Well boys and girls...

mcblink said:
Not just any new car either....we're talking new Porsche 911 turbo territory...and I'm sure as this drags out I might even be getting into McLaren territory lol!

I signed up for the MyChart thing a lot of health-care providers are doing now, and I can see all kinds of different information in there, including the billing stuff. I only peeked once so far. The numbers are sickening. So glad for insurance, these bills are the kind that can bury people!
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Don't get me started on this subject Blink. My wife was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer at the beginning of the year. She is good now after surgery and 2 rounds of radiation.
Unfortunately, starting next week I will be working a second job to keep up with the bills that keep rolling in. Even after insurance paid their 70%, we are still stuck with 30% of treatments, hospital stay, hospital visits, scans, radiation, the doctor's golf club fees, etc...
The only silver lining is that we are almost at max out of pocket. The bad news is, we are almost at max out of pocket!!
 
LiveeviL2000 said:
Don't get me started on this subject Blink. My wife was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer at the beginning of the year. She is good now after surgery and 2 rounds of radiation.
Unfortunately, starting next week I will be working a second job to keep up with the bills that keep rolling in. Even after insurance paid their 70%, we are still stuck with 30% of treatments, hospital stay, hospital visits, scans, radiation, the doctor's golf club fees, etc...
The only silver lining is that we are almost at max out of pocket. The bad news is, we are almost at max out of pocket!!
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Wow dude, sorry to hear that!
Medical bills are certainly the type of thing that can become inundating in a hurry.
poop sucks.
 
LiveeviL2000 said:
Don't get me started on this subject Blink. My wife was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer at the beginning of the year. She is good now after surgery and 2 rounds of radiation.
Unfortunately, starting next week I will be working a second job to keep up with the bills that keep rolling in. Even after insurance paid their 70%, we are still stuck with 30% of treatments, hospital stay, hospital visits, scans, radiation, the doctor's golf club fees, etc...
The only silver lining is that we are almost at max out of pocket. The bad news is, we are almost at max out of pocket!!
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That's what I had back in '15. They took out my thyroid and five lymph nodes. The surgery was almost five hours due to the lymph nodes being in tricky spots near my esophagus and jugular vein. Luckily even with a little bit of one vocal cord getting paralyzed, I can still speak and sort of sing. Considering what some people go through during and after cancer, I look at taking a pill every day for the rest of my life as part of the routine, and don't worry about it. I got off lucky, and could have had something worse. Just hope the greedy bastards never do to levothyroxine what they are doing to insulin.
 
LiveeviL2000 said:
Don't get me started on this subject Blink. My wife was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer at the beginning of the year. She is good now after surgery and 2 rounds of radiation.
Unfortunately, starting next week I will be working a second job to keep up with the bills that keep rolling in. Even after insurance paid their 70%, we are still stuck with 30% of treatments, hospital stay, hospital visits, scans, radiation, the doctor's golf club fees, etc...
The only silver lining is that we are almost at max out of pocket. The bad news is, we are almost at max out of pocket!!
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Plus add the deductible and premiums.
We still get people here b#tching about how much we pay in taxes which go to our universal health care. System is broken, delays are huge, I get that. Needs much improvement.
But in no way do we pay THAT much more in taxes. Not at all.
Wife had a nearly 3 week stay in neuro surgery recovery after a 16 hr brain surgery. How many MRIs, CAT scans etc etc.
Cost us nothing up front during or after.
Unless someone can show me EXACTLY how much of our taxes go directly to health care, I consider it free.
 
Jethro Rocker said:
Plus add the deductible and premiums.
We still get people here b#tching about how much we pay in taxes which go to our universal health care. System is broken, delays are huge, I get that. Needs much improvement.
But in no way do we pay THAT much more in taxes. Not at all.
Wife had a nearly 3 week stay in neuro surgery recovery after a 16 hr brain surgery. How many MRIs, CAT scans etc etc.
Cost us nothing up front during or after.
Unless someone can show me EXACTLY how much of our taxes go directly to health care, I consider it free.
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That’s the thing too.
We, meaning the general population, pay for healthcare, and it’s expensive to boot. Ours isn’t the most expensive I’ve seen others pay more, but it’s not the cheapest either.
The company I worked for last year was expensive. It cost $176/wk to cover the two of us. Mind you, that weekly rate did not adjust to how much you made. We had warehouse workers making $20/hr paying that.
Now I pay about half that, but it’s still a good chunk of change.
I can understand not liking taxation. But how much can it be compared to what I am paying normally and now I am being saddled with these bills to boot.
Sure socialized medicine has its flaws, but at least you can afford to get sick.

… what good is the best healthcare in the world if you can’t afford to get it.
 
LiveeviL2000 said:
That’s the thing too.
We, meaning the general population, pay for healthcare, and it’s expensive to boot. Ours isn’t the most expensive I’ve seen others pay more, but it’s not the cheapest either.
The company I worked for last year was expensive. It cost $176/wk to cover the two of us. Mind you, that weekly rate did not adjust to how much you made. We had warehouse workers making $20/hr paying that.
Now I pay about half that, but it’s still a good chunk of change.
I can understand not liking taxation. But how much can it be compared to what I am paying normally and now I am being saddled with these bills to boot.
Sure socialized medicine has its flaws, but at least you can afford to get sick.

… what good is the best healthcare in the world if you can’t afford to get it.
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See when it "hides" in taxes you don't really notice it.
$176/wk is like $9k per year. Does it cover 100%? Any deductible?
Cause we don't pay really heavy in taxes yet it cost us NOTHING up front to do allll those doc visits.
 
mcblink said:
Finally got a printout of the architecture of metal they've put in my knee.

Pretty cool!


View attachment 84158
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A quick "before" shot on the right side of the computer screen

20220607_142350.jpg


I've been off the narcotics for over a week now. Still taking Tylenol, Ibuprofen, and more recently baby aspirin. I started getting really tired of taking morning and evening injections of blood thinners so I stopped, and began taking the aspirin instead.

Much of the pain has significantly improved, but there is one incision that is refusing to heal up nice and it's still causing me a fair amount of pain, but it's nothing like before, so I can live with it.

No more trips back to Seattle until the end of the month.
 
Had to go have a surgery early this morning.
On Tuesday, the 21st of June, I finished my 2 week course of oral antibiotics, the wound was looking better, healing slow, but healing...and then 3 days later it sprung a leak and by the next day, the following Saturday, it was oozing gross stuff.

So today I underwent surgical debridement, and a wound vac was applied, I was placed back on oral antibiotics and they did a culture test on the bacteria. Results are pending.

Turns out that the infection was rather small, they cut away all the black shìt and cleaned it up nice, slapped the wound vac on, wrapped up me leg and sent me packing! Originally I was told it would be at least an overnight stay, so I was happy as heck to come home same day lol

Will post obligatory pics sometime in the a.m.
 
mcblink said:
Had to go have a surgery early this morning.
On Tuesday, the 21st of June, I finished my 2 week course of oral antibiotics, the wound was looking better, healing slow, but healing...and then 3 days later it sprung a leak and by the next day, the following Saturday, it was oozing gross stuff.

So today I underwent surgical debridement, and a wound vac was applied, I was placed back on oral antibiotics and they did a culture test on the bacteria. Results are pending.

Turns out that the infection was rather small, they cut away all the black shìt and cleaned it up nice, slapped the wound vac on, wrapped up me leg and sent me packing! Originally I was told it would be at least an overnight stay, so I was happy as heck to come home same day lol

Will post obligatory pics sometime in the a.m.
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Gross, but glad you got attended to properly!:)
 
LiveeviL2000 said:
I’m glad you are back on the mend. Did they tell you how long before you should see it start to heal properly?
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They actually might have, yeah. But, in my post anesthesia haze, I don't remember what they said lol
I have to go back day after tomorrow and then again this coming Friday, I'm sure I will be told (and retain this time) everything relevant again at my next visit.

Not to seem like I'm complaining, but this hospital is a 3 hour trek each direction so to have so many appointments so close together like this is kindof a pain lol
I have two more appointments scheduled for the 12th and 14th of July as well, that were scheduled prior to my procedure today...so lots and lots of driving to Seattle and back for me this year, and not for shows this year either.
 
The wound vac is an interesting device. This nurse demonstrates how its applied in this video, and the silicone torso's "wound" is actually comparable in size and shape to the wound on my leg. I have a little vacuum pump hanging from my belt loop attached to the hose. It makes noise sometimes that sounds like my belly growling lol

 
mcblink said:
They actually might have, yeah. But, in my post anesthesia haze, I don't remember what they said lol
I have to go back day after tomorrow and then again this coming Friday, I'm sure I will be told (and retain this time) everything relevant again at my next visit.

Not to seem like I'm complaining, but this hospital is a 3 hour trek each direction so to have so many appointments so close together like this is kindof a pain lol
I have two more appointments scheduled for the 12th and 14th of July as well, that were scheduled prior to my procedure today...so lots and lots of driving to Seattle and back for me this year, and not for shows this year either.
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It sucks to have all that driving to do. But it’s not forever. Just enjoy the drive. Take in the scenery. At least it’s summer and the weather is generally better than driving in the winter.
 
mcblink said:
Had to go have a surgery early this morning.
On Tuesday, the 21st of June, I finished my 2 week course of oral antibiotics, the wound was looking better, healing slow, but healing...and then 3 days later it sprung a leak and by the next day, the following Saturday, it was oozing gross stuff.

So today I underwent surgical debridement, and a wound vac was applied, I was placed back on oral antibiotics and they did a culture test on the bacteria. Results are pending.

Turns out that the infection was rather small, they cut away all the black shìt and cleaned it up nice, slapped the wound vac on, wrapped up me leg and sent me packing! Originally I was told it would be at least an overnight stay, so I was happy as heck to come home same day lol

Will post obligatory pics sometime in the a.m.
Click to expand...
Bummer Mike. Hang in there. I’ve had former coworkers get hit with a similar setback and while I know it doesn’t seem like it now…. Like they did, you will preserver and get all healed up proper.
 
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