1. Are you afraid of hospitals. Why, or why not?
I am not. However, I have never stayed in one. My experience with hospitals is emergency rooms, usally related to some silly, clumsy adventure, or as a vistor.
2. When was the last time you were in the hospital for yourself?
It has been a few years. I ran into a post in a hallway at work and bonked my head and was sent to the ER to check for a concusion. This was about 8 years ago.
3. Do you consider yourself healthy overall?
Not really. I have had a nasty sinus cold all season this year and am battling blood pressure, cholesterol and other maldies associated with overweight and sedentary lifestyles.
4. Would you rather live underground by a cemetary OR live on the 20th floor of a building without elevators?
Cemetaries fascinate me. So much history. Since I am not a believer in ghosts, the undead or the afterlife, it would be no big deal. The 20th floor? All those stairs. Didn’t you just read above? I am sedentary.
5. How do you feel about universal health care, knowing that 50% of all
bankruptcies come from medical bills?
I like the concept, but the rub is in the details, as with everything else. If it can be a super successful government program like Social Security or the Postal Service, bring it on. But if it is like the TSA or Homeland Security, I think I will keep good old Aetna.
1. As I mature, I’ve gotten more and more afraid of hospitals. The last few times I’ve been in, I’ve had CAT scans, EEGs, EKGs, etc., and been primed for the worst news possible. Also, hospitals are filthy (germ wise), understaffed, and full of crazy people. Yep. I’m ascared.
2. About a year ago I had to check myself in for an EEG (following a much-celebrated head wound). The test was annoying as fuck –80 electrodes glued to my scalp, then a nurse flashed strobe lights into my eyes in an attempt to stimulate a seizure in my sleep-deprived brain. While the test was annoying, the experience of checking myself into a hospital was among the loneliest and most isolating feelings I’ve ever had in my life.
3. Of course not. I’m a world class hypochondriac. At this very moment, I *probably* have an aneurysm ballooning inside my brain, tumors in my endocrine system, and rubella. At least that’s what I’m worried about today. I worry a lot. I’m probably relatively healthy though.
4. I’ll take the garden level with the spooks. While the 20th floor sounds fun (having a view, getting tons of cardio, living out my Rapunzel fantasies, etc.), Roy would never visit me, and if I ever had to call 911 during one of my hypochondria-fueled panic attacks, I’d be screwed.
5. I have mixed feelings about it. For routine and preventative care, it absolutely makes sense. For more heroic kinds of treatments (experimental cancer drugs, transplants, removing a dead Siamese twin, etc.) it doesn’t work so well, because we’d have bureaucrats trying to apply a common standard to ration these lifesaving treatments and procedures. Obviously, there’s no easy answer. But I think if we started by deporting all of the Puerto Ricans, we’d be off to a good start.
1. between hospital visits for Gramma a few years back and Sage’s relevant experience, I am now afraid of hospitals.
2. I think I was last in for an MRI when I couldn’t see right for a few days. “silly vision” as Sage called it. Turns out it was just a weird form of migraine.
3. Despite my own bouts of hypochondria and a cold/laryngitis/sinus infection before Christmas, I think I’m pretty healthy.
4. I heart cemetaries, especially old ones. I’d have a ghost-friendly house/cave (whatever underground refers too). Although not a crypt. That would creep me out.
5. No idea what the solution is for this country’s take on health care. What we have doesn’t work, but I can also forsee serious issues with socialized medicine (in this country at least).
5.
1. Are you afraid of hospitals. Why, or why not?
no, With hospitals come people waiting on me, giving me narcotics, and letting me sleep when I want.
2. When was the last time you were in the hospital for yourself?
I had this scary nasty staph infection that got real serious real quick. It was pretty freaky.
3. Do you consider yourself healthy overall?
I could be healthier, that is for sure. I need to shed 20 pounds in the new year, and I would be fine. Of course, I have been saying that for a few years now. It really shows when I see myself in pictures. I am fatter than I realize. Now I see why women are so vain about pictures.
4. Would you rather live underground by a cemetary OR live on the 20th floor of a building without elevators?
Frankly, I could use the exercise of the stairwell. Also, fire isn’t really a phobia of mine… so I am not worried about that part. Here is the thing, the last few days I have had this brutal nasty cold that is almost debilitating. I couldn’t imagine having to walk 20 flights when I felt like this. I would probably just never leave home. I have cable in this house, right?
5. How do you feel about universal health care, knowing that 50% of all bankruptcies come from medical bills?
Surely something can be done, a compromise at least. Frankly, I don’t pretend to know enough about the economic impact… but surely sick people should be allowed to see a doctor without incurring a $5,000 emeregncy room bill.
!) I am not afraid of hospitals thanks to my dad. In fact, I kind of like the way they smell but do believe they’ve atrocious lighting.
@) The last time I was in the hospital for myself was when I fractured my skull & clavicle. It was okay because I was doped up real nice like.
#) Aside from not being able to breathe as well as I should, I think I’m a healthy person. I am starting to think I may have a slight eating disorder but those aren’t *really* that harmful, are they?
$) I’m going with the building sans elevators because I bet I’d improve my breathing going up & down all those stairs (or escalators (you never said there weren’t escalators (or stairs for that matter, but whatever))).
%) Universal health care sounds delightful but I’m sure there’s some horrid catch. If there’s no horrid catch, I say do it & do it now. :o)
1) I am quite the veteran hosptal resident, so “fear” is moot for me.
2) I was hospitalized two summers ago for a pesky brain cyst that sometimes puffs up and squishes my already crowded HUGE brain in the pea for a head that sits 3 feet above a great little tush. I was at the Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena and suggest it to anyone thinking about brain surgery, it was just delightful.
3) I am just the opposite our beloved Rev_Ed. I never think things are bad. I will keep partying til I’m just an eyeball and 3 strands of hair. I don’t know what that means really.
4) Give me dead bodies over exercise any day.
5) In essence we do have “universal” healthcare, those who can’t pay go to the ER for a sniffle and stiff the hospitals. Sure, it puts many hospitals out of business for us paying folk, but since we all lose, it must be fair.
1. Not afeared at all. I have had a few surgeries, and I lived, so I guess there’s nothing to worry about. This idea however that they let you sleep when you want is complete bunk. Every time I would get to sleep they would come in and take my temp. and blood pressure.
2. Summer of 1986. My second knee surgery. I did not have to stay the night, so that was nice. They did make me eat a horrid (yes I’m channeling Drew) meal before I left and that was bad (mom actually ate it for me so we could leave).
3. Lately not so much. I am not teaching aerobics everyday like before, and I have caught every virus possible this fall (I work with little petrie dishes).
4. Cemetary. See the above mentioned knee surgery. My knees do not like stairs.
5. Universal health care would be awsome. Of course I have not had insurance for three years and the above mentioned viruses kicked my butt financially.
1) Not afraid. Hospitals have aways helped me. Ambulances are also my friend.
2) I was just in the hospital for 2 nights with the birth of my son, but just for me would be my appendicitis.
3) I do have the health genes from my family. I am pretty active and know how to lose weight now, so all is good for the time being.
4) 20th floor. I do like the cemetary idea, but I always walk up the stairs instead of take the elevator anywhere I go, so…
5) I am 50/50 on it. Had a friend from Canada who Dad had cancer and the system did not help him in the time needed. That’s the bad side. But the needs of the many may outweigh the needs of the few in this instance. Hard decision and the jury is still out.
1) I would have a tough time and probably been fired years ago if I were afraid of hospitals.
2)Had some stitches in my chin 3 years ago. Bypassed the waiting room and had the best do it for free. Perks of the job.
3)Never sick!
4)20th floor.
5)Great idea needs some refinement and inscentive to strive for improvement.
1.) Not afraid of hospitals in the least. This probably has something to do with working in or around one since 1988. Also, I like the hustle and bustle of hospitals and the wealth of knowledge you can glean. Like just the other day; I learned how to resurrect the dead. Hmmmm, imagine that!
2.)Um that would be about a year ago. Details not forthcoming………..
3.)I consider myself very healthy. I eat pretty well ( my mantra is ” everything in moderation”, exercise a lot and generally enjoy being fit. I also find that being fit gives me a great excuse to consume the amounts of booze that I do ( the one exception to my mantra ).
4.)Cemetary of course. I’d get to dress up as the Headless Horseman and terrify the mourners. DUH.
5.)Universal health care is one of those esoteric ideals that while easy to conceptualize would be difficult to implement. There are pros and cons for UHC and the “system” we have in place. I think the bigger issue is how our current system gives short shrift to preventative medicine. For instance, my insurance considers bloodwork for a physical to be a cholesterol test. WTF? What about my glucose, my electrolytes, my liver enzymes?…. all things that can indicate an emerging problem and prompt early ( read cheap ) intervention rather than diagnosing it when the problem is in its acute ( read expensive ) stage. Truly frustrating. I believe whole-heartedly that this is why medical costs are out of control.