I have at least stopped worrying about Jason quite so much, because he is on the mend. What a nightmare it was for several weeks. He had to be on an antibiotic in a PIC Line (which is a line in his left arm which is connected to a pump with antibiotic feeding into his body twenty four hours a day. ((Which scared me?) And especially after they called him after about three week, and told him to stop the antibiotic because his white cell count was down very low and to not be around anyone who was ill. He was then put on a different antibiotic for which he had to go into the hospital every day for two hour and have the dosage infused in the Endoscopy Dept. When I asked why his white blood cell count had gone down, I was told that it usually only affected older people that way and Jason was younger, so they thought it wouldn’t do that. Who are these mysterious “they?” Whoever I could grab, a doctor, a nurse or whoever.” They” were very nice but I thought it was totally bizarre that they would take a chance like that. Anyhow he is now under the care of a wound therapy doctor and having two-hour bariatric treatment in the wound therapy department.

I am extremely grateful and appreciate the care he is getting. And no he isn’t going to be able to pay for all this, and will have to declare medical bankruptcy. The cost of everything that has been done for him is astronomical, and it really makes me realize how the pharmaceutical and insurance companies hold us hostage for all these costs. You would have to be a billionaire to pay for all this care. I think about hearing Romney on TV one night talking about lazy people who didn’t pay their medical bills. I cannot imagine anyone being able to pay their medical bills with any prolonged or major illness such as Jason has had. I understand now even more that the cost of no insurance is death. If the hospital and others had not been willing to help Jason, I know he would have died. It is a tragedy! I remember a friend who was a nurse telling me that a patient who had no insurance could not pay for her medicine when she went home, and my friend saw her obituary in the paper a few days later.

I know that research is high cost and advances in medicine and procedures are costly, but I cannot believe that costs do not go down after machines are paid for or medicines are produced by the thousands. It is a very serious situation. I just read an article in Newsweek about the mistakes being made in hospitals, and how serious it is, but no one has access to any records of doctors or hospital, and we cannot make a judgment with no statistics. They cited a hospital who provided the data for examination and the mistakes went down from eighteen per cent to 1.8 percent. A book entitled The High Cost of Dying discussed the disconnect of doctors treating the same patient and how they didn’t even read the electronic records to get information, so they were redoing what others had done and the cost went up because they didn’t bother to check that the same tests had already been given.

I remember being in the hospital in 2011 and they gave me morphine to which I am very allergic, and when I next visited my doctor, he showed me the note on my records saying that I was allergic to morphine and all narcotic drugs. I was sorely tempted to sue which I have never even considered, but the nurses treated me in such a patronizing fashion, like I didn’t have good sense, and they obviously hadn’t bothered to check my records. I thing everyone should have an advocate when they go into a hospital. I always ask lots of questions, but they don’t answer you in a kind way. I find that as you get older most service providers, be they health or otherwise, are more curt and impatient. I think I need to start a movement.” Be kind and caring toward your elders!”

I’ve read many, many books mostly to take my mind off of serious matters, so they haven’t always been “good” literature, but they help me. I did read a Daphne du Maurier book called My Cousin Rachel which was very good. And I read two of Anne Rivers Siddons novels. One called Up River and one Many Islands. Both were very well written and fascinating to read. She is another of my favorite authors, and is very good with characterization. Enjoy the cool weather and put on an extra sweater. It’s easier than taking more clothes off!