Birthday Shuffle a Deux #20

Linkin Park - In the End

I like this song on so many levels.  I like the lyrics.  I like the beat.  I like the video.

The song is based on the songwriter's struggles growing up.  Somewhere, when I was a teen, I remember someone telling me that 10 years from now, none of this will really matter.  And, looking back now, they were so right.  The drama and the angst and the confusion of just trying to survive through high school, and even my first couple of years in college... none of it really mattered.  Sure, those experiences have helped to form the person I am today, but in some respects if I had just lived life  in the moment and not let the little things get me down, I think I would have done some things just that much differently.  Sigh.  You can't go back, but you can always look forward... and, in a way, I think that's what this song is about.

Setting Priorities

I sometimes think that all of our healthcare problems could be solved if people could just get their priorities straight.  I talk to patients every day who won't buy their high blood pressure medications because they "don't have any money until their CMSP kicks in" but yet they have the money to buy meth.  They can't get in to see their primary care doctor for a follow-up because they only have enough gas this week to get them to the E.D. and back, yet they insist on driving the most expensive 4x4 truck that gets 7 miles to the gallon.


I've had patients with dental abscesses buy their pain medications but not the antibiotics because "that's all I could afford;"  probably along with the pack of cigarettes they just had to have as well.  I've had to dispense Tylenol and Ibuprofen to children because their parents don't have "time to run to the store" but seem to have time to text on their cell phones while making appointments for their manicures, and asking if we can "watch the kid for a second while I run out for a smoke."


I had a child (18 month old) brought in who was three times the weight they should be because "grandma gives them a liter bottle of Pepsi" every day when she babysits.  When I suggested that Grandma not buy any, the parent responded "but ___ will cry if he doesn't get his Pepsi."  And, I've heard the same said about Happy Meals, ice creams, Starbucks, etc.  Which explains all the "Baby Hueys I've been increasingly seeing in the E.D.


Until patients start taking some responsibility for their health, we're going to continue to see medical expenses rise.  And, we're going to continue to be the nation spending the most on healthcare and not seeing a return on our investment as patients become even more obese, diabetic, hypertensive or continue with their narcotic, alcohol, or tobacco addictions which lead to their own special set of problems.  As a friend of mine likes to point out, "You call it annoying;  I call it job security."