- 4 Sep 2015
- 2,306
- 1,906
And Americans are anti socialize medicine. They sure fell for "socialize medicine is a death warrant" for all US citizens.
We pay 30% of the cost and in some cases it can be lower depending on ones income.
Free ride here....with a crew of four.
I went and got a Big-Bag-o-Pills 15 day supply of prescription medicines yesterday....890 yen.
Hell, the emergency room, blood test, urine test, x-rays, CT scan, IV, painkillers, calling in a urologist to do a sonogram, getting a report to take to my local doctor and a CD with the CT data, and a separate 15 day supply of pills than the one mentioned above only ran a bit under 13,000 yen. I was in there maybe three hours.
That sounds very very painful. Hope you get well soon!Early this morning I was experiencing some abdominal discomfort. Then a very short while later I was suffering some abdominal pain. I was at a customer's place in Tomioka, waiting to unload a container, and the pain just kept getting worse and worse until I finally decided I not only couldn't drive in that condition but that as soon as the customer's showed up and I could get the truck into a position for them to unload it I was going to call an ambulance.
The customer called an ambulance for me and after about a ten minute wait one arrived and took me to Tomioka General Hospital. I got poked and prodded and stuck with needles for a while in the emergency room. Then I was taken to have x-rays of my chest and abdomen. After that the doctor and based on the x-rays and the results of my blood and urine tests he said he wanted to do a CT scan since there didn't seem to be anything wrong with my chitlins, so off we went to do the that. The CT scan got cut short when the doctor came out and told me I had a very clearly visible kidney stone.
We went back to the emergency room, where I finally did what I had felt like doing for the previous three hours, which was to puke my guts out. I hadn't eaten for about 24 hours so I very quickly got to graduate to everybody's favorite, the dry heaves.
Meanwhile my company had sent out a couple of people, one to fetch my truck and one to fetch me. My pain was increasing and while it never got to the "I want to die!" level it did pass the "I wonder if this hurts as much as labor pains?" threshold. They finally gave me some pain medication. One was by IV drip. The other was by suppository administered by a male nurse. The pain also passed the "I am perfectly willing...nay, eager...to have another man stick his finger in my butt if the other pain will go away" threshold.
Then a nice urologist came and did an ultrasound on me and determined I have a 7mm stone just about to depart my ureter and enter my bladder, after which passing it should be a relatively painless matter. I am to recover the stone and take it for Show-And-Tell with my local doctor if possible and it might be anywhere up to a month before the thing actually drops into my bladder.
Anyway, my boss patiently waited a couple of hours for me then fetched me home in his Nissan Leaf, my first ride in an electric vehicle.
It wasn't the most pleasant morning I've ever spent.
There's no way to say this without sounding like a snot, but this is the kind of situation where you're glad you made the effort to learn the language well enough to handle it on your own and not have to worry about whether the staff speaks English or a translator is available. The staff appreciates the hell out of it as well.
That sounds very very painful. Hope you get well soon!
(My previous message wasn't posted for some reason)
But good to know its nothing more serious than this! Probably was scary at the time.
A coworker of mine just had "twins" a few months ago. Poor guy.
Sorry to hear about that, Mike. I hope it ends as uneventfully as possible!
Thanks. This "waiting for the other shoe to drop" period between diagnosis and delivery is unnerving.
Are you doing better now.
Jeez, it hasn't passed yet?I'm in no discomfort, thank you. We'll see if I say the same when it decides to move again.
I feel like I haven't seen you around the forum much over the last few days, I hope you're doing OK.Thanks. I'm hoping this medicine (Urocalun) is going to dissolve it enough that it won't be painful.
I feel like I haven't seen you around the forum much over the last few days, I hope you're doing OK.
Very cool, and glad to hear you're alright!Shipshape and Bristol fashion, thanks.
I spent all day yesterday on a motorcycle ride up to Koriyama to visit the
Koriyama Museum of Literature. Had a great time.
Congrats on the resolution!I went back to the hospital for a follow-up CT today and apparently the medicine they gave me is some kind of miracle drug; the stone was gone and I have no idea when Elvis left the building.
Congrats on the resolution!
Congratulations Mike, I'm sure you must feel relieved!
I will, thank you for the good advice!Thanks very much!
Wonko, next time you're having trouble please consult a urologist and see if Urokarun will help dissolve the stones for you. After that first (horrible) day, I really had no pain or even discomfort. I have no idea when the stone passed.
Mike, that is great news.
time for a beer, then!
I am sorry you had to suffer through this. My father had them I think when he was around me age (45).
What I think is impressive is your advanced level of Japanese holds up under such pain, it shows how much you've internalized it.