Success Warrior: The Blog That Embraces ADHD

The Internets is Reality

So,

Tonight I took out the garbage.

Well, that's certainly blog-worthy enough for you to come out of blog-retirement.

I'm sure that there is more to the story.

As I was saying, I took out the garbage tonight and it was raining.  It has been raining all day.  Mostly a drizzle but it was coming down pretty good at the time that I took the garbage out, of course.  It seems odd for this time of the year.

Global warming.

I believe the term is Climate Change.

Is that anything like ObamaCare becoming the Affordable Care Act since it hasn't quite worked out so well?

Affordable?

Remember the "opposite rule" when reading the names of laws.

How about "opposite-plus rule" since The Great and Powerful Oz promised that premiums would go down by $2,500 and they have in fact gone up over $3,000?

Wasn't this post about rain?

I believe that it was.

So, I took the garbage out and it was raining.  I came back in the house and told my wife, "It's still raining and it's really coming down right now."

She grabs her smart phone and taps the screen a few times and then holds the phone out so that I can see what she has pulled up.  It's a satellite image of the area showing that it's raining and that it's really coming down right now.

I looked at the image.

I looked at the image a little longer.

I looked at the image a little longer and tried to figure out what exactly I was supposed to glean from the image.

I gave up and asked, "What does it mean?"

She pointed to our approximate location on the map which was covered with shades of blue with the darkest blue being right over our city.  Then she explained that the blue area meant that it was raining.  She also showed me that it was raining to the northwest of us and that rain would likely pay us a visit tonight.

I looked at the image.

I looked at the image a little longer.

I looked at the image a little longer and then felt my shirt.  It was wet.  From rain.  That was really coming down at the time that I took the garbage out.  I touched the foster dog, who had gone out to pee at the same time that I took the garbage out.  She was wet.  From rain.  That was really . . .

"Did you not believe me when I told you that it was raining?"

It used to be that you had to be careful with information found on the Internets and were cautioned to verify it in some way.  Now, it appears that you have to be careful with IRL information and should verify it using the Internets.

It turns out that she did believe me (so she says) and she was checking to see if we were going to get snow tonight (so she says).

Too bad people don't use this Internets thingy to verify Obama's bullshit.

You don't need the Internets for that.  Just look to see if his lips are moving.

Just like taking garbage out in the rain.

WTF Has Obama Done So Far?

So,

I've been encouraged to visit the cult website a few times because this will somehow cultivate an acceptance in using violence to jam my opinion down someone's throat and kill or imprison anyone who doesn't see things my way.  I believe that I did visit the site a year ago or so but I have to admit that if I did visit it, it was so unmemorable that today, when I finally decided to see if I was missing something, I did not recognize the site at all.

For those of you that haven't been and have no desire in tazing anyone who disagrees with you, I'll give a quick description (admittedly based on the small part that I saw).  It's a collection of pages with one-liners of "inspirational" things that Obama has done.  There is one little, teeny, tiny, string attached to how inspirational the statements are.  The level of inspiration received from the statements is inversely proportional to the reader's level of morality, knowledge, and willingness to seek the truth.  Cult members eat this shit up.

What are you inferring?

I thought it was clear.

The first statement that popped up for me was that Obama has cut Medicare drug costs by 50%.  First off, the law is unConstitutional but at this point, that's Standard Operating Procedure for The Great and Powerful Oz.  From the cult member perspective, I think the Constitution is irrelevant when it's something that they want.  Not that they wanted this bill.  None of them have probably read it but they do want to support their prophet and gawd's laws are above man-made laws like the Constitution.  Tossing that aside, let's look at this claim.

Now, the thing about Obama's lies is that there is usually some bit of twisted truth in there somewhere.  It seems obvious that he's lying but I like to dig to find out what he's using for the basis of his lie.  What can he point to and say, "See?"

Certainly not his leadership abilities.

Or his very own set of balls.

After someone on Medicare spent over $2,700 in the year 2010, Obama send them a check for $250.  No one has yet claimed that Obama knows anything about math.

Or economics.

Or ethics.

Under the old law, grandma had to pay 100% of drug costs from then on until she had spent $4,550.  This crippling financial gap where grandma is more likely to die than cross the finish line is lovingly referred to as the "Donut Hole."  If she can survive on cat food and saltines until then, she only had to pay 5% of the drug costs until the new year started.

Under this great new law (which imposes a 10% tax on fake baking, oddly enough - and I'm not going to mention the other stuff in this bill), grandma only has to pay 50% for prescriptions after she passes that $2,700 mark.  Don't get me wrong, that's better than 100%, especially since Obama and his predecessors have created a system where drug companies can charge $150 for a pill that costs $.02 to make.  If you could escape their protectionary "laws", you'd cut grandma's prescription costs by more than 50% on all her prescriptions, even saving her from that initial $2,700 gouging.

It's close enough to the truth for cult members to get goosebumps.

It's really important for cult members to pretend like they care about people.

There's some truth to it and if you ignore the rest of the bill, you could say this was a "win".  I was thinking that I may be persuaded to the use of violence to solve any desire that I had after all.  I clicked to the next one.  It was about how Obama pays travel expenses for families to fly out to see the body of their dead son/daughter/husband/wife who died trying to make sure that Exxon and BP keep making record profits.

I threw up a little in my mouth and went out to play basketball with my son.

One thing, skipping back to the first wtf page that I read, that I have often wondered about is the possibility of some agreement, implicit or expressed, between cult members and minions.  Democrats and Republicans are constantly battling each other using talking points handed to them by talking heads, who most likely also have not read any of the bills. 

At this point, I probably don't have an cult members or minions as readers, which is unfortunate because I'd like to hear the rules of engagement for their arguments.  From what I've seen, there must be some sort of pact where they are only allowed to use propaganda from their team in these arguments.  My guess is that anyone who uses truth or morality is red-carded.

Anyway, if you want a chuckle, go visit the website.  You won't learn anything useful there but if you ever find yourself in an argument with a Republican minion, you can zing these statements at him like they are deadly ninja stars.

Made out of origami paper.

Folded by a three year old.

Bouncing Through The Headlines

 
So,

It's been a while since I've gone bouncing through the headlines just to see what's out there.  Let's see what we have, shall we?

Apparently, the president gave a State of the Union address recently.  People are still talking about it.  I didn't watch for two reasons:

A.  I'm sure all I would have heard is, "blah, blah, blah, blah, America is great, blah, blah."
B.  I get tired of all of the clapping.  First, what they say isn't really that cool.  Second, it's just empty words.  Third, it's like a 5-minute speech with 25 minutes of clapping.  I've got better things to do than listen to clapping, like write this blog.

Geoffrey Anderson of the Huffington Post says that what I missed out on was The Great and Powerful Oz outlining something called, "Smart Growth."  This smart growth is the next greatest thing since Sputnik and it's going to mean rainbows and butterflies for everyone. 

It sounds a lot like spot reducing for 6-pack abs.  You do 500 sit ups a day but continue to double-fist deep fried twinkies washed down with mega-super-supreme Big Gulps of Dr. Pepper ("Would you like to up-size that for $.25"?) but by targeting the abs like this, you'll be on the cover of a fitness magazine in no time.  Promise.

Speaking of deep fried twinkies, Social Security is going to tank by at least $600 billion over the next ten years.  Geoffrey didn't mention how smart growth was going to offset this but I'm sure that it will.  My smart phone can make phone calls and works as a GPS (Hi, Jane honey), so smart growth can probably create jobs out of thin air and magically undo foolhardy budgetary problems that everyone is afraid to address.  Until someone starts talking about how to stop funding entitlement programs and world domination, Obama can do all the smart sit ups that he wants.  Ain't no way his budget or economy is getting six pack abs.

The Republicans are actually talking about Medicare because smart growth is only going to go so far ("so far" being a code word for "nowhere" but anyway . . .).  Their idea is to go to a voucher program where they give seniors a fixed amount and then the seniors can spend that fixed amount each month in the private market for insurance.  This will obviously save money because seniors will start dropping like flies as health costs, driven up by government interference, quickly become unaffordable for everyone holding a voucher.  By setting a fixed amount instead of covering actual healthcare, it saves money on the front end, and by reducing the number of seniors by letting them die off, even more money will be saved on the back end.  This plan will actually save boatloads of money.

I suspect this idea will die somewhere along the trip toward becoming a bill.  Letting seniors die off is not politically correct, after all.

Speaking of not politically correct, the Touching Sex-parts Agency made the news again.  It seems that a TSA employee took home over 1,000 knives, corkscrews, nail clippers, and other items that had been seized from dangerous old ladies with long fingernails (who will then be screwed if they get an ingrown nail while on the voucher system). 

They don't say why the guy stole all the items.  Maybe he was starting his own eBay store as part of the Smart Growth plan.  By stealing his inventory, he greatly reduces his overhead.  That's smart.

The officer was suspended without pay for 10 days.

You know?  My department is in charge of taking care of all the lost and found property that is left behind by guests.  It turns out to be quite a bit of stuff.  Anyway, I've fired officers for stealing one set of $2.00 cheap-o, from a C-store, pair of reading glasses.  If you're going to risk your job for $2.00, I can't trust you and you're gone.

Do you trust TSA workers that don't steal?

Good point.  A 10-day handslap, it is.  Moving on.

Here's something that you don't hear everyday (as opposed to "The TSA is unethical" which could be an hourly thing if you wanted), scientists believe that oral sex may lead to tonsil cancer. 

Can political interns get on a voucher system for cancer insurance?

Apparently, the human papillomavirus (or HPV to we scientists - What?  I study oral sex) can be transmitted by having oral sex but not by french kissing, which makes me doubt that the scientists know what they are talking about.  Well, that, and this statement:

". . . said Hartig. 'I don't know why they're having more oral sex . . ."

Someone, please give Scientist Hartig a blow job so he understands why people are having more oral sex.

Do blow jobs cause Smart Growth?

Hey, not in the news but in my inbox, the word of the day from Dictionary.com was Jobbery - the conduct of public or official business for the sake of improper private gain.

So, you're saying that a politician getting oral sex from an intern is getting a Blow Jobbery?

And, I suppose I should end for the night (yes, please end for the night - Shut up!) by pointing out that Charlie Sheen was hospitalized.  I don't know why and I don't care but I did learn something new.  Charlie Sheen is America's highest paid TV actor.  Is it just me or does that seem extremely weird?  I've never seen his show.  Have any of you seen his show?  Is it worth the price?

Okay, I had to know so I went back to read the article.  Sheen was apparently hospitalized because he was laughing so hard that he aggravated a hernia.

He must read your blog.

I may have to put up a disclaimer:

"Warning: The Surgeon General has determined that reading this blog may lead to the aggravation of an existing hernia but has also determined that it does not transmit HPV (unless you lick your monitor while this blog is open in your browser)."

***

Follow me on Twitter to get updates on when new posts show up on this blog (plus get random thoughts on the life of Success Warrior) and feel free to "friend" me on Facebook.

Success Warrior is an Independent BeachBody Coach for BeachBody.com, a company that offers fitness programs, supplements, and equipment that have absolutely changed my life. 

Have you heard of P90X?  That's BeachBody.  They also have Insanity, Turbo Jam, TurboFire, RevAbs, Brazil Butt Lift, and many more.  They have some of the best exercise programs on the market.  These aren't just DVDs but are complete programs to transform your body.  They also have the hugely popular, and what they call "the most important meal of the day", Shakeology.  Go HERE to learn the most inexpensive way to get Shakeology.

They have equipment and supplements in addition to Shakeology and popular exercise programs.  Visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Shop" link to see everything they offer. 

There is also a business side to all this fitness that you can take advantage of.  Whether you're looking to just make a couple hundred extra dollars in fun money or are looking to take complete financial control of your life, BeachBody can help you get there.  If you have a desire to be more fit and would love to help other people do the same while making some money at it, visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Coach" link.  Team up with me and I'll help you reach your goals, in fitness and finance.

Roughing It

I'm taking one for the team to write this blog post for you under the current conditions.  Check out my Facebook or Twitter profile for a picture.

One of the things that I like about our get-aways up here by Yellowstone is that there is usually some downtime for reflection.  That hasn't really been the case this time as it seems that just about every minute has been spoken for.  Things have finally slowed down and sadly, it's our last day here.  Then we have to return the desert and our broken air conditioner. 

I'm going to have to do some kind of diet detox when I get home.  I can say that without any need for reflection.  I have been eating s'mores and anything else that came my way. 

I called for a follow up with my doctor today.  Oct 12.  Nice.  I think that the trigger point stuff they did last time is on the right track and now I need to see if I can talk them into doing it where it hurts the most.  I should have been more on the ball at the time but I wasn't convinced they what they did was going to help since it seemed to make everything hurt more instead of less.  Now, a week later, where they did the injections feels better.  Not just kind of better but *better*.  If I can get that kind of relief on my back, I'm going to be able to turn and burn on my program.  That would be cool because I have a new plan for the next couple of months.

It's going to be a combination of heavy stuff (considering the class format) and intervals.  Not on the same day but alternating through the weeks, with a couple of recovery weeks, and a hell week.  I have the picture in my head but I haven't written the plan down yet.  I'm thinking about keeping the extercises to only 4 per day so we'll have to stick with some of the basics (push ups, rows, squats, etc.).  I won't be doing anything fancy for the next couple of months or doing funky combinations like I did for this month or last month.  Solid basics, done heavy on some days, and then done for intervals on other days. 

It's going to be draining so that makes me think that I better be serious about doing a diet reboot in the next couple of weeks.  Maybe I'll drop the carbs low for 10 days and then add the fruits and vegetables back in and stay strict Primal for those two months, at least as far as food goes.  I'll probably add glutamine back in to my supplementation for those two months to help with recovery.  If it goes anything like the movie in my mind, I'm going to need all the help that I can get.

I got my hot pink GymBoss timer.  I'll be using that for the interval days because I won't have time to look at the clock.  It's going to be "go, go, go," and then take a super short break.  Then go again, and so on, until I collapse into a pool of my own drool and sweat.  It's not going to be pretty.

I have an appointment with my physical therapist on Wednesday.  I hope she can help get the muscle situation figured out because I'm not going to be holding back or waiting for Oct. 12th or anything.  Oct. 12th is like a lifetime away and I'm glad that I don't have anything life threatening.  I asked for the earliest appointment possible and this is what I was given.  I'm not putting my life or fitness plan on hold any more waiting around for the doctors to figure it out.  Nothing *I* do makes it better or worse so I'm just going to go for it.

I think I'm going to do a bit of running too, at least until it gets too cold for me.  Trey starts school in a week and that will allow me to go and do a bit of running on a few days.  Nothing too far and nothing too fast.  I know that running isn't necessarily Primal but I enjoy it and I'll be going slow speed so it might still count if it's more of a lope.  I'm going to be looking into the VFF Bikila too.  If I'm running in those, it's going to be a different world so I'll be teaching myself how to run again.  That will automatically slow down the pace and the mileage. 

I am hoping to get a treadmill this winter so that I can keep running even when it gets too cold for me (which isn't really that cold since I hate having to put on layers to go run).  The upside to that is that I could keep running next summer when Trey is home from school.  Although, next year, he might be old enough to keep up on a bicycle.  That would be a great thing.

I'm hoping that he'll be old enough to start playing disk golf soon.  Tia was talking about learning too so that we could go as a family.  With a bit of practice, anyone can throw a Frisbee.  I was teaching them both how to throw a disk a couple of weeks ago because it's a little different than throwing a Frisbee.  Trey was doing pretty good yesterday when we were throwing them at the practice basket. 

Now, Tia is going for a ride with her mom and Trey is going to have a nap so I'm going to get a little private practice on the disk golf basket before I have to put it away.  We are leaving first thing in the morning so I will start the packing process tonight.  That means the basket will have to broken down and boxed up tonight.  So, while everyone else is busy doing their own thing, I'm going to put on my iPod, jam some tunes, and throw some disks.  I'm working on improving my putting so that I can attack the basket from farther away.  Right now, I'm prone to lay it up and take the gimme rather than risk overshooting the basket.  I should get to the point where I can confidently put in anything that misses, especially if I ever want to get to the point where I can play a sub-par game (which just doesn't sound right at all).

Speaking of which, my Vibram Ridge disk golf disk should be at home when I get there, or at the post office rather.  If we get home before the post office closes, I should have a new disk in my hand tomorrow.  How cool is that!

Enough rambling.  Time to go throw some disks.

I Ordered Toe Socks

There.  I said it.

<rant>

This morning, the doctor's office called me to remind me of my appointment tomorrow and also remind me not to eat anything after dinner tonight and not to drink anything after 6am tomorrow morning.

Roger that.

Later this morning, someone else from the doctor's office called to remind me that I'm meeting with the physical therapist tomorrow.

Roger that.

This afternoon, someone besides the first two people called to tell me that my insurance company had declined authorization of the procedure so my appointment was cancelled.

Lovely.

Of course, I immediately called my wife because she's The Fixer.

I was declined for two reasons.

1.  The doctor's office doesn't have the test results from my MRI.  If you haven't been following this blog long, you might want to check out the back story   to fully appreciate this rant (and long time readers might want to glance at it as a refresher). 

The short version goes something like this:  When I initially tried to make an appointment with this doctor, they said that I wasn't allowed to until they got the test results from my primary physician.  I had to put my wife on that job too but she made it happen and I was able to make an appointment.  I've been there twice now and this would have been my third visit.

All of that to say, they have the damn test results or at least they did at one point.  My primary doctor has my test results.  My neurosurgeon has a copy of the test results.  I have a copy of my test results.  *You* could probably google "Success Warrior + MRI test results" and get them, for hell's sake.

2.  The second reason that they are denying it is because the first treatment wasn't at least 50% effective. 

Hellooooooo? 

The reason that I'm letting the doctors stab me in the neck again is because the first time didn't work.  That's the point.  This is a different procedure that is supposed to do what the first procedure didn't do. 

But apparently my insurance company knows more about neuroscience than my plethora of doctors.

So, if they don't authorize this treatment and things don't change for the better by magic, I'll be taking my handfuls of pills until my liver craps out on me.  I wonder if the insurance company covers that.

</rant>

On a super cool note, I received a phone call today that made my day.  When I was a cop, there was this kid that was kind of taken under the whole department's wing.  We let him hang out at the PD and took him for rides in the cars.  Well, he grew up, lost his brain, and has decided to become a cop.  He found me on the Internets (Thanks Al Gore!) and asked for some help preparing for the physical test he's going to have to take to be accepted into the police academy.

So, I worked up a plan for him and he started it a little over a week ago.  He's supposed to email me, at the very least, every Sunday to let me know how things are going so I can tweak the plan and keep him on track.  Sunday came and went and I didn't hear from him.  Monday, I sent him an email reminding him that he's supposed to keep me in the loop (part of my job in these situations is being the kick in the ass guy to make sure people are moving forward).  Still nothing.

Today, he called to tell me that his email won't send for some reason (Damn you Al Gore!) so he was calling with the update.

He lost 6 pounds in the first week, says he feels better in general, and said that he's sleeping better too.  Bonus!

Here's the thing about Utah's police test.  It's designed for lean people.  Our job here is to make him stronger and faster than he currently is but much smaller.  Every single one of the tests is easier, the lighter you are and the smaller your gut is.  Stronger can't come at the price of bigger muscles, just stronger muscles.

We have under 3 months to turn him into a lean, mean, PT machine.

His phone call was the bright spot in the middle of all the other phone calls.  He's doing great.  I made it clear that I would design a plan for him but it was up to him to do the work.  It sounds like he's doing the work and that's great.

So, back to the toe socks. 

I warned you guys that I was going to be buying them so don't act shocked.  Remember, I have the cold weather Vibrams, the VFF Flow.  Also remember that while they do keep my feet warm, they don't keep my ankles warm.  So, I bought one pair of Injinji Toesox  to see how they would perform being worn inside my VFFs.  I'll keep you updated, of course.  I'm really hoping that they are comfortable so that I can wear my VFFs in the cold.

Yes, I know Rick.  I'm a puss when it comes to the cold.  I have accepted it.

Update: You knew this was going to happen.  My appointment for tomorrow is back on.  My wife just called me to let me know.  I told her that I fully expected that outcome with her on the case.  She said it wasn't really that difficult this time.  Whatever.

So, I'll be making some dinner soon and that will be my last meal until dinner tomorrow night.

Think of me and wish me well while you are eating breakfast tomorrow.

***

Follow me on Twitter to get updates on when new posts show up on this blog (plus get random thoughts on the life of Success Warrior) and feel free to "friend" me on Facebook.

Success Warrior is an Independent BeachBody Coach for BeachBody.com, a company that offers fitness programs, supplements, and equipment that have absolutely changed my life. 

Have you heard of P90X?  That's BeachBody.  They also have Insanity, Turbo Jam, TurboFire, RevAbs, Brazil Butt Lift, and many more.  They have some of the best exercise programs on the market.  These aren't just DVDs but are complete programs to transform your body.  They also have the hugely popular, and what they call "the most important meal of the day", Shakeology.  Go HERE to learn the most inexpensive way to get Shakeology.

They have equipment and supplements in addition to Shakeology and popular exercise programs.  Visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Shop" link to see everything they offer. 

There is also a business side to all this fitness that you can take advantage of.  Whether you're looking to just make a couple hundred extra dollars in fun money or are looking to take complete financial control of your life, BeachBody can help you get there.  If you have a desire to be more fit and would love to help other people do the same while making some money at it, visit BeachBody.com and click on the "Coach" link.  Team up with me and I'll help you reach your goals, in fitness and finance.

What a Pain in the Neck!

I've been a blogging slacker lately so let's do a little catch up, shall we?

Several weeks ago, something went wrong with my body.  The muscles on the left side of my spine tightened up for some reason and got to the point where I went to the doctor.  I wasn't quite to the point of moving my whole body instead of just my neck, like Dr. Evil, but I could see that it was headed that way.  This isn't the first time that I've been in for some muscle problems and the doctor hooked me up wit the usual cocktail: anti-inflammatory, muscle relaxer, and a pain reliever.  I went to my massage therapist a couple of times and things seemed to be going right back to normal, as they had always done.

Then something went dreadfully wrong with the front of my body.  The abs on the left side of my body tightened up and hurt all the way down to the point where my doctor and I are now a lot more intimate as he checked for a *cough* hernia.  No hernia.  Time to stop all activity and see if rest fixed the problem.  If not, I was going to have to go in for an ultrasound to see if I had torn something in my abs.

Not working out and not doing karate is hard on me.  I imagine that it's hard on me as it is for a lot of people to actually get motivated to go and do them.  On top of that, I'm the instructor in both cases so I have to stand there and watch everyone else do what I want to do.  That said, there is something very motivating for a guy to avoid doing things that hurt his you-know-whats.

That seemed to be going away so one Monday, I decided to try some light upper body work with some 15 pounds dumbbells.  No ab problems (or anything lower) but the pain in the left side of my back came back with a vengeance.  Serious, serious.  Worse than original.

All of that is the back story to get into the real story.

I went back to my doctor.

Let me point out right here that before I moved here, I had a great doctor.  Loved this guy.  Knew my activity level and was familiar with my migraines (which have quit since I stopped doing the cop thing - stress induced, ya think?).  Since moving out here, I have gone to several different doctors looking for one that I could build up a new rapport with and have switched doctors with every new problem that has come up over over the last 6 years.

Then we got a new doctor out here and I like this guy.  This is my new go-to guy to keep my body up and running through the punishment that I'm going to mete out upon it.  In fact, the company that he works for was threatening to move him and I stepped in to fight that (the doctor didn't want to be moved either) and now he's going to be staying for a while.

So, while this rant may be a bit lengthy, I want to it to be clear that I am very happy with my doctor.

So, I went back to my doctor.  We talk.  He does a bit of poking and prodding.  We talk about pain management because I can't sleep because of the pain.  He decides that I better go in for an MRI to check my spine.  He wants to check where the pain is, obviously, but also wants to look at my neck and then we decide to just do the whole spine (C, T, and L) so that we have a base to work from for the future, even if there isn't a problem in the Cervical or Lumbar region.

He hooks me up with the referral and I call for an appointment and 2 days later, I'm doing a 90 minute meditation in the tube.  I know it freaks a lot of people out but at one point, when the machine wasn't running, I fell asleep.

I schedule an appointment with my doctor on the way back because I'm going to be heading out of town for a week and just want to make sure everything is set.

Up to this point, everything is going like clockwork and I'm feeling good about the steps we're taking.  Then it all seemed to fall apart.

I met with my doctor.  He hadn't gotten the results back on the MRI yet but expected them in the next day or two.  He would call me when he got them and we could discuss the next step.  We talked about what I could and could not do and I went on my trip.

He didn't call me that week.

When I got back, I was extremely busy for a few days catching up on things and I was actually starting to feel a little better so I didn't feel rushed as far as my back went.  On Thursday though, I called to find out why I hadn't heard from the doctor.  He still didn't have the results from the hospital on the MRI.  They were going to send a new request for the results and he would call me when he had them.  Fine.

Halfway through the next week, I still hadn't heard from him.  I called the doctor's office.  They still didn't have the results from the hospital.  What?

So, I did what I always do in these situations.

I told my wife.

If you're screwing around with this family or its finances in any way, you do not want to receive "the call" from my wife.  If you're dicking around with the health of anyone in this family, you *definitely* do not want that call.  Whereas, I've been told several times that people are intimidated by me in person, I don't carry that off on the phone but my wife more than makes up for that.  She has the ability to do telephonic attitude adjustments that puts my physical abilities to shame.  We make a good team.

She called the hospital.  15 minutes later, my doctor has the results on his fax machine.

I call him the next day so that he's had time to review the report.  He's with a patient but he calls me back pretty quickly.

There is a bulged disc in my back where I'm complaining the most about but there is a worse one that is impinging the nerves in my neck and that's probably the pain that is radiating up into my neck, out over my shoulder, and down the left side of my spine.  Good thing we did the extra check instead of just focusing on the Thoracic region.

I need to see a neurosurgeon to talk about options.  He tells me that I can come pick up a new prescription (because the pain med I was on makes my stomach queasy), pick up a referral to a neurosurgeon, and a get a copy of the MRI report from the hospital (remember this fact for later in the story).  Give him about 15 minutes and then pick it up.

I was doing something with Trey so I wait an hour and go up.  I get the prescription and the copy of the MRI report (remember to remember this) but the M.A. has not done up the referral yet.  The office will call me when it's done.

No one calls me that day.

The next day, I just go up to the office.  Remember, I'm the in-person guy.  The office is only a mile from my house so it's not inconvenient to just stop in.  They can't find the referral.  I just stand there waiting as they hunt all over the office until they find it.  I take my referral and go home to make my appointment.

The number to call for the appointment is wrong.  No apparent fault on my doctor's office for this because the answering machine that I get tells me that if I'm trying to get the neuroscience division, I should call a different number, and the voice gives me the number. 

I call the new number.  No one answers.  My call will be taken in the order that it was received.  I here this message several times, every few minutes, until I'm finally just switched over to voice mail.  I leave my name and number so they can call me back so I can make an appointment.  You know what happens next right.

They don't call.

I have to go to work.  You know what I did to fix the problem, right?

I told my wife.

She calls me at work to tell me that she has run into a roadblock.  The neurosurgeon won't make an appointment until they have a copy of the MRI report.  She called my doctor's office and they said they haven't received the MRI report yet (you remember, right?) from the hospital.  She called the hospital and they said they faxed the report and have confirmation that the report was sent.

I tell my wife that I know that it was sent because I picked up a photocopy of the damn report from my doctor's office.  I tell her where my copy is and her new plan is take my copy up to the doctor's office and have them fax it to the neurosurgeon (and watch them do it to make sure that it's done).  She calls the doctor's office to tell them her plan and wonder of wonders, they have found the MRI report and they have faxed it to the neurosurgeon.

This, of course, was resolved at 4:55 pm on Friday night so there is nothing else that can be done at this point.

And, that's where we are now.

Monday, I will be calling the neurosurgeon to make sure that they actually got the report and find out how long I can expect to wait before I give up on them calling me to make my appointment so I can have my wife call them and fix it all again.

***

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No Health Check This Year

Tia came home for lunch and announced that our yearly health check for our health insurance has been canceled.  Each year, we get our blood pressure, weight, cholesterol, and some other things checked.  If everything falls into the healthy range, we get a discount off the monthly premium.  If something is out of line, we can still get the discount if we work with a health coach to correct the problem.  It was a savings of about $37 a month per person so by taking care of ourselves we were saving about $75 a month.

Were.

You see, along with all other great money saving tactics that are quickly becoming our new and improved health care "solution", Tia's insurance company is doing away with the program.  There isn't going to be any discount for healthy people.  I suppose that once it's a law that you can't drop the insurance, there's no point in trying to do things to keep the healthy people in your system.  It's not like we'll be able to drop the insurance just because it's too expensive. 

So far in the last two months, her insurance company has raised the premium, raised the deductible, and now gotten rid of the healthy incentive program.  I don't know if I can afford to have the government make my health insurance any more affordable. 

This has been the most interesting part the new health insurance bill to me.  The cost is going to go up and people are going to be forced to participate, whether they can afford it or not, or they face the threat of a fine (where will that money come from?).  The government is going to chip in and help people who can't afford it (where will that money come from?).  How will they decide who can afford the premiums?  I'll bet that a lot of people end up breaking this law.

Another interesting aspect is that there will probably be a battle down the road between the government and the insurance companies.  I think the insurance companies are being lured into a trap blinding by their greed or arrogant in their belief to control the congressional puppets.  Whether or not there is a public option at the outset, there will be one eventually.  Costs are going to go up and people are going to demand that the government fix it.  This will lead to a public option.  It won't work of course and it will require further laws to try to fix it and eventually the insurance companies will have to become part of the government under a single payer solution.

I'm sure they realize this going into the deal and it's going to be interesting to see how it all plays out.   

For now, there won't be much for us to do but grit our teeth and hang on for the ride.  

It's too bad our system is so corrupt.  We aren't even allowed to ask the right questions in order to get to the right answers.  Our saintly politicians are asking themselves how they can get everyone in the country access to health insurance (while increasing profits for some parts of the sector and not decreasing profits for other parts).  

If, instead, we were allowed to ask how we can make health care more affordable, things would be different.  Unfortunately, we know many of the answers and they would all hurt the bottom lines of the biggest lobbying factions in DC.  This obviously can't be allowed.

If we followed a whole host of good decisions (like removing restrictions on the number of medical colleges, allowing people lower on the medical scale (PA, RN, etc) to perform more functions, got rid of the FDA, lifted prescription monopolies, capped lawsuits, and on and on), we could probably reduce medical costs to 10% of what they are now.  

There is a hospital in India that is doing heart surgery at a cost that is 10% of what it is in America so it's possible.

Can you imagine that?  What if a doctor visit was the equivalent of today's copay?  How many people could afford to go to the doctor?  You wouldn't have to put a gun to peoples' heads and make them pay $15,000 a year for insurance while subsidizing the people that don't have that kind of money.  Just about anyone would be able to afford medical care and how much cheaper would it be to subsidize the people that couldn't afford it?

If insurance premiums were $1,500 a year instead of $15,000, do you think we would see a reversal in the trend of businesses dropping insurance?  Many companies would probably pick up the entire tab as a perk for their employees.  Self employed people would be able to afford coverage.

It would be such a different world and this whole debate that's going on now would be moot.  Instead we have to deal with government enforced corporatism.  It will all change someday though.  We just have to let enough people feel enough pain.  The pain of not changing has to outweigh the fear of changing.  I think our government is up to the task though, don't you?

***

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Talking to a Canadian About Health Care, Eh?

Last night I had the opportunity to talk with a Canadian about their health care system.  It was a great discussion and unfortunately it was cut short.  We were having dinner together and someone broke up the conversation with a toast, followed by another toast, and we never came back to the subject.

I'm going to point out that despite the negatives of the Canadian system, this guy very much liked the system because it broke his heart to read about American families that go bankrupt because a child gets sick.  He likes the fact that it wouldn't happen in Canada.

First, I should point out that this guy is the CEO of a mining company with several gold mines.  He was quite clear that he had an advantage that way because his family wasn't confined to the system.  If anyone in his family needs treatment or surgery from a specialist, they drive into America to get that service.

Since he brought it up, I asked him if he thought the waiting times were getting worse.  He said that they were.  One thing that he attributed to this was the fact that there was a medical brain drain in Canada.  Doctors are moving to America where they can pull better pay.  Obviously, as the number of doctors decreases, the waiting times are going to increase.

On top of the emigration, I wouldn't be surprised if they have an outfit similar to our AMA that restricts the number of people allowed to become doctors.  The AMA does it here to keep doctor pay artificially high. 

Not part of the conversation but something that's worth pointing out in the great American health care debate is the fact that the battle isn't about affordable health care.  No one is pretending at all that we are going to try and make health care more affordable.  The entire debate seems to be centered around getting health insurance for everyone*.

Back to the children.  He thought it was good that if you're kid gets sick at 2am, you just take them to the hospital or clinic and you don't worry about it financially because it's free.

"Is it free?" I asked.

Well, no, he said, adding that he thinks Canadians pay 10-15% more in taxes than Americans, which covers all government services including the "free" health care.  I'm okay with this (you know, as far as the current system goes) so I didn't balk at the higher taxes.  I wonder if the rest of America will feel the same way.  Our health care system is extremely expensive and that money is going to have to come from somewhere if we are going to keep paying artificially high prices for doctors, hospitals, drugs, and insurance.

It was an interesting conversation.  He liked the system because of a genuine concern for people but enjoyed the fact that he wasn't restricted to it.  It made him feel good to know that everyone was getting *some* care.

I did have a couple of questions left so I'll ask them here in case I have any Canadian readers or readers familiar with the Canadian system:

The system is obviously getting worse.  What can be done to fix it?

If it can't be fixed, what will happen when it breaks down or the waiting times become unacceptable to the general populace?

These are important questions as we get ready to jump into a Universal system ourselves.  Maybe we can learn from them and keep our system afloat for a little longer (although I suspect that we are starting from the wrong place using private insurance companies but since they are the #2 lobby in America, you can be sure they aren't going anywhere by governmental edict).

* Everyone.  The first concept for Universal health care in America was that all 40 million uninsured people would get insurance.  In a subsequent bill, it was everyone except 2-3 million.  In the last draft of the bill being discussed, it was everyone except 20 million people.  It will be interesting to see what the final definition of "everyone" becomes.

***

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Investing in a Lie

I've done a couple of posts in the last couple of weeks (in one way or another) about the ineffectiveness of statin drugs.  I just read another article quoting a couple more studies showing that statins don't reduce the chance of suffering from some sort of heart problem down the road.  There may be some benefit for people under 65 years of age that have already had a heart attack.  For the rest of the millions on statins, at best they are taking a placebo and at worst, they are taking a drug that will increasetheir chance of heart problems because statins interfere with the body's uptake of CoQ10 (which does actually help protect against heart disease).  Statins are the number 1 selling drug in the world and, in fact, a few years ago there was a movement started to try and put everyone in the country on a wonder drug that included all the top selling drugs in small doses.  This wonder drug would include statins.  Luckily, that movement has gone silent.

Anyway, the evidence coming out on statins got me thinking about what the view from the other side was like.

First, I think that statins were probably created for good reason.  I don't think that the pharmacy companies created this false drug knowing it was false.  For a long time, there was a belief that high cholesterol caused heart problems.  Now, of course, science is moving toward high cholesterol and heart problems being symptoms of something else (sugar and a sedentary life are high on the list of possibilities).  They created statins to combat what was seen as the problem but now what do they face?

1.  Last time I checked Lipitor was the #1 selling drug in the world.  If you're Pfizer, do you go out and shoot your cash cow in the head just because it doesn't work? 

2.  If and when the tie between statins causing heart problems gets strong enough, we're going to see attorney ads on TV like we did for Vioxx and Phen-Fen.  "Are you or have you been taking statin drugs like Lipitor?  Have you had heart problems?  Call now and get in on the class action suit." 

In trying to reverse the thinking, not all of the blame can be laid on Big Pharma.  Would the following conversation be hard to imagine?

Doctor: Well Mr. Smith, it looks like your cholesterol is up, VLDL is up, and blood pressure is a bit high.  You're heading for a heart attack.  What you'll need to do is lift weights 30 minutes a day, 3 times a week, and cut grains and sugar out of your diet so we can control the insulin response in your body.

Smith: Grain and sugar.  Is that like, pizza and beer?

Doctor:  Well, yeah.  You need to eat real food and lots of vegetables if we're going to bring your cholesterol down.

Smith:  Isn't there a pill or something that you can prescribe?

Doctor:  The FDA recalled statins because they actually increased your chance of a heart attack but you could certainly supplement with Ubiquinol.

Smith:  Can I take Ubiquinol and still eat pizza and beer?

No doubt, Pfizer and the others will be publishing reports on how statins don't increase heart problems but the bottom line is that if it turns out that statins are dangerous, the truth will eventually get out to the corporate media and become common knowledge.  Big Pharma is probably hoping to hang in there long enough to find a different drug to take statins exalted place at the top.  High cholesterol is an integral part of the western lifestyle and they are going to be looking for a way to make money on that.

***

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A Common Misunderstanding about National Health Care

I was ready to move on from the health care debate because quite frankly, nothing I say is going to change anything.  Obama has promised that it's going to pass no matter what.  It's too important to his pocket bookfor the health of the nation to not pass it just because people don't want it.  He has also managed to hook a lot of people with the "you can't be denied" and the whole pre-existing conditions things.  Big sellers and I'm sure that we're going to hear a lot more about these.  I know that people are parroting them to me and this brings me to the point that needs to pointed out. 

Having a health insurance plan doesn't mean that your medical bills are going to be paid. 

I know.  I have insurance.  In fact, I'm in that magic land of being double covered (even though I tried to cancel one of my plans but I was denied - if you know why I was denied the ability to *not* have insurance, you probably don't need to read the rest of this post).

Having insurance, I can tell you that not everything is covered.  In fact, each year, less and less is covered while premiums go up.  Insurance companies are expanding their denial of claims departments because it's cheaper to pay people to say "no" than it is to cover medical expenses for people. 

This is the point that I want people to understand going into this.

Now, you may argue that *some* coverage is better than no coverage. 

The only thing I can say to that is: at what cost?

Using a gun to force people that can afford it to pay for health insurance is going to drive the price of insurance up. 

One of the market controls on price is that fact that you can opt out.  If a H3 costs more money than I'm willing to pay, I don't buy one.  If GM fails to make their sales quota, they'll drop the price.  If everyone in the country had to buy an H3 (whether they wanted or needed one) and the government was going to take the money from people by force and pay the sticker price for anyone that couldn't afford an H3, the price would not go down, it would go up.  No one can opt out.  GM doesn't have to find the balance point between supply and demand. 

In the last article I read on the health care bill, Congress was going to put a cap on how much insurance companies could raise their premiums.  Something like 1.5% a year. 

You have to do this, right?  When you make it compulsory to have an insurance program, the price can be set as high as the insurance companies want and you can't say no.  To combat the fact that market forces have been taken out of the pricing structure and have been replaced by Congressional whim (swayed by billions of dollars in lobbying money), you have to set some kind of artificial price. 

Still, the insurance companies are private, for-profit, companies.  Since they can't deny anyone based on health, they have to control costs in some other fashion.  One of those tactics will be an increase in the denial of payment.  These companies can operate at a loss for only so long.  The only company that can afford to take a loss forever (or at least until the Empire crumbles) is the one that can print its own money.  Insurance companies can't print their own money so this leaves a few choices if their profits go down.

The first is what I've already covered.  They reduce what they will accept as valid claims.  The deny payment.  They reduce the amount of money going out.

Should the people raise enough outrage (or should it be an election year), Congress might step in and pass legislation on what the insurance companies have to cover.  If they do this, insurance companies will have Congress include a raise in premiums well about 1.5% to cover the new rules in what they have to pay out.

If Congress doesn't approve the increase in premiums, insurance companies will just close up shop and create some new type of business outside the bounds of the health care bill.  Congress wouldn't let that happen, especially during an election year, so the premiums would be increased.

This brings us back to the question that I have been asking for several years now, every time Congress passes some massive spending bill or increases troops in some poor illegally occupied country.

Where does the money come from?

The country is bankrupt.  The government doesn't have enough money to fund its current outrageous expenses.  Social security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the maintenance of a world Empire are beyond Congresses ability to pay.  The government is borrowing and printing money at an unsustainable rate.

That un-sustainability is probably what is triggering this frenzied string of bail outs and stimulus plans.  The American Empire is showing signs of collapse and those at the top are trying to get everything they can before it all comes crashing down.  This topic may have to get its own post in the future.

So, for those 50 million people with no coverage, whatever bill gets shoved down our throats in the end may be better than nothing, at least initially.  I accept that if you're fighting for scraps from the government, more power to you.  Call your Rep and beg them to get you "coverage".

For everyone else that wants to discuss Obamacare with me, don't confuse having an insurance policy with having coverage.  Don't think that just because you have a plan that your medical bills are going to be paid by the insurance fairy.  Go into this with your eyes open.

10 Sword Points for the first person that comments on why my company (which is self insured) won't let me drop my insurance plan with them.

***

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