A health emergency

I’ve been awol online since early last week. I mentioned in my last post that I had a rash. It’s continued to spread and I’m currently at the hospital for treatment. It’s a very bad rash, and they’re still trying to figure out what caused it, but not contagious, and as far as doctors can tell not dangerous.

But I’m actually feeling pretty lucky. I’m very fortunate for several reasons 

• I’m lucky it’s not covid or another life-threatening disease. Because of covidiots getting Covid and taking up beds and resources, vaccinated people with other life-threatening conditions are having to wait longer for treatment, and sometimes die while waiting.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/14/us/covid-hospital-icu-south.html

• It’s good that I eventually got a room after almost 24 hours in the ER. A lot of that time was spent on a gurney in a hallway since there wasn’t enough space. A lot of those people were probably there because they have no health insurance and need care they can’t get elsewhere. If I had gone in at a different time or different day, it could have been even longer. I saw a news alert from the NY Times this morning that my state (Tennessee) has the most active covid cases per capita in the country. Just like last December, we’re one of the worst hotspots in the world.

Source: https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/local/2021/09/14/tennessee-has-confirmed-most-covid-cases-us-based-population-size/8322340002/

• I have good health insurance through my employer, which means I can afford staying in the hospital several days, and getting lots of tests from different doctors, that could otherwise cost $10,000s or more will cost me much less than that. I’m getting the care I need to figure out what’s wrong and how to fix it. Tens of millions of Americans don’t have health insurance and can’t get basic care, much less pay for a hospital stay to do tests. Health care should be a human right, not just reserved to people with good insurance, or to politicians and the wealthy corporate donors who keep our current broken system in place.

The COVID pandemic should be an opportunity to make sure at least something good comes out of it. It’s not just Covid vaccines that should be free — all health care should be free.

I’m not going to be online as much for the near future — a lot to catch up on for work from the hospital, and at least some time to hopefully rest. But I’ll be popping in online sometimes and tentatively planning to be back on the blog on Monday. 

Wishes for good health!

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