Ailment of the Day

I get cancer on a regular basis. It's the nocturnal variety that starts with a funny bump or a lump in my throat. It grows as the hours pass until, by 3AM, it's full blown. Fortunately, by that time I've already made some decisions about seeking medical care and what my memorial service should be like, so I am finally able to go to sleep. It usually disappears by sunrise.

I don't want you to think I'm a hypochondriac, because I am not. I certainly don't burden everyone around me with lurid accounts of all my aches, pains and terminal illnesses. No. I bear them in silence, bravely facing an uncertain future, with only the occasional wince or murmur, to indicate to the discerning observer my true condition.

I took my latest carcinoid complaints to my primary care physician yesterday, very casually, with much self-deprecation and laughter. I am not unaware of my healthcare foibles. I know I self-diagnose and usually only go to the professional for confirmation. Once again, I dodged a bullet, but I did come away with a just-in-case order for further testing.

Here's the problem. I have health insurance, but by the time I pay the deductible (starts July 1) and the enormous co-pay as well as my 20%, there goes a couple months or more of my retirement pension. Do I really want to do that for something that is most likely stress and/or allergy related? And what ever happened to being able to go have something checked out ---- proactive, preventive self-care ----- without breaking the bank? It's a fine mess we've got ourselves in when doing the sensible thing, like catching an illness or treatable condition before it becomes major, is out of reach EVEN WITH INSURANCE!

It reminds me of the situation with Mom and Alzheimers Disease. In order for her to have financial assistance, first she has to bankrupt herself, then go into the most expensive level of care, whether it is what she needs or not. Now, I do not object to using her money to buy her care. That's what it's there for, that's what she and Dad worked hard for. The trouble is, once it is gone and she needs assistance, she must go to a facility that takes Medicaid, and those are not always available or desirable or even sanitary. How much more reasonable it would be for the money to go toward letting people age in place, at home or with family, whenever possible and bringing care to them. Isn't that what you would want? I don't know anybody who just can't wait to get to a smelly, gray-colored nursing home and hang out with all the immobile people in wheelchairs and be cared for by an ever-changing cast of strangers. Oh Boy! Sign me up!

Do we need healthcare reform in the United States? Hell yes, we do. The Baby Boomers are coming down the pike as fast as our creaky knees will carry us. Even though we've been the bulge in the python for 60+ years, it is as though policy makers are suddenly waking up and rubbing their eyes and wondering where in the world all these old people came from. The numbers are out there. It's not a surprise. But the numbers don't convey the situation in a meaningful way. It is not until it happens to you or someone you love, that it truly hits home. And by then it's too late to overhaul the system.

I've lived most of my life with the completely unfounded notion that I'm going to live until I suddenly drop dead and nothing too terrible is going to happen. Life will go on as it generally has until it doesn't. Maybe our politicians and policy-makers are the same way.

 Tra-la, Tra-la. Ain't life grand?

Wait, what? Heart failure? Diabetes? Alzheimers? That's not for me, that's not for my friends, my siblings, my spouse. That's old people stuff and I don't think about old people stuff. I'm a Baby Boomer, emphasis on the Baby.

We're not ready as a nation. We're not ready as a society. We don't have the compassion, the financial structure, the worldview to embrace the tsunami that is coming. Selfishly, I'm glad I'm toward the leading edge. It's the tail end of the boomers who are really going to suffer. But I'll be dead by then. I hope.