...is a bit odd to say the least.
Since transplant, I've had two scares. The first happened while I was still in the hospital. My blood sugar tested over 200 two times in a row. That is an alarm after a pancreas transplant! What it potentially means is that the organ has clotted off, in which case it cannot be saved and has to be removed. When I got the high reading, I didn't cry. I fretted, but didn't cry, or 'freak out', just sat subdued and waited for the ultrasound, gripping Julian's hand tightly. All, in the end, was well. And when I found out, I cried.
Last week, my blood work showed an elevated serum amylase, which can be an indicator of rejection. I welled up a bit with the news, but again, after the initial shock, went on about my life. That was until yesterday when I had new blood work drawn! Then all I could think about was the results! Thankfully, this week's results had a normal serum amylase; again, all was well. And again, I cried.
Apparently I cry at good news more than bad news :)
Michael Moore's debut piece for The Awful Truth was about a man who was denied a pancreas transplant by Humana, a HMO.
Now, while I believe the press and attention may have been instrumental in Humana approving dual kidney/pancreas transplants in general, his piece just rubs me the wrong way.
I guess my biggest beef with Michael is that people treat his work as a documentary, when it is in fact sensationalism.
In the piece, viewable on youtube, Michael claims that the patient could die tomorrow and stages a mock funeral at Humana headquarters.
No matter how uncontrollable your diabetes is, it is very very unlikely that you are going to die tomorrow because of it. His worst complication was hypoglycemia unawareness (which I have too) - and while it may not be fun, the safe secure alternative to a transplant is to test your blood sugar hourly (even setting alarms at night if you are that unstable). So the claim underlying the whole piece is a fallacy. Notably, Humana HAD approved the kidney transplant that he required, just balked at the pancreas. If I were on the receiving end, I too would be devastated and crying foul. But I still wouldn't claim that I was going to die tomorrow.
Second, he claims with the $28 million the execs were paid in a given year, that 473 transplants could have been performed by Humana. This claim is ridiculous. It doesn't even account for the cost of the surgery, nonetheless the years of treatment required after transplant.
I haven't seen Sicko yet - I will see it and I will probably resonate with much of what it says... but you have to take it with a grain of salt. The facts just aren't complete.
CNN had an article today about how Andrew Speaker might sue the CDC for being tricked into quarantine, which I quote "was completely unnecessary."
Here you have the most self-centered man on earth. Had an organ transplant patient been on that plane, they would have been given a death sentence. He defied orders in Italy to go to a hospital or pay for a private flight home and flew COMMERICIALLY into Canada. He thinks 'tricking' him into quarantine was unnecessary? Hardly!
How someone can complete four years of undergrad and a law degree and still be this stupid is beyond me. I guess he missed the important school, the school of life!
At this point all he should show is remorse and I have yet to see it.