Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Imaging

The technician was walking through the waiting room at the hospital calling for her next victim patient. I was waiting to be called for my full heart imaging but did not understand the accent of the technician so I did not react, it did not sound like my name. On her third pass I asked, "Croft Randle"? "Yes", she said as if that was the name she had been calling all along.

She took me into a dark lab, had me take off my shirt and lay on the table. She asked a bunch of questions to make sure I was me and then wired me up with electrodes and spread some cold liquid on her imaging probe. "Lay on your side and breathe normally". She proceeded to move the probe around, look at her two screens, operate her mouse and punch her keyboard. "Are you sick?". "No". "Are you short of breath?".. Wow! Not until you asked! Does your screen say I am?, I thought. What I actually said was, "No, I feel fine"... I knew I was not dead as I could hear my heart valve operating through the speaker. I could see her screen out of the corner of my eye and man, the inside of my heart is a pretty scary place! Flashing red as the blood is compressed and blue as it is let out with the huge valve flapping back and forth as it pumped. How can that valve last for this many years?

She continued for another good twenty minutes giving many instructions, some of which I had to ask her to repeat. "Deep breath, hold your breath, why did your doctor order this?" Finally she said, "OK. You can go".

For my American friends, the total cost for this half hour procedure? Zero! Nada! Nothing. Now I wait for my doctor to call which he probably will not as the heart specialist told me before he ordered this test, "I already know what the results will be. Don't worry, your heart is fine, this is just precautionary".

It was nice to get out of there! On the way home I stopped by the chain saw wood carving area that was still set up from Canada Day to have a look. Most of the carvings are still there so I snapped a few photos with my new camera.






17 comments:

  1. Are you suggesting that this woman didn't get paid for doing the procedure and that the hospital didn't get paid for it? Are you suggesting that the company that made the machine you were hooked up to made it for free and then gave it to the hospital?

    See this is where the leftist mind and the rightist mind can see the difference between "free" and "I didn't have to pay them anymore than I've already paid in taxes". In a leftist mind free means the second statement yet doesn't see that it's nothing like the first statement.

    And by the way Croft, the term oriental is considered almost as much a slur as nig**r. I would type that word out but I don't want to hurt any sensitive eyes.

    But on a final note I'm glad it went well and hope they don't find anything bad. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don, Don, Don. Slow down now. I understand as well as you that the hospital workers do not work for free and that the equipment is not given to them. It is all paid for by our taxes. Our government chooses to spend their money on health care instead of wars. I strongly suspect the amount I pay in taxes is less than you pay in taxes and medical insurance combined.

      On your other point, you are correct. I made some changes. I am pleading ignorance, I was not aware that was a derogatory term. I did not know exactly what nationality the woman was so I used the general term. Now I know.

      Delete
    2. As you go about parsing Croft's words Don, I wonder if you plan to give up (or have) social security and medicare since they are "socialized" government programs.

      Delete
    3. Of course not Bill, why would I? I've paid for it for the 40+ years I've worked.

      I'm kind of curious where I said anything about not wanting socialized medicine. I merely pointed out that those on the left say things are "free" when in fact they are not. Somebody paid for it.

      Delete
    4. I'm certainly not going to split hairs on the use of the word free. Most everyone understands taxes pay for the services in Canada. I took Croft to mean that he had no out of pocket cost when he said free.

      Delete
  2. For my American friends, the total cost for this half hour procedure? Zero! Nada! Nothing.

    Somewhat agree with Don. The total cost was far more than "nada" however it didn't have to come directly out of your pocket.

    But I disagree about the term "Oriental". It is nowhere near as offensive as many others. The closest reference I can find says that the term Oriental is dated and the term Asian is much more acceptable. Having said that, I still call Indians "Indians" and the cowboys "cowboys"! :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I too underwent a "free" procedure today, had my yearly cardiac MRI. Always has the technician looking a little star struck after he watches my flaky heart do the flip flops around my chest. But so far so good, it still pushed me down the pool for 4 kilometres this morning and likely will do the same tomorrow. And nobody is probably going to mistake me for a lefty but I do like our system where everyone pays something so everyone can benefit. Is it perfect, no damn way, but it does beat whatever comes in second.

      Delete
  3. I agree with Kevin, that is the common term here in Canada. In fact RIchmond, B.C. is most often referred to as an Oriental community as opposed to an Asian community.

    Croft, our medical plan isn't totally free, we pay $125.50 per month for two people. I just found out the other day that in Alberta it is totally free.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have the same amount deducted from Norma's pension cheque. It is still a pretty small amount considering what we get.

      Delete
    2. I'm sorry Contessa but it's clear you're being misled by someone if you truly think the medical care is "free". If you just think logically about it you would realize that nothing is free when it comes to medical care. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

      Did you work for free when you worked or if you didn't work did your husband? There are some people who work for free. They are called volunteers. Except for the candy strippers the rest are paid.

      Delete
  4. We're glad to hear your left- leaning, commie-loving, tree-hugging, socialist heart is doing fine. I too love our 'free' medical system, and wouldn't change it for anything.
    I really like Rick Doyle's point a while ago. We may live in a heavily taxed country, but if it was an onerous burden to carry, we wouldn't see so many of us being able to afford to be Snowbirds, would we!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Quite some time ago I did a survey on the Blog on how much Americans paid for health insurance. Many people commented on the amounts they were paying and some were unbelievably high. 25% of the respondents were paying over $8,000 per year for insurance. 15$ paid over $12,000 per year. On top of this they still pay income tax. The total of these is much, much more than we pay in taxes and that includes our health coverage. I am glad I am a Canadian.

      Delete
    2. Here is the link to that poll

      http://croftsmexico.blogspot.ca/2011/02/medical-pollthe-results-are-in.html

      Delete
    3. Those are sure Big numbers. I've been presently surprised how low our Income taxes have been since we retired. And to think that Health Insurance costs are included is quite the bonus!

      Delete
  5. The Killington poll: I was soaking in the heated pool at Killington Vermont with a bunch of Canadians back when Bill Clinton was trying to push through US government provided national health care. I asked the northerners if they would trade the current US system for the one they had in Canada. 100% nope. These fells had money but they had family that did not-end of discussion, it was.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I remember those days Norm. A woman doctor friend of ours went to Washington to advise the Clinton Administration on Canada's Health Care plan. We all had great hopes back then but of course it was blocked.

      Delete
  6. http://money.cnn.com/interactive/pf/taxes/income-tax-rates/?iid=EL

    That's an interesting study. It looks like Canadians actually pay more in federal income tax but less on state and local. Does your medical come out of federal or state/local? I know the answer but thought I should put it out there. So maybe all this Canuck crowing about how they pay less for their medical insurance isn't really correct. ;)

    ReplyDelete