Topic: Emergency room for experience (update)

[azuredesign]

Just saw this, best wishes for better and better, and glad you were able to write about it yourself!

[Duke McDukiedook]

Good to hear you are doing better Lloyd, that sucks.
I guess there never is a good time to find out how screwy the medical system you have in place is.

[Dads Toy]

I've work in a hospital for over 18 years now and know how the system works. And I have seen and experience it all. I have high Cholesterol and very, very high Triglycerides. Doctors put me on Lipids (one being Lipitor) to get my levels down. That is a drug that needs to be banded. It parallelized me to the point I couldn't walk. Joints hurt like hell. And damage my kidneys and liver. So they only thing I can do is diet, exercise and take 2000mg of fish oil. Its only a matter of time....
My point in telling this is Doctors are quick to write prescriptions and hand out pills. But none of them think about using wellness techniques. treat you as you are well not as you are sick. I find a doctor that still uses the old school methods. Modern medicine has it place to find what makes you sick. But the body can heal its self with the right natural treatment. Had a friend her husband had stage 4 cancer and was only given a few months to live. Went to the Garrison Institute and learned how to heal naturally via juicing. Beat the cancer and live two more years before being killed in a car wreck. Cop was going the wrong way on an on ramp.

Glad your doing better and you beat the widow maker. But that is a lot of drugs for your body to decide what to do with. Some times to many drugs is a bad thing. Best wishes.       

[TwoTired]

For those interested, here's an update.

I had a heart specialist office visit last Wednesday, and my family doc visit on Thursday.  They both proclaimed success at patient revival. (I like them both).

It was explained where my plaque build up was, and that I had a plain metal stent installed in a larger artery of the heart, 90% blocked.  These plain stents require less drug therapy.  Another artery was 70% obstructed.  But, it was smaller in diameter and would have required a drug eluding stent.  That one is deferred pending the atorvastatin reaction, which he expected would obviate further action there.

When informed of nitrate drugs stimulating my migranes, and that I've had several, he removed Imdur from the drug intake regimen.  So, that's one less.
He said in a month or two, he'd take Asprin off the ingestion list, too.
That leaves:
Lipitor generic atorvastatin (Cholesterol control)
Lopressor and Losartan for blood pressure
Xarelto and Brilinta for blood thinners (he'll increase the Xarelto dose when the Asprin gets dropped),
Brilinta (I got another month's worth of Brilinta for free, but I bet I make up for that savings in the future.)
Reminds me of the old days when heroin dealers give away initial doses for free while creating an dependent addict.  Some business models stand the test of time, legal or illegal.  (ethical?)

A 5 drug cocktail per day.  A month ago it was 2.

I'm reminded of those elders I've known that have passed, and the amount of pills they took before the end.  Their bathrooms and bedroom dressers had like 20 or 30 prescriptions.  Hopefully, that won't happen to me in 10 years.  But, the trend is disturbing.

My GI tract is adjusting to the new dosage ingestion and beginning to feel like it can process as before.  That's a comfort many under-appreciate routinely.  Waste elimination discomfort (or surprises), can really change your outlook on life.

My next milestone is the stress test in about a month, after which I hope I can get back to doing something beside sit all day and walk about for 20 minutes.  It's not a lifestyle particularly attractive, as it feels I've given up on interesting living, and spending more time thinking about what will go wrong next in physical ailments.

I bleed much longer than before.  Cripes, I scratched a small itchy zit on my neck without thinking about it.  It took 30 minutes for it to stop.   The Heart doc said hours of bleeding wouldn't surprise him with my current drug intake.  With my normal activities, I routinely nick or scrape myself with my large collection of tools.  Can't wait for the next minor slip.

For the most part, I feel like I did last month (less stressed, perhaps).  Just more annoyed with the things I need to get done, and not allowed to do them.

To keep me from doing my handyman fix ups and occupy my mind.  I was allowed to purchase some RC plane kits.   Not that I needed more than the 100 kits and planes I have already moved to AZ.  They would be perfect to pass the time.  But, they are 700 miles away, as are my motorcycles and other hobby/pastime projects.

So, now I have a PT 19, a Hawk P6e, and Pits M12 Beast to assemble and fly.
Time for some fun...

Cheers,

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

This kinda reminds me of one of our OIL THREADS  Sounds great errr positive. Keep the blood flowing Lloyd.

[Yamahawk]

Hey Lloyd, got a question, did you have high blood pressure before the stent? If so, I understand their drug regimen. If you didn't and they have you on BP meds, then you may be able to eventually get off of the Lopressor. Not sure about the Losartan, but if you didn't have it before, you probably don't have it now. The Cardiac Dr.'s prescribe Lopressor as a routine med, and I was told it is malpractice if they don't. So, you could be down to just a couple meds in the next 6 months or so. And, yeah it's a shame what the drug companies do to elder people with meds... of course, the elder people (our parents) were raised up to assume the Dr.'s knew what they were doing, and naturally never question the meds they are given. I think it's criminal...
I like those RC planes that you picked up they are pretty cool. Give you some hobby time until you get down to Arizona...
Charlie

[NobleHops]

"So, the upshot is that I'm still alive. So, that's something."

That's everything. Wishing you a speedy recovery.

[TwoTired]

Diagnosed with hypertension in 2006.  Was already taking Losartan.  Heart Doc added another (Lopressor).

I think that it will depend on my daily BP if I have to take both.  Probably will unless I can lose 30 Lbs.  Which is going to be pretty unlikely if I can't be more active.  I had a 10 Lb head start, before all this happened.

Oh well...

Guy at the field had a mid air and crashed his.  I told him I could fix it and he gave it to me.  Wouldn't take any money for it.

I have the fuse all repaired, except the covering.  Nearly done with the crushed wing repair.  Getting there.  It's lot's harder to do the repair with all my tools, repair crutches, and supplies in AZ.  I have retracts for it in AZ, too.

[HondaMan]

That BEASTIE should be a cool one to fly! I admire guys like you who CAN fly them: after I got gas in my eyes in 1973 I lost the ability to quickly focus on things distant, so when my friend tried to let me fly one of those, I quickly augered it in. Embarrassing...

[TwoTired]

It's my first twin.  It was zipping around the sky pretty quick until another guy tried to hover his plane in the traffic pattern.  His pretty much disintegrated. You can see the prop stuck in the wing near the nacelle. That was a parts transfer.  The twin was still flying on one motor, but the landing was off runway in quite rough terrain.  I think that caused the most damage.

Shame about your eye.  It's a fun hobby.  I don't crash very often.  But, you have to practice routinely to keep fast and challenging models in good condition.  They need routine maintance, too?  They have wear patterns you have to stay ahead of, or you get bigger repairs to address...or a trash can.

Cheers,

[bear]

Diagnosed with hypertension in 2006.  Was already taking Losartan.  Heart Doc added another (Lopressor).

I think that it will depend on my daily BP if I have to take both.  Probably will unless I can lose 30 Lbs.  Which is going to be pretty unlikely if I can't be more active.  I had a 10 Lb head start, before all this happened.

Oh well...

Apparently paraplegia can cure hypertension.
My doc couldn't work out why I was suffering from periodic fainting spells after I finally escaped rehab.
He hooked me up to a data monitor for a week and relisted my BP was dropping through the floor.
Took me off the BP meds I'd been on for years .... no fainting.
I know it's a pretty drastic cure but it works.

Cheers,
Brian

[dave500]

years and years and years ago(14 or 15 years old)my mate got one of those planes with I think a "cox"glow plug motor you circled on wires?im guessing it was a spitfire model as it was green etc,first fly we went to an open area and as I held the plane tought with the fixed simple throttle going flat out for him he managed to almost get a full 360 run,it went partially around climbing then nose dived and all quiet,well that was the end of that!

[TwoTired]

Hey Jerry G,
You're a druggist, right?  Ever notice an individual's drug buying trend that ramps up in quantity and then suddenly stops altogether?

What would you say the average number of prescriptions peaks at when it suddenly ends?

I'm trying to figure out where to draw the line in the future. 

Maybe I can get a research grant from the Gub'mint to do a "study"?  I mean there IS taxpayer impact, after all.

Cheers,

[TwoTired]

Hey Dave,
I flew control line planes back in the 50s/60s.  Those little tiny motors were .049 cu inch displacement.  We had an empty field next door that was great at growing weeds.  We wrangled a picnic table into the field and used it for a take off runway above the weeds.   As we were self taught, those weeds cushioned the crashes, to enable repeat flight attempts.  Eventually, we could fly them until they ran out of fuel, instead of mowing weeds.  We built up balsa kits to fly them.  Nobody taught us how to do that either, apart from the kit instructions, and the odd magazine article.  But, it directed our energy away from more mischievous endeavors...for a while, anyway.

My dad was unimpressed with our little balsa models, that didn't look like "real" planes.  But, was impressed we could teach ourselves to fly and control them, doing loops and figure eights and inverted flight, etc.  He bought a WWII Dauntless dive bomber made by Wen Mac for me.  The plane was all injection molded plastic with the metal motor integrated into it.  It looked very impressive and I couldn't wait to try and fly it.  Fueled it (beginning the slow plastic disintegration process) and tried launching it off our picnic table.  Our little balsa models would take off with a simple release once the motor was running and tuned.  The 5 times heavier Dauntless, dived for the ground when reaching the 6 ft end of table.  Still, the weeds did a fair cushion job.  But no amount of extra pushing allowed the plane to get airborne.   At the time, we knew glue as glue for wood.  Had no concept that plastic needed a different chemical compound besides the Ambroid glue we used routinely.  The label said it would glue plastic, after all.  But, it does not fuse plastic, it only grabs it at best.  These lessons were learned later in life. And the castor oil from fuel spillage and motor exhaust, didn't help the glue bonding process in any way.  We still needed to learn about alcohol and a cleaning solvent.

Anyway, we finally had to admit that our picnic table runway just wasn't going to ever allow the Dauntless airborne.  As dad worked as a part time security guard at power company facility, he noticed a paved yard large enough for a flying circle there.  So, one weekend I went with him to work his shift, having the entire place to ourselves one Sunday.    We got everything ready, feeling confident at our now infinite runway.  Fuel up, Start up, Dad holds the plane while I go to circle center where the flight handle waits.  Let go!  With tiny little engine screaming, the plane begins a roll out....slowly.  I learn that rollout doesn't develop enough centrifugal force to keep the lines taught, and plane ground loops turning into the flight lines and cutting them.  Luckily, there is enough drag on the motor and it stops before the plane can waddle off into fence or other equipment.

OK,  re-tie the lines and begin again.  This time I keep the lines taught, and the plane very slowly builds up speed, teasing flight, going in circles.  After half a circle, the tail starts to lift.  But, it has stopped gaining speed.  Though, I try to balance on the main wheels, it eventually noses over enough for a prop strike and kills the motor.  We tried 3 or 4 more tries before finally deciding the that "runway" needed to much smoother to reduce rolling resistance with the tiny wheels on there model.  The coarse asphalt was fine for cars and trucks.  Not so much tiny rollers.
In fact, the model was grossly underpowered, and the wing airfoil was dismal.  It would have needed twice the motor or JATO assist to get it airborne.   None of those ideas would have helped in the long run, as the plastic began to crumble away, first near the motor and then anywhere fuel residue had touched.  I eventually gave up on repairs and robbed the motor to put into another Balsa build, where it always had fuel feed issues from the separate fuel tank.

Dad never tried to help me fly models again.  I think because I already knew more about flying machinery than he did, and couldn't become the rescue hero he'd planned to be.  I give him marks for initial effort though.  Still, he did further fund some of my model building supplies, and I think he bought a larger model kit to build; A Carl Goldberg Buster.  But, that is another story.

Cheers,

[edwardmorris]

Oh wow, am I late to this or what!  So sorry to hear Lloyd, and glad that your are doing better. I myself am just about recovered from a rather unpleasant ER visit followed by Gall surgery that kicked off 2018 for me. Add unemployment atop that, you know I've been having fun   Anyway, again, glad you're doing better.

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

These trends are for various reasons: death, relocation, switch to mail order, move to care facility, reassessment by same/different physician(s), loss of benefits, prices, or just pissed off at the pharmacy. We have a few people that have a group of scripts that have them filled once a month. 12 to 15! We try to coordinate them for their convenience so they are not in every few days. Most of the time it's my first 4 examples otherwise the number of scripts just decrease. 6 to 8 are not uncommon. Depends on disease states and how many different issues the patient has. Sometime multiple drugs can be replaced by a single entity.

All the new fashioned drugs are expensive and they may only have a minor advantage over older generics so a switch could be made to older less expensive stuff. Many physicians don't want to go to the trouble it often causes them in time and attention to make switches, etc. A patient needs to tell the physician they can't afford/won't pay and just can't get the meds in order for some physicians to make the changes. The new brands dangle the "lower/no copay" offer to the patient and advertise on TV in order to get you to request of your physician to try them. Many of the biologicals you see advertised ie Humira etc may set the insurance back $5000 or more a MONTH. They sell their expensive drugs vs not selling and your insurance company is the one that takes the hit IF they will cover it. Harvoni, for instance, for hep c will eliminate the virus at a cost of $1000 a pill a day for 60 to 90 days. The gub'mint (Medicare/Medicaid) doesn't want you to use these low/no copay offers because they want the benefit of the coupon/offer which they don't get, you do. If you do get put on an expensive drug be sure to search/Google for a coupon ie "Viagra coupon" and read the coverage fine print about using it with gub'mint insurance.  By the way, Viagra is now available generically. Same pill but white now and it has an offer while 99% of generics don't have any special offers. 

My time is very limited. I let one license lapse and renewed my last one for this next/last 2 year period. Probably take down the shingle later this year. Not that I'm old or anything but I'm getting really tired/annoyed about all this #$%* plus I don't want to provide nursing duties and have to #$%* with insurance companies anymore. End of rant     

[TwoTired]

Thanks Jerry,

Bureaucracies do love paperwork and convoluted rules.  It's dissappointing to realize someone actually enjoys and benefits from that stuff.  I expect none of them are on the subjected-to end of it, though.

Sorry to get you riled up.

Cheers,

[Jerry Rxman Griffin aka MuthaF'er]

You're welcome buddy. YOU didn't get me riled up. It's the greedy fukn drug companies  I'm just "the old guy" now and have seen and been through too much in the drug business for my own good. I remember the "old days" when prescription insurance was just beginning. I guess the old guys then ,when I was the young guy, were at the same point I am now and the young jaded studs coming on board now only know of their present.   

[BobbyR]

Hey Jerry G,
You're a druggist, right?  Ever notice an individual's drug buying trend that ramps up in quantity and then suddenly stops altogether?

What would you say the average number of prescriptions peaks at when it suddenly ends?

I'm trying to figure out where to draw the line in the future. 

Maybe I can get a research grant from the Gub'mint to do a "study"?  I mean there IS taxpayer impact, after all.

Cheers,

I read somewhere that the average person takes one drug per decade of life. My 100 year old Mother is the exception. Lipitor and that is it.

[Yamahawk]

I'm below average then... Three drugs, and an aspirin daily.
Informed Consent magazine had an article back in the mid-90's about the drug companies and their pricing. It's outrageous how they are able to charge 10 times what the price is in Europe, here in the states... a drug that costs $200 here in the US costs $20 in Switzerland, which has one of the highest standards of living.
The markup on drugs was staggering also, Prozac had a 220,000% markup on what it cost to produce it. No wonder the Pharmaceutical industry is one of the richest in the world... US and one other country are the only ones who allow them to advertise on TV too. THAT should STOP.
And what they do to seniors on retirement, is criminal, as they cannot afford to buy their prescriptions, and have food that is decent to eat... $400-800 per MONTH on the average for our senior population, and the Dr.'s keep on prescribing the latest and most expensive stuff they can, when the older drug does a better job, and for substantially less money. Now THAT really pisses me off.... oops, wrong thread...
Charlie

[BobbyR]

Compared to my Mother you are a pill popper. 

I am in a clinical trial, One drug is on the market and the other investigational. The investigational drug I get provided the marketed drug I need to pay for. The marketed drug is considered a breakthrough and works well for a much longer period than the older drugs in it's class. It's retail price is $10,000 per 30 day supply. Now if you are not pissed off by what I am going to say, there is no way to explain anything to you.

This $10,000 drug was developed at UCLA using a grant from the US Department Of Defense. Many drugs are developed under DOD and VA funding.  OK, that means it was developed using taxpayer money.

UCLA sold the patent to a Japanese company who markets it with an American Company. Now the US public paid for the development of the drug and now must buy it at an unaffordable price.

The drug company was dragged before Congress to explain, it was lame, but they offered a discount coupon.

They applied for a patent in India which is pending. India said it was too expensive and their people could not afford it. They may decide to make it generic in India.

Countries like Canada and those in Europe negotiate drug prices since they have a national healthcare system. The US allows these companies to sell you what you already paid for at ridiculous price.

Time for a change folks.

[HondaMan]

Lloyd:
I was able to fly those U-control airplanes, before the gas incident: those were a BLAST! (Really!). At one point we (my brother and I) got those crack-a-part plastic ones (Gilbert?) with the .049 COX engines in them, when we were high-schoolers in the Chicago area (1960s). His had a "muffler" engine that could be flown very quietly, but it lost a lot of power, so he ran it open most of the time. We used to stage dogfights with each other, in circles about 50 feet apart: we'd start flying roundy-round, then walk toward each other to see who could knock who down. Most of the time we got the lines tangled and the planes would just fall out of the air, but once we rigged them to fly in opposite directions from each other (his CCW, mine CW) it got more interesting - and frustrating. We had several head-ons, but the planes would just drop off the wing or engine or tail section, and we'd plug them back together and go again.

When I went to college, he (younger) was flying at the same school one weekend and discovered that when he used the muffler, some Purple Martins there took exception to his plane and began attacking it while he flew. He would re-fuel and play with them again and again: a neighbor saw it and thought he was trying to hurt "his" Purple Martins (mosquito catchers they were, and prized for it), and he came out with his .410 and shot my brother's plane down! It never flew after that...I'd like to see that guy try that in Chicago TODAY.... this was right in our neighborhood!

[BobbyR]

I had a COX "trainer" models. It used rubber bands to hold the wings, tail section, and maybe the motor on. The fuel used to eat away the rubber bands very quickly. It was pretty common to have something come off in mid flight.  I was quite young at the time. It's final flight was when I replaced the glow plug and I was going to test it. The spring that spun the propeller broke so I spun it with my finger. Of course the prop hit my finger twice and I let go. It made it down the driveway and crashed into a passing car. The guy got out and stomped on the plane and took off.  I did see some guys years later flying RC Jets, they were insanely fast. 

[demon78]

As far as pills go, thank whatever I live in Canada I'm getting pills worth thousands for $ 4.11 Canadian, case in point I'm taking something called Jakavi, I was not feeling too swift one day so my daughter decided to pick up a prescription for me and was standing at the counter the guy say's and how will you be paying for that she says Visa so he rings it in that will be 5400 + bucks she just about swallowed her teeth and says you know maybe I'll let Dad pick that up thanks any how, now I know #$%*ing well I couldn't pay that for a year let alone a month, in fact I'm not at all sure I'm worth that, any way I put the drug companies down as the same as insurance companies and Defence contractor's, Blood sucking parasites.
Bill the demon.

[Yamahawk]

^^^ +1 totally agree!
Charlie