Topic: I was in the hospital for 9 days = $ 100,000 !!!

[BrianSLA]

Seriously. I was walking around w/ a burst appendix for five days when I finally felt ill enough to go to the hospitial. After about 9 hours in the ER where they poked and prodded me,  a CT scan finally found it. Immediately got emergency surgery and spent 9 days in the hospital. Just got my bill for $ 100,000 BUCKS!!! Thank god I've got great insurance / health plan. They paid for everything but WOW $ 100,000 bucks.  

[S-U-P-E-R]

I just paid three bucks for a box of pop tarts

Wow, just wow

[Shift Key]

Ouch? Did they put in a gold appendix as a replacement or something? That's insane!

[DrZoidberg]

oh i thought you got a $100,000 prize.

I walked around for ten days with twenty four broken legs at once, then i went to hospital and got charged $7.9 sorry.

[Mario]

The corner shop tried to sell me an RRP priced bottle of water by not suggesting I buy it. What is the world coming to?

[Bill Aurion]

It's like they want you to die or something... :\

In Pokemon they don't charge you at all...

[nitsu niflheim]

no, they just shove you in a ball and then stickyou in a machine and flashy lights heal all your wounds.

[Ian Sane]

I want to know how you managed to walk around for five days with a BURST appendix, not an enflamed appendix but one that already burst, without having enough discomfort to seek medical attention.  My dad had to get his appendix out when he was in his early 20s and he said it was absolute HELL.  Once the appendix started bothering him he thought he was going to die.

You either feel no pain or you're really stubborn.  Had you gone to the hospital earlier then you probably wouldn't have had such a high bill.

[odifiend]

Yep the hospital's expensive, period.  It is a sh#tload of money to stay over night (about $ 10k).  It just isn't made a big deal of because most people have insurance or live in Canada .
Some people are that stubborn, though.  My mom whose a nurse was telling me about a patient who had to be talked into even seeing a doctor by his wife for chest pains.  Turns out he was having a hard attack while telling her he was fine.
And I paid almost two dollars for a gallon of gas today, not wow but ouch.

[BrianSLA]

>>  want to know how you managed to walk around for five days with a BURST appendix, not an enflamed appendix but one that already burst, without having enough discomfort to seek medical attention <<

Supposedly.... and I mean supposedly ( I don't think so )...... I have an extraordinary high tollerance for pain. On the last Saturday of March I didn't eat much all day, ordered a pizza - ate about a quarter of it and felt totally full then felt a somewhat bad stomachache. This is when I assume my appendix burst. The next day - sunday - most of the pain was gone but still had a minor stomachache - about a 2 on the pain scale of 1 to 10. I kept this minor stomachache of 2 on the pain scale until Wednesday. I started work on Weds at 4 but started to feel lightheaded and left at 700pm. I decided small stomachache PLUS lightheaded ... yeah better go to the ER. Got to ER by 8pm, it took ER doctors until 5 am in the morning to finally find out it was my appendix. I got Xrayed, mulitple blood tested and triple contrast CT scan. The CT scan SUCKED the most..... I had to drink 3 large glasses of contrast Barium chemicals, had an IV of contrast going into my arm veins and worst of all a freaking rectal bag of like a gallon of contrast which shot up my butt and had to keep there for 20 minutes. THAT HURT.
Anyway the docs said I probably have a really high tollerance for pain and that I had atypical case because I didn't have nausea ( except drinking all that Barium in the ER ), I wasn't throwing up, and my pain was really low. I drove myself to the ER and felt great until the contrast stuff.

>> You either feel no pain or you're really stubborn. Had you gone to the hospital earlier then you probably wouldn't have had such a high bill.  <<

Well I had no symptoms before it burst. You usually feel sick, nauseous, throw up alot , have pain in the area etc. I had basically none of that. As for the costs.... Once the appendix bursts, you get infections from all the poison. I got a feeling alot of the costs were all the IVs of strong anti-biotics they pumped into me 24 hours a day for 9 days.

[BrianSLA]

>> It's like they want you to die or something...  <<

Actually the reverse. Like I said I have great insurance.... alot of people say I have among best insurance / health plans in the US. I work in the Motion Picture Industry so I have Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health plan. Doctors love to see my insurance card. Anyway I think they LOVED me because of my insurance because SINCE I was in the hospital 9 days... I saw a good amount of people come and go. And some of those people seemed sicker than me but low and behold..... I assume they had crappy insurance, and they went.

>> or live in Canada .<<

Yeah after receiving my insurance payment letter, I thought alot about Canada and the UK.  Man if I didn't have my insurance I hate to think what kind of mess I would be in. Canadians and Britons are better off in general than the American citizen. Shame. BUT I did have an RN ( registered nurse ) who worked all over the world and she said the quality of American medical care and drugs are better than Britain BUT that is if you are insured..... if not , no.