderly. I would never want to make light of a situation that could be fatal - especially if someone reading this has lost a loved one to the flu. Even though we choose not to vaccinate, I would never want to encourage someone against vaccinating. I just have a problem with vaccinations that don't tend to work. And after seeing what happened to Noah and what's happened to thousands and thousands of children, I am very skeptical of Big Pharma. Very skeptical.)
Okay, it's after 4:00 and I need Sim to get his bohiney off to Walmart. My boil is calling. Thanks for bearing with me.
Leslie
Comments
Praying for healing for your precious mom...and for YOU! :o)
Nandini's Aunty Lisa
I guess that we might not see you tonight at Lifegroup? Call me when you get a free moment. We love you all and will continue to lift you up in prayer.
Hugs and prayers! And...how do you know it's a boil? I haven't heard of one of those since Biblical times...hope it's better!
Jenn
I'm trying to join the blogger ranks again ;)
How's your um, well...."blemish" :) ? And your Mom?
Missed seeing you tonight,
Julie