Britbike forum Forums General discussion The Rod and Tappet Your attention please

Hi Kevin,
I had my last colonoscopy earlier this year when aged 76.
It was clear so I said to the doctor (whom I have known for quite a few years) " See you in 5 years time then"
" Oh no" he said " in 5 years time you will be over 80 and we dont do people aged over 80".
"Why not?" I asked.
"Because the test is basically a ten year warning and the insurance companies reckon that you are probably be going to be dead by the age of 90 from something else"
Gives you a nice feeling eh?
I ended up by doing a deal with my doctor that if I contacted him when I am 79 then he would do a test then.
Brings you up facing your own mortality in no uncertain terms!

It's a common report from "abductees" (people who report having been abducted by aliens ETs, taken to their spaceships, then returned to Earth) that they were "probed" while aloft. If I'm gonna be probed, I want the trip in a flying saucer, please.

This thread was started by a fellow ( Robert) who didn’t want to be “probed”. He finally gave in when what he hoped was just indigestion wouldn’t go away.

He lasted 8 months…….he had waited too long and they couldn’t save him.

IF they could have caught it sooner……..who knows

The way to keep the insurance company out of life and death decisions in your life is to quit letting them interfere where they are not needed.

My primary care physician does not deal with insurance companies; I just pay him directly. I don't think I'm going to have trouble getting a colonoscopy when I'm a healthy 82 if he recommends it.



Lannis

Thanks, Gordon. I realize this is a serious subject. We all make our own risk decisions, many times a day. In my view, I think there is likely more risk posed by driving to the hospital than by the possibility of the BIG C. I've read in multiple sources that for the 60+ age group, falling around the home is a leading cause of disability and death. So I make my own decisions about risk, as you and others do.

Lannis, just a story for you. The other night I was watching the Boston Celtics demolish yet another team, then on the commercial break, came Massachusetts General Hospital, reputedly one of the best in the world, advertising its cancer treatment services. Truly horrible in my view: lots of insurance dollars to be had.

I've always said that by the time you are our age, you ought to be personal friends with your doctor, your lawyer, your banker, and your financial advisor.

That way you don't need to listen to people who say things like "Financial Planners are just there to rip you off", or "Doctors just conspire with insurance companies to keep you sick" or "Lawyers are all bloodsucking leeches".

Instead, you use a lifetime of experience of knowing and judging people, and interacting with them, and evaluating results, to work with people that are decent folks and with whom you have a common interest and goal.

That way you don't have to be a victim of the cold cruel world; you can at least influence the area you're in daily contact with.

Lannis

Trust me, the pixie dust they use to knock you out is just as good as a spaceship ride.

Do you have a time machine that takes you back to the 1890's ?

I don't think any primary care physician Doc would last a week in business without dealing with Insurance or Medicare/Medicaid (Insurance) And I seriously doubt his/her local population has the cash to support that business model.

Sorry mate, no effing way I want to be "personal friends" with any of those folks. Not that I don't like/trust them, I just want it to be business.

Hell, I even reminded my kids over and over : " I'm NOT your friend" I'm your dad....big difference.

Friends are friends.

Well, let me bring you up to date; I got tired of being stuck in the 2000's.

We got tired of dealing with the huge corporate doctors ("Centra Health", here) where appointments are 3 months ahead, the doctors give you about 15 minutes and then run, and they have to do what Corporate, Medicare, and their Overseers say to do, regardless of if it's in your best interests or not. When you go into their office, there are 3 doctors, 4 nurses, and about 30 people doing insurance paperwork. That's not where I want my money going.

So I dropped them and changed over. My primary care physician is Dr. Kurt Hubach, of Bedford, Virginia - 30 years experience, came to me highly recommended by friends.

Dr. Hubach does not take insurance of any kind; matter of fact, you sign an agreement when you sign up with him that you understand that he is not connected with Medicare, Medicaid, or any insurance company of any kind. In his office, there is him, one nurse, and one receptionist; that's it.

Fay and I together pay $135 a month for his services (it's $80 for one person). For this, you get access to him; if you call him before noon, you can get an appointment that afternoon - if after noon, you can see him the next morning. You can call his cell phone 24/7/365 and he will answer. He will take as much time as you like during an exam or consultation; he's never in a hurry.

The monthly fee covers a complete physical every year; in addition, it covers Fay's gynecological exam. In the entire run-up to my heart surgery from March to September, including tests, referrals, etc, I think I've paid him $122 in addition to the monthly fee.

He can refer you into the System when you need a $$$ operation (I'm covered by Medicare for that). But when I went in for my Calcium Score (a CAT-scan diagnostic), they charged $99 cash for a procedure that would have been $2000 if it had gone through insurance.

Some people call this arrangement a "Concierge Doctor". It's becoming more and more common as people look for doctors that have the patients' interest at heart rather than the CDC and insurance companies.

Look around! Bet you can find one near you ...

Lannis

Different folks interact in different ways, obviously. I'm all for doing business, too, but I think it's nice to have a friendly relationship with folks that you do business with. None of them are my Dad, obviously, although one of them is my brother, so that helps.

It's like old bikes. Some people on the Britbike list, we see all the time at rallies, at each other's houses, on trips together. Some folks would rather have an ear ripped off than host a 30-person Britbike rally at their home; others think that's a great lark. Some folks on this list NEVER go to rallies; they'd rather ride alone and just interact via forums and texts; some are at every rally that's going.

That's fine, but it's a different relationship when you know each other personally.

So I guess I was reacting to people who lump all professionals into one basket and say that they're all money-grubbing scum. That's not you, as you've said, but you keep them at arms length. I don't, really. It's just how I handle it.

Lannis

Well, after more than three years of dealing with an always lethal cancer it has become more than business between me and the medical stafff at the Wilmont cancer center...It may have not started out that way but that's what it has become.....I have no problems with it.....l

The funny bit is that my wife is a NP, almost a Doc but not.

She will help, sometimes, if I have a question on some blood work result. But short of that she refuses to help me on any med issue...lol

Tells me to "go set up an appointment" with your Doctor !

My oldest son was diagnosed around the same time as Robert. Both went through the same treatments. Luckily my son came out of it cancer free. Robert knew after a few months he wasn’t going to make it.

For my son time dragged on and it seemed to take forever. Robert’s clock was ticking a lot faster.

In honor of him……and his wishes.

GET PROBED

I fought it for a long time and finally gave in and had it done. I had all kinds of visions of how uncomfortable and embarrassing it would be…….nope ….that pixie dust mentioned made it easier than a haircut. Close your eyes and when you open them back up……it’s over. You don’t know, see, feel anything.

I didn’t even have a primary care physician until my heart attack…..had to practically beg one to take me on. I like him….he said something the first time I saw him that has stuck….”You probably wouldn’t have had the heart attack if you’d been seeing a doctor all this time”.

I don’t know that for sure but….if I could turn back time….

and that’s exactly what was going on in Robert’s mind the last couple of months.

If just ONE person changes his or her mind and gets checked out…… Robert’s thread would have done some good.

Robert was bulletproof…….until he wasn’t and it killed him.

I get probed every 5 years and consult with my gastroenterologist. He is very thorough and if I'm not getting probed he will order an FOB (fecal occult blood) in quadruplicate to make it more sensitive/specific. At least do this if you don't want to get probed. FOB is routine in Australia and the Govt send out free kits when you hit ?? 60 years of age. I still recommend the colonoscopy.

Actually, the procedure is nothing. I've had it done sedated (back in the 90s) or totally out. The [***] part (pun intended) is the preparation, but to avoid getting to do it all over again you have to be thorough with the preparation.

My wife had an emergency appendectomy several years ago and they found pre-cancerous lesions when they analysed the excised tissue. Without some kind of screening it is as Gordon says, you don't know there is anything there until its too late.

I add my voice to encouragement to get probed or at the very least screened, but preferably probed.

Ray

I might be that one person. I read Robert's post with great sadness, as well as fear. I missed my scheduled Colonoscopy because of Covid and had farted around getting a new appointment, cause well, you know.

Robert's posting was the butt kicking I needed to make that appointment. I made it. I went *today* - apart from the incredibly nasty tasting liquid that you had to drink, and fasting for a day, it was quick and painless. I was in and out in under two hours. I got a clean bill of health, and my wife took me out to Waffle House afterwards.

Get it done peoples.

From fixing my Bob Newby clutch kit, to moral and ethical questions, to health care, I'm not sure I need any other website.