So after flying out of California last week I've been feeling kinda sickish. The worst was the day after, but since then I'm had this nasty cough, general feeling of weakness, plegm build-up and so-on. So since it's been just about a week now I figured it was time to see a doctor.
I'd have to wait 3 weeks to get an appointment that would take 20 minutes at the most. 3 weeks to have someone stare down my throat and say "yep, that's strep/pneumonia/Peruvian death plague." Bah.
So yeah. Gonna head off early tomorrow morning to an "urgent care facility" (about an hour's drive away) because it's got the only non-emergency doctor I can see this month.
1st rate health care. Woo.
I think part of it, is going to a new place. A heavily contaminated place compared to where you are used to living. Mold and etc actually grow out there. Where as you are used to very dry air.
...Well, okay, not free, because of the whole taxes thing. Still.
Damn, that's in-sane. If I have something I wanna have the doctor look at, I can get in the same day nine times out of ten. That tenth time? The next day. My GP is open 'til 9pm and has four or five doctors on staff with an LPN, too, so it's usually incredibly easy to get in.
Same. Although I can count on one hand with fingers to spare how many times I've needed urgent care in my adult life.
Damn EE.
I think part of it, is going to a new place. A heavily contaminated place compared to where you are used to living. Mold and etc actually grow out there. Where as you are used to very dry air.
This may have quite a bit to do with it, especially if you changed altitudes drastically...
When I went out to Vegas for a Rocky convention, I went from below-sea-level/80F/ridiculous-humidity here in New England to 1000-ft-above-sea-level/100F/zero-humidity in Nevada. After the convention, when I left Las Vegas I was fine... By the time I got to St. Louis I was coughing up bricks of alien green **** and blood. Worst case of bronchitis ever.
(And to top it off, the extreme rapid change in climate also killed the glue in the
soles of my cheapass shoes and they both peeled halfway off...)In any event, going from a fairly rarified environment like New Mexico to the biological cesspit that is urban California is pretty much analogous to swimming laps in a sewer.
On the upside each time I've not had to wait 3 weeks to see my doctor and, more importantly, when I did see the doctor I didn't needed to take my
chequebook with me.
Seriously we need to do something but this is not how it tends to work. It isn't a pay through your nose and still wait scenario.
I hate to burst every non-American's bubble, but this is not typical
That would've been really bad
I can find a doctor at pretty much any time of the day. There are some that start their days off around 2 or 3 in the afternoon so they can get the people that are getting off of work and couldn't see other doctors during normal business hours.
As to how much they charge... it all depends on locatioon. Doctors in miami tend to have a higher overhead and they do chanrge a bit more than if it was a doctor in some other part of the state or country. With insurance $20 seems to be about the average here in Miami. Without insurance... it can get very expensive. I've seen doctors that will charge you $60 (which in all honesty, without insurance it isn't that much more than if you had insurance), and I've seen some that will charge you $200.
It all depends on a bunch of stuff...
Apparently I live in a doctor-rich environment. Cuz these two aren't even considering the hospital 20 mins south, the emergency facility 2 miles away or any of the urgent care facilities in between. And they're building a Cleveland Clinic branch thingy about 10 miles away, too. Not that that's a huge deal as I'm only about a half hour from the CC itself. Man, I gots doctors all around me. Maybe I'm seein' things in a way that's a bit skewed.
There's no GP offices outside of the hospital where you're at? Mine is a li'l co-op practice that has its own building. I haven't tried to go to a doc in a hospital since I was seein' a pediatrician. Hell, my GI specialist has his own office. It can take a li'l longer to see him, though. Sometimes two days. ;)
Apparently I live in a doctor-rich environment. Cuz these two aren't even considering the hospital 20 mins south, the emergency facility 2 miles away or any of the urgent care facilities in between. And they're building a Cleveland Clinic branch thingy about 10 miles away, too. Not that that's a huge deal as I'm only about a half hour from the CC itself. Man, I gots doctors all around me. Maybe I'm seein' things in a way that's a bit skewed.
Or maybe you should be wondering why there are so many doctors around you.
Or maybe you should be wondering why there are so many doctors around you.
On thing's for certain: they ain't here for me.
If there are I don't know of them and the hospital refused to even mention them. And it wouldn't really surprise me if there weren't. I mean, I live in a town of ~8000 people, the closest town (about 50 miles, 45 minutes away) is a little smaller then us, and both have a median household income of not much above the poverty line. Doctors don't have much reason to stick around.
I just used one o' them old fashioned paper thingies. I think they were called 'phone books' or something.
But yeah, in all seriousness you're likely not too close to a buncha doctors. Kinda sucks for ya. But you'll be out soon, no?
Or maybe you should be wondering why there are so many doctors around you.
On thing's for certain: they ain't here for me.
Who are you referring to when you say they?
So after flying out of California last week I've been feeling kinda sickish.
Did you fly Delta?