The Gander

I recently found out I have some Jewish family, way (way) back in the branches of my family tree on both my maternal grandparents' sides; perhaps that explains the family tendency to use everything as a "teaching/moral lesson", not unlike my friend's 100% Jewish grandmother does. It's genetic! That, and it might explain my grandfather's nose, and my thriftiness...although my husband prefers the term "cheapskate", and has insisted since we've known each other that I must be part-Jewish because I'm just too practical as far as gift-giving goes (socks, anyone?) and tend to pinch pennies. Incidentally, before anyone cries "foul!" or "anti-Semite", it is said in jest and not intended as an insult in any way ~ my husband is proud that I can feed my family of 4 for under $200 a month, including training pants for the as-yet-unpotty-trained offspring. He is actually rather amused at this recent turn of events, saying, "I told you so!" It is kind of interesting, from a genealogical standpoint, but it's not going to change my liking for bacon and grilled pork chops.

You know that old saying, "What's good for the goose is good for the gander?" OK, like I said, my relatives enjoy using didactic phrases, but this is one that I grew up with. The phrase usually delivers some sort of pointed message (of course), but in this instance the saying works equally well:

My husband recently decided to join in on the surgical fun (hence the three week lapse in posting).

A back history: He is very young (late 20's) but due to the rigors of being in the service has been living with 5 slipped disks and 3 ruptured ones in his back for a while now, and has some rather unusual issues that his doctors have never seen in someone so young. He has the back of a 70-yr-old man. They're not doing surgery right now because that will actually cause more problems for him rather than solve anything. Due to his degeneration, he has already been told that once he starts having back surgery, he will have to have more procedures done every 5 to 7 years thereafter for the rest of his life to keep ahead of the problem. Not exactly music to anyone's ears, to hear that bit of news.

The current procedure for his problem involves removing the ruptured disks and fusing the spine, but there is a wonderful new possibility that is undergoing some testing and showing fabulous results. Basically, they put in prosthetic disks in place of the ones that have blown, and the patients are supposed to be in even better condition than they were before they had back problems -- and they don't have the problems that would warrant continued future surgical interventions. His doctors are holding out hope that Z can get this new surgery instead of the current standard, but it has to get through the testing phase before insurance will cover it.

So, in the meantime, Z is trying to do things as "normally" as possible, even if it causes him some pain. His thing is, he's going to pick up his 2-yr-old daughter, and tickle our son, and take out the garbage -- pain or no pain. He does have some rather powerful narcotics so he can at least sleep at night. BUT, because his back is messed up, he's been using other muscles and overcompensating for his lack of strength in his back. What he initially thought was a pulled muscle from lifting our 50-lb dog into the bathtub (I know, right?) turned out to be an inguinal hernia.

Researching online, the illustrations look like it hurts, but they're a bit discreet and very mild. Z's looked nothing like the online pictures -- it was much larger and had painfully made its way into places it really shouldn't (inguinal hernias are in the groin area ~ I leave you to your imagination). The doctors could instantly tell what the problem was when we walked in, before they ran some tests.

We bounced in and out of the hospital starting Sunday, November 2 with Z. His hernia grew larger and faster than most the surgeon had ever seen between Sunday and Tuesday, and it was becoming life-threatening. Most hernias aren't in this category, but with this particular kind it can pinch off the intestine and cause a nasty infection and death within a day in some cases ~ and Z's was on the brink of doing just that. So Z was rushed into surgery on Thursday in the local hospital, after dickering with the regulations and red tape on the military side to try and get it done Mon., Tues., and Weds. We were having issues because Z was taken to the local emergency room and evaluated by three different civilian doctors, but he hadn't been evaluated by a military doctor yet. And the military clinic was booked solid for two weeks, could he come in then? Thank God someone in our insurance office had a brain and referred him on the spot Weds. afternoon, once it reached her desk.

Because of the extent of the problem, the surgeon could not perform the laproscopic surgery that is commonplace nowadays, but had to do the old-fashioned open-em-up with one big incision kind of deal ~ 5 inches. So I joke with Z ~ he now has half of a "C-section", but without the benefit of losing 10+ pounds at once. : ) He also has a mesh screen in place, but I don't know what it's made out of. If it's metal, then we are going to have some fun going to the airport!

Here's the thing most people don't realize. The normal way things go where we are, with the military, is a microcosm of socialized medicine: make an appointment to be evaluated (10 minutes) at one of their sites. If they decide you need something, you make another appointment in their system for any tests, x-rays, etc ~ usually within 2 weeks of the initial consult -- but sometimes longer. THEN, after the results of whatever come back, they put in a request and you have to wait a month for a slot at the official hospital -- in our case, near our nation's capital (two hours away). If there are no slots available one month out from the request, THEN you can see a civilian doctor.

We've dealt with this before, Z had a tumor removed from his arm one MAY that was discovered in the previous FEBRUARY ~ and it was starting to turn bad by the time they got around to removing it. Sadly, while there are a few good military doctors out there, there seems to be a much larger group who just don't care. They don't have to! Most are just there, eking out their existence until their time in service is up and they can get out to make big bucks. They can't get fired, after all, and their pay is a set amount ~ it doesn't matter how many people they see or how good a job they do. And of course, we've all heard the horror stories about our Walter Reed system and injured soldiers here in the last year or so. Lovely, isn't it? If that's the "best health care in the world", then we're all in trouble.

But, at least the insurance covers most things, so that is a blessing. I know that some people have no coverage whatsoever. I think that's what disturbs me the most about some of the politician's suggestions for a national health care system. A lot of people are really gung-ho about this universal health care idea, but I don't think they understand all of the implications, and that the costs will be more than monetary. There's a reason people from England and Canada (who have national health systems in place) flock to our country for health care!

OK....and that's my soapbox for this month. I seem to have a monthly quota of at least one. : )