Surgery! (pre-Obamacare)

This little corner of cyberspace is about me, in case you haven't noticed. If other family members want to blather and blog about themselves they are free to do so.

So I don't talk too much about personal issues in the family.

However, the husband's diagnosis and surgery last month was a significant life event and I want to include it here, with his permission. Medical detail or photos are not really appropriate, so boring text only today. (We have a phone video of a doctor pulling a long rod out of the end of his toe from surgery two years ago, but no one wants to ever see that again, even me!)

Let me say first that he was able to access an experienced, highly educated and top-notch surgeon. He "enjoyed" a robotic laparascopic Da Vinci method surgery. He has a total of 7 puncture scars, sealed with glue. I believe that he had the best of modern medicine in America. And he was sent home to my care in less than 24 hours after the surgery was finished, with a prescription for a "controlled" substance and a warning not to drive under the influence. Of course, I picked him up from the hospital, but he was not so medicated that he didn't complain about every bump in the road I hit on the way home.

He was asked by the nurse if he felt safe at home. That was a new one to me. I would have appreciated it if I had been asked what "controlling" substance I would like a prescription for, in order to deal patiently with His Royal Grouchiness.

Surgery is never fun. I endured three C-sections (with a wonderful result each time) and I remember, 25 years later, the post-surgery-bent-at-the-waist-and-moving-slowly-pain. But women are plucky and do what they have to do. Men, however, are big babies. Without exception.

In the quarter-century since my surgeries, many things have changed and improved. Tracking everything with a computer and calling the nurse on her mobile is a huge improvement. The beds are cushier. They have those crazy leg squeezers that keep the blood in the legs circulating. And you don't even have to poop successfully before they send you home!

But as good as his nurses were and as great as the bedside manner of the PA (who was also the tool man for the robotic arms) was, I found that in the first few hours after surgery it was good to have an extra pair of hands available. I stayed until after 11:00 PM. He was under the influence of some pretty good meds by then which rendered him remarkably talkative and reasonably comfortable, as long as he didn't have to move. He was still pretty "hooked up" and it was hard for him to even reach for his ice water. The staff accommodated him with ice cream, popsicles and crackers. The whole experience was about as good as could be expected.

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We are extremely fortunate to have good insurance and access to the very best of health care. Hearing the horror stories already, early-on in the disastrous roll-out of "Obamacare," we are thankful that the surgery is over. Reportedly, over 6 million people have lost their insurance recently. And who really knows how health care may change in the future?

As we soon need to access Medicare, and, as future care under the ACA when fully implemented is needed, it will likely be subject to the dictates of new rules from a detached and incompetent government bureaucracy. We may be deemed too old for that hip replacement, or too old for that heart valve transplant (which gave my father-in-law a few more good years late in life).

I feel for those millions who have recently lost the policies that they were comfortable with and who may not find anything comparable at a price they can afford--or may find themselves with no insurance at all on January 1. More people were supposed to be covered; so far, more are without coverage than ever before.

Again, we are thankful for the care that was promptly available. And, thankfully, a full and complete recovery is expected.

Sadly, I am not confident that we will have the same good experience in the future, if "Obamacare" is implemented.