Ok, I haven’t done a rant in a while, but now I have a reason.
Doctors. I rant against the medical industry in general, and mainly because it IS an industry. A fatly profitable one.
I didn’t tell people this, because I was really scared, and I didn’t want others questioning me when I didn’t have answers (and I didn’t want to scare them, either) but last visit with my GP, he referred me to a nephrologist. There were little traces of protein in my urine sample, which can indicate kidney damage. Diabetes can damage the kidneys.
Well, I went thru all the hoops. That doctor didn’t find anything. In fact, he wasn’t quite sure why I’d been sent there. And I said, “my doc thought my protein was a little high”. This doc, who deals in kidneys, said my numbers were in spec. Yes, like your modem levels. Exactly like that. But to cover all bases, he ordered an ultrasound, blood work, and a followup visit.
Ultrasound? I’d had those done on muscles, and they felt damn good. This is different. They tell you to come in with a full bladder. I drink coffee all day, so not a stretch there. But then they PUSH on your bladder for like 10 minutes, until you’re like, “Look, I’m not responsible for your couch if you keep this up.”
Blood work, at least, was insanely fast. I made the appointment online, it was a Saturday morning, in Troy so spitting distance. She had the damn blood drawn before I sat all the way down. Yay! So then I went and putzed around the Farmer’s Market. Which, by the way, was a whole lot of fair-type food and not much else. Even coming off a fast, I don’t want hot dogs and fried dough at 10 am. That sort of shit is what gave me diabetes in the first place, right?
The followup today? They found nothing. Not even any more protein. Ultrasound unremarkable. My A1C is even down. My kidneys are happy and healthy little bean-shaped friggers who are doing a fine job of filtering whatever I dump their way.
So….why do I have to go back in 6 months? Am I now also a patient HERE for life? WHY? Every one of these stupid trips (except the blood work) was a $40 copay, because it’s a specialist. So now I’m throwing out more money, and yet we’ve established there’s nothing wrong.
Why are we LOOKING for something to go wrong? I mean, if somewhere down the line, my GP thinks my proteins are out of whack, can’t he refer me again? Is it that outrageous to do? Is he getting kickbacks because now I have to see a nephrologist every 6 months? Or will that eventually change to a year? By the time I’m 70, how many effin’ doctors am I going to be seeing, and dropping $40 every time to boot?
Doesn’t it all seem like some kind of scam?
azbaelus 