update from the field

[juldea]

So, Justin/Omni was able to bring over crutches, an ace bandage, an air cast, and some weird ointment stuff that supposedly heals bruises and sprains. There's still no bruise, but the overwhelming majority of information is in the sprain direction. Oh, he brought over movies, too, so now I've finally seen Reservoir Dogs. One of those "modern culture" movies it's important to see. It was indeed good.

Yay crutches. It's been a while since I was on crutches... 5 years? Wow. And that was the OTHER leg ;)

Justin had to go, but now Mike/karlean7 is coming over :) We are going to watch Sex and the City and be a wonderful fag/hag pair. He also claims that he will help me clean! What a nice boy!!!

Oh, Justin and I went out for thai today, and found an AWESOME deal at the restaurant nearby. Their Saturday lunch special (available from 12-4) is an entree plus a cup of soup and a little appetizer sampler (today there were four things - a spring roll, a crab rangoon, a weird fried tofu thing, and a weirder unidentifiable sweet thing) PLUS white/brown/fried rice or pad thai or lo mein. All for the price of just the entree, normally. It was gooooood. I think I should go every Saturday.

Taking a shower tonight will be fun. I will probably use my broken-leg method of dragging a metal folding chair into the shower and sitting down.

Comments

[ian-goodknight.livejournal.com]

Sorry to hear that, dear. I cannot say that I've ever had the luxury of breaking anything or doing any major spraining.

And, by many accounts, I should've had these horrible things happen to me lots of times, not including death. I'm somewhat accident prone (sp?), and not usually by my own doing.

Well, I'm here on OU, if you didn't know, if you need anything I'll be more than happy to help you. Probably Randen too, if you asked. lol Look, he doesn't even know me "that" well and I'm volunteering him for things.

Hope your weekend is going well enough though.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I am no longer at OU, I live in Massachusetts. ;) I appreciate your offer of help but I doubt you could do much at the moment!

[ian-goodknight.livejournal.com]

*scratches head* Man, I totally missed that one. lol

Looks like my habit of opening my mouth and inserting my foot has struck again. haha

*is embarassed*

[juldea.livejournal.com]

heh don't be embarassed, you didn't insult me or anything ;) silly.

[siderea]

Well, I've lived here in MA, uninsured (until very recently) for about 10 years.

When I thought I might have broken a bone in my foot, it was $60 for the X-rays at, um, damn I've forgetten the name of the expensive hospital. Walking -- well, limping -- in the emergency room was about $300. Note, this was quite some time ago and prices are probably higher.

(OTOH, I had tooth X-rays this week, and they were ~$20.)

These days, a normal doctor's appointment is about $120. Less at one of the low-cost cli nics, but they probably can't do X-rays. (But you want to find out -- I once had out-patient surgery ($60!) at such a place. They rock.) You can get such an appointment in a hurry, sometimes, and save yourself the emergency room visit.

WHERE ARE YOU g eographically? I may be able to recommend some options.

Two things to be aware of:

1) You get to refuse care. If you go some place used to dealing with poor people, they can tell you how much things cost, and you can say no. So you can go get X-rays, and then if treatment is too expensive, you can say no. But then you'll be armed with better info on how to treat yourself.

2) You might be able to get cheaper care if you can prove you're poor. Some places have sliding scales for fees.˙

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I am in Malden. Please do tell me more about these options, I am very interested :) Thank you!!!

[siderea]

Most of what I know about is in Cambridge, but if you hit the yellow pages, you might find something analogous in Malden for convenience.

Here in Cambridge, we have Cambridge Health Alliance (www.challiance.org), which is a project of several of local hospitals, and is manefested as a variety of clinics around town. These clinics often serve working class (and non-working class) people, and are very matter of fact about money. They have sliding scales. I have liked the care I have gotten through those clinics so well, that I have decided to continue to use them for my regular checkups, etc. even now that I am insured.

I've used three of these clinics, and two I recommend highly: Riverside Health Clinic and North Cambridge Family Health. I originally tried Riverside and had good experiences with them, but they're a good 15-20 min. hike from the T (I don't have a car.) I then tried the Senior Health Center, and I didn't like them so well. I'm now at North Cambridge Family Health, which is 10 min walk north of Porter Sq., but has a north-bound bus stop about 40 feet from their front door.

I think their visits were about $60 or $75 when I was paying cash.

Perhaps most importantly, North Cambridge Family has a policy of only booking their doctors in advance for half a day -- leaving the rest of the day for emergency care. All of the Camb H. Alliance may be doing this; I don't know. I do know that I've had fantastic service on getting appointments even when I was not a regular patient and I didn't have any previous history with the clinic.

Were I you, what I would do is (1) check out the web site (2) call one of these clinics first thing Monday AM, and explain that you think you may have broken your leg, you're in a lot of pain, and you'd like it looked at. You might want to ask if there is a nurse or doctor you could speak to on the phone, to ask how much of an emergency it is, and whether you might be better off making an appointment at the hospital.

Here's the thing: my understanding is, if you walk on a hairline fracture, or even jostle it too much, you can make it a lot worse. So seeing to this earlier rather than later could save you some big money.

[siderea]

Ah, here: http://www.challiance.org/DEPARTMENTS%20II/ambuprimcare.htm

It's technically "Cambridge Family Health - North" not to be confused with the mere "Cambridge Family Health" nor with "North Cambridge Health Center", both of which are much less T-ac cessible.

However, what you may want is:

"Whidden Memorial Hospital -- The Alliance's newest member, this 100-year-old facility serves the urban communities of Everett, Chelsea, Revere, Winthrop and Malden. There are a wide variety of services availa ble at Whidden including surgery, radiology, primary care, emergency medicine, numerous medical specialties, and adult psychiatric inpatient care."
Whidden Memorial Hospital
103 Garland Street
Everett, MA 02149
(617) 389-6270
E mergency Department open 24 hours, Express Care services available daily

Alternatively:
Broadway Medical Associates -- Located at 454 Broadway in Revere, this multidisciplinary site is staffed by one internal medicine physician and a variety of speciali sts. This site is also a designated drawing facility where blood and other lab samples are taken. EKG and radiology services are also available on site. (Please note that not all practice space at this site falls under Cambridge Health Alliance's DPH license).
Broadway Medical Associates
454 Broadway
Revere, MA 02151
(781) 485-8222

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Thank you thank you :)

At this point, it's not a hairline fracture. It'd be still hurting, and it has stopped. It's just a sprain. Still enough to keep me out of dance practice though :(