Thursday, September 10, 2009

Healthcare

When I was little I had many sessions of ear-aches. Doctors removed the things that grow in the back of the throat and the adenoids. Didn't stop the ear-aches. They removed some of the bone structure in back of the ear. Some of this happened after father had died and we were very poor. But we already had Universal Healthcare in Sweden and the costs were paid by our taxes. I don't remember that we had to wait for service, and since I was the one with a painful ear, it seems I would remember.

A couple of years passed and it was discovered that I had a hernia. When I exerted myself a little part of my insides pushed on my abdominal muscles and seemed to want to pop out. I don't know how long that had been going on, but a doctor said he thought it might have been caused by the constant early crying in the baby buggy. My mother gave me a choice. I could have a truss, or I could have surgery. Since I had observed an elderly man in the autumns wearing a truss out side of his pants while he was raking the leaves in his garden I knew I did not want to be wearing a truss. I chose surgery. I had a local anesthetic, for a strange heart condition had been discovered earlier. ( I was excused from Physical Exercise because of that, so I felt it was an added asset for me. I will tell you later what else I was saved from. ) But because I was awake during the surgery I heard what one MD said to the other one there. He said, 'Shall we tell the mother?' The other said 'No she would worry.' Those words would worry me most of my life. What was in there that could worry my mother. Or were they not even speaking of me. Every time some Md was working on my insides I would ask him to check for any unusual condition. I had four c-sections and one other opening for the removal of my uterus. Nobody found anything of interest.

The other thing I was saved from was participating in Choir. Some one told me that if you ate a whole raw potato nobody would ever want to hear me sing.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Your stories are always so fascinating and terrific to read. And how times have changed over the years! Maybe you can't sing, but you can cackle like a witch pretty well.

Jodie said...

Sorry to hear about the kittens. At least you had good healthcare even after your father passed. It wouldn't happen here. My sister struggles with healthcare for herself and her children here in Texas. We don't seem to like the poor very much in Texas, as we don't treat them well. CHIP has been under funded. Medicaid is extra hard to get. I had to apply for it when my father had a stroke so he could stay in a nursing home without breaking my life savings... as it was I took out many loans to cover between Medicare and when we got him on Medicaid, as my younger sister (only 1) did not follow through and take care of it for me since she was living in town with him and I was 300 miles away.