Text 16763, 66 rader
Skriven 2011-04-12 06:52:14 av Bob Ackley (1:300/3)
  Kommentar till text 16726 av Mark Hofmann (1:261/1304)
Ärende: Local customs
=====================
Replying to a message of Mark Hofmann to Bob Ackley :

 >> If you're over 50 you should get a DRE and PSA blood test once a
 >> year.  I  was 50 when they caught mine, it came out a month before
 >> my 51st birthday.  The onl reason I had the test done was at the
 >> time I was working in a hospital that  gave away a FREE prostate
 >> cancer screen once a year; I wasn't busy and figured what  the
 >> heck,  it's free.  That free screen saved my neck - the husband of
 >> one of my  co-workers DIED of prostate cancer about two years
 >> later; we were about the same age and he  didn't go to the free
 >> screen.  With prostate cancer, once sysmptoms become noticeable 
 >> it's too late; I had no symptoms, I just had 15 minutes to kill and
 >> was lucky.

 MH> That is great story...  I'm really happy to hear positive results
 MH> from early screening/tests like that.  Like you, I work in a
 MH> hospital (actually it is a Health Network).  They are on this kick
 MH> to get all employees to get yearly "wellness checkups".  If you
 MH> don't get this done, you pay a higher percentage for your
 MH> insurance.  

 MH> Anyway, I'm one of those people that doesn't like intervention.  I
 MH> never go to the doctor unless I feel like death, and don't get any
 MH> regular checkups for anything.  I have the mentality that if "it
 MH> ain't broke, then don't fix it". You just proved that my way of
 MH> thinking isn't always the right way.  

 MH> Like many things in life, it is about balance.  Too much
 MH> intervention is not good - and not enough isn't good either.  I
 MH> guess that is why we have a positive for every negative out there.

 MH> Gives me something to think about, although I'm 42 years old now.

The feared financier Michael Milken has had metastasized prostate cancer since
his early forties.  I remember reading several years ago that he had it at age
44.
I've no idea if he's still around.

Like you, I tried to avoid going to doctors as much as possible - and as I
spent 20
years in the US military the care was free (and remained free until about 10
years
after I retired).  Then I developed hypertension and GERD.  I was on Prilosec
and
Tagamet for years and finally had the GERD problem resolved surgically with a
Nissen
fundoplication - in 1996, haven't needed the drugs since).

I worked at Archbishop Bergan Mercy Hospital for years until it was taken over
by
Alegent Health ('Alleged Health' to former employees).  15 months after the
takeover
I left, by that time about 60 percent of the staff at Bergan - across all
departments -
had already left.  I got a hoot out of the fact that Alegent merged two
complete data
processing departments (100% overlap in most positions) and so many people quit
that
they had to hire (Alegent is the kind of outfit that will (and did) run its
computer room
24x7x365 with *four* bodies, two of which have to be there during the weekday
day
shift).

--- FleetStreet 1.19+
 * Origin: Bob's Boneyard, Emerson, Iowa (1:300/3)