Opinion: The U.S. Healthcare System Needs an Enormous Enema

Earlier this week I shared my struggles with a bum hip. At that time I was still hopeful that I'd be able to return to semi-normal life soon. You can probably guess by the title of this article that I'm less hopeful now.

You're right. That very night I ended up in urgent care because the pain was too much. I've played gigs with a broken foot and with a broken wrist (not both at the same time) and experienced far less pain than my hip Monday night. I missed the morning show Tuesday morning, and missed seeing Dropkick Murphys (front row tickets!!) in Duluth Tuesday night.

It was the third concert I've missed this year because of my hip. While I was laying in bed watching videos from the show taken by friends that were there, something that the urgent care doctor asked me Monday night was boiling in my mind.

"Why has your primary care doctor not referred you to physical therapy?"

Uhhh...I don't know. Every step I've taken trying to get my hip pain under control was initiated by me, not my doctor. It was the proverbial "squeaky wheel gets the grease": I've been complaining about my hip for months and only within the past month has anything happened, and only when I specifically asked about it.

Referral for a orthopedist? Only when requested by me. After getting an X-ray (even though I already had one with the chiropractor I'd been seeing prior to this), there was no follow up until I initiated it. The results of the X-ray were posted in my online account, but no recommendations for treatment.

I squeaked the wheel more, and got a referral for an MRI. Okay. It didn't show anything that the X-rays hadn't already shown. Of course, still had to pay for it.

I squeaked the wheel even more, and was administered a cortisone shot to the problem hip.

The orthopedist told me she'd follow up after the MRI. It's been a couple weeks without a follow up. The cortisone shot isn't working. I'm missing out on concerts and dad adventures with my teenager because I'm in too much pain.

What the actual BLEEP?!

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Perhaps they're hesitant to do more because - since I just started here about a month ago - I'm in-between insurance coverage. That shouldn't have anything to do with treatment. Just letting it get worse isn't going to make it any cheaper.

For-profit healthcare needs to be yeeted directly into the sun.

When the U.S. Treasure Secretary says that we (the United States) can afford war - but for some reason we can never afford universal healthcare, or housing homeless vets, or etc., ect. - I just get angrier. The priorities of this country's government SUCKS.

I'm not blaming one side for it, either; in Reddit terms, ESH. This could've been - and should've been - done decades ago.

For now I have muscle relaxers (prescribed by the urgent care doc, not my primary) and a cane to get around when I'm awake enough to move.

If my, "...needs an enema" reference sounds familiar, it comes from this 90s classic: