Tenth Day Checkup, and a Four Month Challenge

Today was the ten-day checkup after the heart surgery. It still feels funny to write or say 'surgery' when there are no incisions, staples or sutures, but it is what it is. I love going to my cardiologist's office on the top floor of the medical office tower. He has a nice view of the Hollywood hills, and can look immediately over at the Beverly Center. There are two doctors and two other staff members, and they are all so pleasant. I always feel like I'm too happy/loud when I'm there. Today I sounded loud because I am feeling so well, and his pronouncement (echoing mine) that he fixed the problem was what I have been waiting to hear. The bruising at the catheter sites should be gone soon, and I am now done with the daily baby aspirin, which follows the end of the daily heart pill by two weeks. A nightly cholesterol pill is still on the schedule.

My next cardio appointment is in four months, when we'll see how much weight I have lost. Will I lose 10% of my current weight in order to stop taking the statin, or will I reach my personal goal which is more than that because I miss my high heels and it's time to do this? Is this vanity? Yes, somewhat because I love heels, but most importantly I know when I feel comfortable with my body, and I am out of the comfort zone! I'll have quite a lot to update my primary care internist about during the annual physical (and she'll be looking to see what progress I have made).  And I am looking forward to the next "Go Red For Women Day" in February! 

Before I get to that visit, I'll be stopping in to see a certain downtown hospital's administrators to show them how much better I am thanks to proper emergency room care and a proper diagnosis. And while I'm there, we're going to discuss the outrageous bill that they sent me for letting me sit mostly unattended in their ER for 6.25 hours! Their patient load has apparently doubled after the closing of another South Los Angeles hospital. I fell through the cracks in ER during shift change (what a nurse actually said to me) and fortunately survived to get sick again.

My adventures through the healthcare maze this year have given me plenty of inspiration to speak out daily for national healthcare reform. Sen. Edward Kennedy called it "the cause of my life", and thankfully his passion for this cause translated into coverage and coverage provisions for some that now must be made available to all American citizens. There is no other way for me to describe how I feel besides saying that I know that I am blessed to have medical insurance at this time in my life, and in the life of our country. Too many people are without, people that I know and people that I will never know.

I pray that the discussions among congressional leaders in the wake of Senator Kennedy's passing will lead to effective legislation in this session that can go through both houses of Congress and then to the president's desk. You bet that there needs to be some major action on cleaning out the fraudsters and cheaters in all of the healthcare pipelines; the money lost to fraud alone could have been used to provide coverage to how many citizens before now! Many of us (I know I'm in this group) can start up or step up the exercise routines to improve or maintain our health. The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (http://www.fitness.gov/) has an online Adult Fitness Test. I have not taken the test yet, but it would undoubtedly tell me to hit the gym - already on my updated agenda!

Meanwhile, I raise my sweet tea cup in salute and say a heartfelt 'thank you' to Dr. Arshia Noori and his office, to the wonderful staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, to the wonderful staff at Olympia Medical Center who realized that there was a problem in July, and to the Los Angeles Fire Department's rolling angels. The LAFD responders and paramedics realized that I might have big problems and scooped me up twice, and I'd want them on my side any day. They are the bridge many times for underinsured and uninsured in the city. I've seen them in action on a daily basis when I worked on Skid Row (that's a post all by itself). All of these people rose to the call and helped me to get to this tenth-day visit, and for that I am now and will be forever grateful.

I am also grateful to Sen. Kennedy, whose quiet diligence and bipartisan spirit were the impetus that resulted in some of the services and resources that we enjoy today. May he rest in peace. May we continue the work.


                                                                                                                                                                    
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