Adventures in healthcare
As the national healthcare debate rages, I've had my own personal run-in with healthcare back at the farm. See, my mom is on some drugs for her rheumatoid arthritis that affect the function of her immune system. As a result, she can't fight infection as well as the rest of us.
Anyhoo, when she came to pick up little man last Sunday, her eye was a bit red. By Tuesday morning, it was much worse, so she went to the doctor. Turns out, it was pretty bad. The doc immediately referred her to a opthamologist, who brought in a corneal specialist, who said we had better get cracking on this thing if we wanted her to keep her eye.
Ouch.
A round-the-clock schedule of five kinds of eye drops (plus a pill) was prescribed, and we finally seem to be at least moving in the right direction. I stayed over one night this weekend to administer the once-every-two-hours drops during the night and help with the once-every-hour drops during the day.
Mom was walking around looking like a cross between Rosemary Clooney and Stevie Wonder with her protective blackout glasses. Dad and I just tried to stay on top of all the little bottles of drops and the kitchen timer we were using to keep track.
This morning, there was a big article in the newspaper about the healthcare debate. Mom, a yellow-dog Democrat, naturally thinks that the Obama camp has it right. Dad is violently opposed to it. I awoke to the dulcet tones of them hashing it out over coffee.
Mom: "Most people who have Medicaid are pleased with it!"
Dad: "If the government was in charge of healthcare, you'd die waiting in line! You would lose your eye!"
Mom: "Government programs like Social Security have kept old people from starving to death!"
Dad: "I pay into Social Security all my life, and what am I going to get out of it? Welfare, too! Why would a guy take a job that pays him $200 a week, when the government will pay him $250 to do nothing?! The government screws up everything! I don't trust a single one of them!"
I nearly died laughing, listening to them. My parents. They are total, complete originals. I have yet to meet a couple like them!
Anyhoo, when she came to pick up little man last Sunday, her eye was a bit red. By Tuesday morning, it was much worse, so she went to the doctor. Turns out, it was pretty bad. The doc immediately referred her to a opthamologist, who brought in a corneal specialist, who said we had better get cracking on this thing if we wanted her to keep her eye.
Ouch.
A round-the-clock schedule of five kinds of eye drops (plus a pill) was prescribed, and we finally seem to be at least moving in the right direction. I stayed over one night this weekend to administer the once-every-two-hours drops during the night and help with the once-every-hour drops during the day.
Mom was walking around looking like a cross between Rosemary Clooney and Stevie Wonder with her protective blackout glasses. Dad and I just tried to stay on top of all the little bottles of drops and the kitchen timer we were using to keep track.
This morning, there was a big article in the newspaper about the healthcare debate. Mom, a yellow-dog Democrat, naturally thinks that the Obama camp has it right. Dad is violently opposed to it. I awoke to the dulcet tones of them hashing it out over coffee.
Mom: "Most people who have Medicaid are pleased with it!"
Dad: "If the government was in charge of healthcare, you'd die waiting in line! You would lose your eye!"
Mom: "Government programs like Social Security have kept old people from starving to death!"
Dad: "I pay into Social Security all my life, and what am I going to get out of it? Welfare, too! Why would a guy take a job that pays him $200 a week, when the government will pay him $250 to do nothing?! The government screws up everything! I don't trust a single one of them!"
I nearly died laughing, listening to them. My parents. They are total, complete originals. I have yet to meet a couple like them!
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