Another story of using your own mind to decide about health care.

[Guest guest]

My brain injured friend that was sent to an Alabama psychiatric institution

that has no brain injury facilities in March 2002 has severe tennitis and

deafness that he can only hear if you are about 1-2 feet away from his right

ear with no background noise. IF you heard the schrill sound that he has

been listening to for 4 years that I could hear him identify during the

audiology tests week before last, you might be a little testy also. The

audiologist wanted us to have the $1,500 " rerounting " new technique that his

audiologist has obviously been taught at a weekend seminar. He couldn't tell

me where they were re-routing the sound to but he could tell me it wasn't

covered by Medicare so he didn't spend much time trying to convince him to

have it becuase it's obvious I'll take a day off work and pay for the gas

and food but I'm not paying $1,500 for Re-routing.

 

Medicare doesn't pay for the hearing aids that would be required to help him

hear sound from the nerve conduction loss that he has had since he fell 17

feet after falling asleep standing up while being prescribed a psychotrophic

drug that has somnolence as a side effect head first onto a concrete floor

adn then fell out of the bed from the hospital and had a brain injury on the

other side a week later.

 

Medicare does pay for the middle ear surgery for repair of the ossicles (ear

bones). He took us to the xerozed copy of the ear taped to his door and

pointed to the 3 ear bones and indicated it was probably the long one that

got broken during the fall. Even as a Doctor of Chiropractic at the time I

was anxious to get him some relief from ther ringing and the deafness so we

scheduled the pre-surgery blood work, the surgery adn the post op.

 

Then I started thinking.....

he's going to go through the tympanic membrane to repair a bone that he

" thinks " got broken during the fall?

 

Then Joey started telling me more about how his uneducated parents had been

told by Madison County Alabama Probate Judge Tommy Ragland, H.S.G.E.D.

that there was no brain injury hospital to send him to so they should sign

on the dotted line and commit him involuntarily to N. Alabama Regional where

there is no brain injury wing in 5 years when he was voluntarily seeking

medical help for his brain injury on the commitment papers prepared by

Attorney Coleman Burton that I beleive is being paid from the $12 that the

PRobate Court charges for Mental Health for the first pages filed in the

Probate Court in addition to the guaridian ad litem that must be appointed

by the judge for every commitment for $500-$10,000 to represent his

interests and told him the judge would be sending him to N. Alabama and

he'd get paid either way...

 

So Friday I made him appointments with the head of the brain injury

rehabilitation department at UAB on the same day I made an appointment for

him to be evaluated by the head of the audiology department. They are going

to coordinate with me whatever MRI's or whatever they order. They are going

to show me those ossicles and explain why this man can't hear since the fall

before anyone cuts his tympanic membrane and he's going to get the medical

treatment he should have had 2 + years ago when Judge Ragland sent him to

the psyche ward so the Alabama Dept. of Mental Illness could bill his

Medicaire/Medicaide to keep their psychiatric institution open and I'm going

to appeal to Governor Bob Riley to pay for his hearing aids. IF they would

pay for him to get no help in a psychiatric institution they can pay for

himn to hear and not be suffering from that maddening ringing in the ears.

 

The moral of this story is that, unless it si life-threatening,

don't make any big health care decisions under duress, under pressure of

time without giving your mind time to look at the options.

 

The next week the Mental Health Center arrived threatening to call the judge

if he didnt' go to mental healeth 10/1/04 and I had to get him out of

Madison COunty once Judge Ragland knew I could know about him sitting next

to the young female patietns in the visitor's room when there is no one else

there and other little gooddies I've learned from him about their " mental

health care " in Alabama until I could get the Alabama Disabilities

Advocate's PRogram and everyone you can think of sent an e-mail so they'd

stop bothering him and I didnt' have to be concerned that he'd disappear and

I'd not be able to find him to get him the health care he needs.

 

I know there must be many compassionate and caring health care professionals

and I just didn't happen to luck out finding them yet . The system is set up

to maximize their profits, get you in and out as quickly as possible and

then risk management so it doesn't cost them when they make a mistake.

 

I'll keep you posted on the ending of this episode.

 

Thanks,

Sandra Lance, D.C.

 

--- Original Message -----

" Michael " <mwood

 

Sunday, October 10, 2004 7:35 PM

RE: pancreatitis

 

 

>

>

> Three things, take them as you may...and please take note: I am not a

> licensed health care professional, and am giving no prescriptive or

> diagnostic advice of any sort: only my opinion, and personal experience.

>

> I once had a pain in the lower right abdomen that persisted despite my

home

> remedies. I tried magnesium citrate, did a good cleanse, and the pain was

> worse.

> Finally, in desperation, having failed at all the home remedies and

> convinced I was dying of cancer or something, I went to a doctor. He took

> blood, urine, examined me, ran a few tests, and told me he was sending me

to

> have an xray and a sonogram. I went did the x rays, came back to his

office,

> and he informed me that I needed emergency surgery for an inflamed and

> infected gall bladder. I asked when he wanted to do this, and was told

> " immediately, today. " I balked and told him I would go home, think about

it

> more, and let him know in the morning. He warned me how " dangerous " that

> might be, but ultimately had no choice but to wait for my consent. I

thought

> about the pain, and that he might be right, but opted to consider my

options

> before letting someone cut on me with a knife, and remove parts that I

> actually might need. This was Monday evening at 500PM.

>

> I went home, and talked to someone who suggested a bath.

> The next day, rather than return to the doctor to schedule a surgery, I

> waited. Rather, I did as I was told, took a bath with a white soap,

applied

> los siete banos de san Cipriano with fresh basil leaves, and prayed. For

> three nights I did this. On the fourth day I went to church to pray. I

> noticed by this time the pain was gone. I continued to go the church for

the

> rest of that week. Never did the pain return, and never did I go back for

> surgery. That was years ago.

> Now, one might think that perhaps the doctor misread the sonogram, or the

> lab tests. But I am persistent with such things, and had seen them myself.

> Without question I had a serious problem- a medically documentable one-

with

> the gall balder that would normally be treated with surgery. And yet, I

did

> not have surgery. In stead I used an alternate healing path, requiring

faith

> and no money, that proved, for me, quite effective.

>

> On the other hand, years before that, something happened that has made me

> cautious with the medical system- and another reason I seek to avoid them-

> ever since.

> When I first got married, my wife had a number of physical problems. We

went

> to a specialist in female problems- a gynecologist- who had an expensive

> office in a very prominent part of town, and who came highly recommended

by

> all.

> He ran tests, examined her, had her return to the office with me, and

> informed me that " your wife's uterus is contaminated, and we must scrape

it

> out, and the cost is about $1800.00 which is payable in advance of the

> procedure. " I asked what the contamination was exactly, and heard the same

> words again... " your wife's uterus is contaminated, and we must scrape it

> out. "

> What had stuck in my head was his reference to the cost of this procedure,

> several times; in fact, at that point I knew more about the cost than

about

> what the source of the contamination might be. I got the idea quickly that

> this was about money more than some imminent danger to my wife's health.

> I thanked him and told him I would call later. Instead, I insisted that my

> wife go for a second opinion.

>

> Over her protests- she was angry at me for insisting that she not have

this

> required surgical procedure, and was convinced that she was going to die-a

> few days later she went to see a doctor on a poor part of town. With no

> tests, he told her, " your breasts are more pregnant than you are. " Nine

> months later or so, the " contamination " that this man would have had me

> " scrape out " was born quite healthy.

> (... and NO I didn't sue him, although certainly such things are

> malpractice. I personally don't care for lawsuits. I instead chose to tell

> others to be careful, with this true story without ever mentioning the

name,

> so people would learn to ask questions. It's a good teaching tool)

> And that is the second lesson: if you are not convinced that such a

medical

> procedure is needed, question the doctor. You are entitled to see the data

> he sees. If you are not sure, then get a second opinion.

> Even the physicians tell you that. Believe them.

>

>

> Last, right now, only you know whether the barn is on fire or whether the

> horses are just spooked.

> If I personally got past the crisis you are dealing with, I would focus

on

> diet...on what I could do the avoid what is causing this problem in the

> first place.

>

> A wise physician one said to me that these type of physical events are

often

> caused by what we do to the body- what we eat or drink- or often more

> importantly, what we do not eat or drink; and I have seen documentation

that

> indicated that most major illnesses are lifestyle related- caused by our

> choices..

> Live healthy and later you may not need the doctors; or as Uncle Jed used

to

> say " An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. "

>

> Michael

>

>

> Christina or Derek [dk_40207]

> Sunday, October 10, 2004 7:17 AM

>

> pancreatitis