A Pain In The Neck

Under ObamaCare, They'd Only Get Icepacks & Aspirin...

There's no lack of necks being sliced in this family...

Last year my sister & BIL got rear-ended on I-35 in Austin, causing him some serious neck problems.

Early this spring, Mom & Dad got their car rear-ended & totaled up in Arlington. Dad has been in physical therapy for some torn muscles & ligaments, but no surgery as it was a tossup whether an invasive procedure would do more harm than good at his age. Mom thought she was OK, but a recent MRI showed some serious intrusion by bulging discs in two neck vertebrae.

My uncle Bill has had ongoing neck issues for some time, and it was determined he would need surgery to relieve the chronic pain. He's 14 years younger than Dad, so age wasn't as much an issue.

My BIL had neck fusion surgery this spring. They wired together 3 or 4 of his neck bones, then dumped in cadaver bone chunks to aid in bone regeneration. He's not 100%, but is a lot better than he used to be.

Uncle Bill had his surgery this morning. He's in the ICU until Saturday, but the word is it went well, and he's doing great. I love this description of the procedure:

His diagnosis is severe cervical stenosis of his spinal cord, and he will have a posterior cervical laminectomy and fusion of the third through seventh vertebra to hopefully correct the stenosis.

Man, that's a lotta $5 words in that sentence...

Adding to the fun, Mom is going to be having a similar surgery on Monday, but she's only getting 3 neckbones fused.

I'm sort of amazed at the speed Mom got scheduled for surgery. From diagnosis to surgery date has been less than 4 weeks. Apparently, the NeckDoc was amazed her head hadn't fallen off, given the degree her discs had bulged into her spinal column.

So, raise your hand if you think under ObamaCare (or any single-payer system aka Socialized Medicine) a 70 year old woman in questionable health could have gotten serious surgery in such a short time? How about even getting scheduled for an MRI?

How about a 62 year old man? Hell, how about a 44 year old man in good health?

Well, to quote our President, "Maybe you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller!"

Uh, yeah. Thanks, but no thanks, Barry. I'll keep my private health insurance.