For those of you who haven’t been following me on Facebook,
I’ve gone through some changes over the past year.
Last March I suffered a back injury that really scared me
for a lot of reasons. First of all I got a good lesson on how shitty our health
care system has become. Without getting into the details, I wound up with a
stand-alone emergency room bill for $7,800 covering just 3 X-Rays, two pain
injections, and a doctor’s evaluation. My out-of-pocket medical expenses came
to $1,700.
What pisses me off is that if my family doctor was working that Saturday, he would have charged me a $20 co-pay and sent me home with a prescription for Vicodin. How do new these places justify their expenses? For example... $3,000 "Facility fee". That's just for walking through their door! Why do the insurance companies go along with such outrageous prices?
What pisses me off is that if my family doctor was working that Saturday, he would have charged me a $20 co-pay and sent me home with a prescription for Vicodin. How do new these places justify their expenses? For example... $3,000 "Facility fee". That's just for walking through their door! Why do the insurance companies go along with such outrageous prices?
Secondly, the injury came without incident at a time when I was in my best condition. In retrospect I was probably over-training, but I don’t
know. All I did was bend down to pick up a pail of water. I wish it had
happened as a result of a fall or something like that. Then I would know
exactly what caused it, and try to avoid doing it again. So now I just live in
fear that it could happen any time.
Lastly, these incidents only remind me of my own mortality and that always sucks. I've lived my whole life thinking that I could get in better shape physically. I've always thought I could get stronger and faster if really I tried. I'm not so sure I feel that way anymore. Now I'd just be happy to maintain. If I could keep qualifying at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb each year, I'd be perfectly happy.
Lastly, these incidents only remind me of my own mortality and that always sucks. I've lived my whole life thinking that I could get in better shape physically. I've always thought I could get stronger and faster if really I tried. I'm not so sure I feel that way anymore. Now I'd just be happy to maintain. If I could keep qualifying at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb each year, I'd be perfectly happy.
But as a positive result of the injury, I’m living a lot more careful now, for Steve anyway. I’m
trying not to crash as much on my bike, and I’m paying more attention to
hydration and moderation.
More later,
Steve
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