What's more depressing than the Clearlake Walmart?

How about the medical clinic. I woke up with excruciating pain in my shoulder and arm about three weeks ago, a little before Christmas. At first I thought it was stress related because I always get a knot in my shoulder blades when I get stressed out. It's been bothering me off and on. Since it started, I have had near pain free days. But then, I did a lot of things like hanging Christmas lights and cleaning out gutters. Early last week, I made a mistake and had Rachel stand on it and used this electric shiatsu massager too long which gave me a friction burn. I did a bunch of internet research and all signs point to bursitis. So I had bursitis, a bruise on top of that, and then a burn on top of the bruise. So Tiger Balm or Ben Gay were out. And I learned that my self treatment was a bad idea as all I did was aggravate my already inflamed bursae in my shoulder. Which is why I haven't blogged in a while. And my last post took me four days to do.

Anyway, Rachel has been bugging me to go to see a doctor. And I hate going to the doctor. Especially since we have a $2,400 annual deductible so it is out of pocket. It felt better late last week, and on Friday I promised that if it was still hurting on Monday, I would make an appointment and see a doctor. Well, it got worse. The burn and bruise are healed, but I woke up Sunday morning from the pain at 5:00 AM or so. Rachel says I cried, but I say I just cried out. And I woke up Monday morning at 2:00 AM.

I usually sleep on my stomach. I know it's bad for you, and I try to fall asleep on my side or my back like you are supposed to. But once I fall asleep, I always turn over. But now, I am only able to fall asleep unless I'm on my back. It hurst too much to lay on my stomach or either side. And I'm sure that once I fall asleep, I am turning over and it hurts.

Anyway, I made the appointment yesterday for today. I got there early to fill out paperwork since this was my first visit to a new facility. While I was filling out my paperwork at a desk near the reception area, about 10 people shuffled through the line. 2 out of the ten were there claiming they "lost" their pain medication. A 3rd said she just filled her prescriptions yesterday "and I got robbed last night and they took my valium and my vic..." The receptionist cut her off and said she would have to come back after 1:00 when her doctor was back from lunch. a 4th person didn't know what to put on the address line because he was homeless and living in one of two parks. He didn't have a dollar for his co-pay. I was reaching in to my pocket to get a dolalr for the guy and then thought, no, it would be better to give him a dollar ot two outside the clinic and maybe he could get a sandwich or something.

I am a pretty sensitive guy. I mean, I'm a big tough guy and all. But I am sensitive. And this just tore me up. I was in a lot of pain physically, and here are all of these other people WAY worse off than I am. At the same time, I felt like I was out of place. Like I must be at the wrong hospital or something. I didn't belong here with these drug addicts and homeless people. And I felt elitist and guilty about it.

The last time I went to a doctor, it was in San Ramon. And it was Doctor Lamb. And the parking lot was filled with way nicer cars than mine. And I didn't feel like I was going to catch something worse than I had in the waiting room. And she was kind and patient and explained everything to me.

Anyway, I waited. And I happened to draw the same doctor Rachel got for her back. Only she didn't make the connection with my last name. I didn't really expect her too as I'm sure she sees a lot of people every day and she only saw Rachel twice. But this is really weird and really disturbing. I told her my symptoms and she diagnosed me with arthritis. This struck me as odd because this is exactly what she diagnosed Rachel as having. And I never heard of anyone just waking up with arthritis. And she hadn't even looked at my shoulder, let alone felt around the tissue. I asked if she was sure and told her what I had done to myself with Rachel standing on my back and the HomeMedics Shiatsu machine. I then took off my shirt and she looked at my shoulder and said, "Wow that's quite a burn." And she touched my shoulder blade a little. And she stuck with arthritis. She prescribed the same pain meds (minus the valium) that she had prescribed Rachel. And she referred me to the same place for physical therapy. And asked me to get an X-ray.

I then asked her if she had gotten around to responding to our attorney about Rachel's accident. She was supposed to compare the X-rays from right after the accident to the X-rays from this Summer to determine if her "arthritis" was related to the accident. She said she couldn't recall off the top of her head, which is understandable, but said that Rachel should come get another X-ray. I was about to say, "But you have a second X-ray." But I didn't bother.

I left, a little stunned. Let's see, Rachel gets rear ended and this doctor's diagnosis is arhtritis and she recommends physical therapy. I wake up in agony one morning and her diagnosis (without even looking at it or feeling it) is arthritis and she recommends physical therapy. What is this? A new syndrome? Sudden Adult Onset Arthritis? I guess this can easily be confused with the similar ailment of "Adult Onset Some Old Guy Slammed Me From Behind At Forty Miles Per Hour Arthritis" that Rachel has. It takes a trained eye to tell the difference and prescribe valium in the latter diagnosis. Or maybe her arthritis is contagious and I caught it because I used her toothbrush in the shower.

I am freaked out that we have been following this doctor's advice. Not so much about me. The drugs for both bursitis and arthritis are about the same. Although it would have been nice to have some valium for when I get really stressed out. But what she prescribed is listed for both ailments on most of the websites I've looked at. So I'll take them. And hopefully I'll be able to get a good night's sleep. And I am definitely going for a second opinion. But poor Rachel. Her injury is way worse than mine. Life altering, in fact. And we have been following the advice of this doctor for seven months now.

We are both going to get second opinions. I guess since we can choose whatever doctor we want, I could probably go back to San Ramon and see Dr. Lamb again, if she'll take us.

Almost eveyone I know who has had some sort of medical condition in recent years has had some horror story. Everyone agrees our country's medical care is terrible. And since I never had any problems I just listen and nod. But man! It is bad!

I am definitely writing to my elected officials at the State and Federal level. And I will support any candidate with a reasonable national health care proposal in '08.

The really cool thing is that I was supposed to be working on an RFP and the deadline got pushed out so I now have until Thursday to get it done. And I think I can swing it. The customer suggested I look in to some dictation software. But this Baclofen and Diclofenac stuff is amazing. I am able to type and use my mouse without crying tonight. So I might not need it. It would be pretty cool, though. And being a speech rec geek, maybe I should give it a shot.