Answer is 1.2 Liters.
I met with the doctor today for a follow-up to my initial visit four weeks ago. He could see I was better, but still a little congested. He is still convinced I need to have a nose job, but he is willing to take things one step at a time and see what else can be done.
He did sign me up for a full blood workup including liver functions, cholesterol and prostate check. He noticed I will be turning 50 in a few months, and snuck in a colonoscopy. I am certainly not looking forward to that test.
While I have met many health professionals during my extended tour of government-funded secured locations, this doctor far exceeds anyone I have met in terms of personal approach to my individual (and actual) health needs. He states how much he enjoys working in this type of an environment.
He points out how all he has to do is come in and practice medicine. He does not need to answer to any HMO, worry about hiring and paying for the staff, and no need to worry about paying for the physical needs of maintaining an office.
My question is if this guy is so good, why are all the others such slugs? Money is not the answer in and of itself. We need to work harder at getting people to take jobs because they want to do the task and they are good at it.
The other issue is that even in a government-funded operation, you can find people that will do an excellent job. No need to privatize a government function to save money.
It would be a waste to take this doctor and put him in charge of hiring the other doctors, but one could certainly look at how he does his job and hire other doctors of the same caliber. As I think I mentioned earlier, he originally took the state prison job on a part time basis to help support the practice he had in the free world, where not all his patients could afford to pay.
He did mention today that he even has a side business that over the last four years has paid for his daughter's college, and this fall his son will be starting college. The side business is a small take out food operation.
While we try to figure out how to pay for all the health care us baby boomers are going to need in the coming years, why not just produce more doctors. Let them know they will make a good living. No, not all will be millionaires in the first few years. I know we are only hurting ourselves, when we continue to put a high price to obtain the basics of life.
Now you might say but Pete, he is an exception to the rule. Yes, I have already admitted that. But my question is, why? Why do we put up with less than what needs to be provided for a job to be done? Why are we so easily sold the notion that a private company can do things better (cheaper?) than the government does? (Can you say Halliburton?) Just look at the series the New York Times has done on the mess that the New York City Correction health care system is in.
Now I can hear some of you saying but you are writing about prisoners here. Why should they have great health care?
There are some sad facts of life about prisoners. One is they usually have not taken all that good care of themselves prior to their incarceration. Once locked up, the conditions of living in such a closed community, even simple colds, can easily turn into major epidemics. Not to mention that any communicable disease can be easily carried out to the surrounding community by the staff.
You can not just lock us all up and forget about us. Most prisoners will be released at some point in their life and you do not want to have to continue to support him (or her) because they are too ill to do any income producing work.
It is somewhat ironic that in my particular case the doctor is recommending very strongly that I get my nose fixed, and I am reluctant. He is just about saying that I have lived with the bad nasal passages and less than optimal functioning of my sinus system, for so long that I no longer even know what the 'correct' feeling should be.
Do you know how much mucus the average sinus 'system' produces on a daily basis? (If you are good at reading comprehension you know this one.) 1.2 liters a day. And now, according to my doctor, picture all that fluid lodging in the many sinus passages (with lots of great names that I could never remember) in the front side of your head. The doctor says I am too used to that feeling. I would feel like I lost pounds off the front of my head overnight if I get the proper surgery he is recommending. Stay tuned!
