So, my wifes bird gets sick. My wife is heartbroken. She is convinced the bird is gonna die. The bird is 10 years old and to be realistic it is certainly in the upward portion of its lifespan. Parrots may live 100 years but cockateils live only 10 to 15. She knows what this means.
I can't stand to see her like this so I suggest we take the bird to the vet. At first she is like, 'but the vet is expensive.'. I am like, 'expense be damned! This is your baby bird Linus, if you want him at the vet we will go to the vet.'.
One thing leads to another and I end up at the vet with Linus by myself. She didn't come with me.
So I let the doctors look at the bird. The doctor says she wants to perform a test on his poop. I ask how much that will cost, the Doc says $40 and I give the thumbs up.
She finishes up her work and clues me in to what is going on. She is worried he isn't eating. She would like to keep him overnight. She also wants to take xrays of him - she wants to rule out broken bones and the like. She tells me that if she keeps him overnight she can force feed him directly into his gullet, plus they have temperature controlled cage.
I am like, 'how much will this cost?' the answer: $400-$600 depending on how many days he needs.
Ouch.
So I make the executive decision: Give me whatever drugs you want him to take, give me instructions. I will take him home and tomorrow morning my wife and I will reasess.
Total Bill: $118.
About a year ago I was chasing the cause of headaches I had been suffering. I have been getting these headaches for going on 5 years now. They are awful. They don't fit the clinical definition of 'migraine' (migraine medicing does NOTHING for them) but they are every bit as bad.
So I am visiting a new doctor and the doctor is like, 'I would really like an MRI of your head so I can rule out brain tumors.'.
Now here is the thing. I can come up with half a dozen reasons why these headaches are NOT brain tumors. I asked the doctor if he thought they were tumors and the doctor said he thought it was unlikely - but if a patient has had headaches as long and as bad as I have it is common practice to do the MRI to rule them out.
I had every opportunity to say no. But I went through with it.
Why?
Cause I was gonna get pictures of my brain. How cool is that. I had hit the medical testing jackpot. The only medical test cooler then that would be an MRI of my balls.
So I get the test and they send me home with a CD of all the pictures they took of my brain.
The thing about this is, without insurance I could not have afforded this test. I mean, it was easily multiple thousands of dollars and i treated it like a toy. Hell, I thought of it like a toy. And WITH insurance it was completly affordable. So much so that the only real question that I asked myself is, 'is this test too much of a pain in the ass to go through with?'.
Not for a moment did I think I had brain tumors, yet I went ahead with it anyways.
I was listening to Rush Limbaugh some time ago. He said something about medical care that I kind of disagree with. But no matter how much I disagree, I am forced to admit that he did have a point.
He said that medical insurance should be done away with. All doctors offices should offer care that is 'al-la-carte'. You should be able to request a menu and the menu should say exactly how much each thing is. When you see your doctor cost should be, very much, at the forefront of the discussion.
He was pushing the idea that without health insurance costs doctors could afford to charge less, making health care more affordable.
I call bullshit on this. I don't think that I could afford to pay for a broken leg 'al-la-carte'. Health care is just too expensive.
But he does have a point. My decision making process for my wifes bird was much better then my decision making process for my headaches.
People are acting like costs in healthcare should not be a consideration. I think they are wrong. Costs should be a HUGE factor.
I never should have gotten the brain scan. Me wanting pictures of my brain was NOT a good enough reason to go through a multi-thousand dollar test.
Oh by the way, the bird is fine. My story about the vet was only 2 days ago. This morning I saw him chowing down on seeds and pushing his mate out of the food dish. He is back to his normal abusive self.
