Thankful!

"What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector? The taxidermist takes only your skin."  Mark Twain

Oh how thankful I am today! 

I am thankful I am an American.  No other country on earth has the limitless possibilities to be  the best you can be.  And no other country on earth has the healthcare system we have and the individuals and research organizations dedicated to making our lives and health better.   Yes, I am thankful.

I am thankful for a Congress that is finally willing to tackle the worst piece of legislation to ever be thrown down our throats.  Well, maybe the 2nd.  The first, as I have said before, was when Congress was given the authority to steal from us with Amendment XVI:

"The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."


So you guessed it! It's another column on Obamacare. And this one hits very close to home.

An article appeared on the BBC News Online website  concerning the long wait for knee and hip replacements in the UK.  The article, Surgeons raise alarm over waiting, talked about the fact that patients are waiting months and sometimes longer for surgeries that if performed early, rehab and recovery wouldn't take as long.

"Surgeons say patients in some parts of England have spent months waiting in pain because of delayed operations or new restrictions on who qualifies for treatment.
In several areas routine surgery was put on hold for months, while in many others new thresholds for hip and knee replacements have been introduced. The moves are part of the NHS drive to find £20bn efficiency savings by 2015.

 The government said performance should be measured by outcomes not numbers.

Surgeons have described the delays faced by patients as "devastating and cruel". Peter Kay, the president of the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA), says they've become increasingly frustrated that hip and knee replacements are being targeted as a way of finding savings.


"We've started to get reports over the last nine months that access to these services are being restricted.

"GPs were told not so send as many patients to hospital, maybe to delay referrals until the end of the financial year while perhaps introducing thresholds for surgery."


He says that simply delaying surgery by one means or another does not improve the outcome for patients as their condition can deteriorate.


"The double jeopardy is that patients wait longer in pain, and when they have the operation, the result might not have been as good as it otherwise would have been had they had it early. "
Continue reading here:
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12964360 )

If ObamaCare is fully implemented, I would never get the surgery I need to repair my knee.  I fell early February after tripping on, believe it or not, a Thomas the tank engine that my grandson was playing with.  I was ok.  I thought.  Over the course of the next few weeks, the pain just would not go away.  So I make an appointment with my orthopaedic doctor and see him the next day.  (That won't happen with ObamaCare.)

Side note: Now, if you don't know already, in my early 40's I had the pleasure of not just one, but two, partial knee replacements.

Anyway, wouldn't you know, I had fractured the bone right where it meets the partial knee replacement.   Geez, no wonder it hurts! 
So now I'm facing a total knee replacement on April 28.

So let's calculate the wait time with my trusty TI-83 that I use to make my points at public meetings and in letters to the editor concerning taxes, etc.  

Early February to April 28.  I think that's about 3 months!  And I've had to wait that long because the doctor, Ralph Liebelt, is one of the best and his schedule is booked.  Dr. Liebelt is the only one that offered to help me walk again.  And he did.  Along with God's touch.  Until this accident, I could walk up and down King Street in Boone without a bit of pain.  I couldn't do that before my partial knee replacements.

 And to think all the other doctors at UNC and Duke told me I was too young for knee replacements (at 44) even though I had suffered for years. 

And that leads me to why I'm writing this column.  If Obamacare is implemented in the US, people my age now (not 44), and definitely when I had the other 2 surgeries, would just have to live a life of suffering at the insistence of a bureaucrat saying it simply costs too much money to give me the surgery.  Even though it would help make me a productive citizen again.

I am in constant pain.  I can't go to malls for fear that I'll be a target because I limp.  I can't drive more than 30 minutes without severe pain.  I can't take walks around my block with my hubby.  And I can barely walk from the living room to the kitchen.  Those of you who have been to my house know that's not far.  And I don't sleep well at night either.  So it's tough.  But because I live in America, there's a light at the end of this dark painful time.  And I am looking forward to the rehab because it means I'm recovering.  And it means I can enjoy the park again with my grandson.

But many who are covered by universal socialistic healthcare, as shown in the article, are not as lucky.   And that's what we are in store for if Congress doesn't do more than repeal the 1099 requirements of the atrocious bill. 

I have excellent healthcare benefits. But I've earned them.  I give my all to my company and feel good at the end of the day that I have helped them make more than they pay me. 

I also can figure out my healthcare issues myself.  I don't need the government to tell me if I can live or  should "just take the pill", get knee replacements, or when I can have a mammogram or a cancer treatment. Government screws up enough already. 

Just think what a mess we would be in now if they really had control over our healthcare.  Would the kids and teachers in Lee county be more concerned about middle school sports being cut or more concerned that one of the star athletes couldn't get a cast for a broken foot for a month?  Hmmm something to think about.  It's all about perspective.

So as I said at the beginning, I am thankful. I am thankful to be in America. 

And I sure would be thankful for your prayers for a successful surgery and speedy recovery.

Because I don't know how long this "memaw" can be away from her sugarbear.

All the teddy bears in the world won't replace his sweet smile and kisses.

Sheila