after a rather sleepless sleep study :)

I am finding it difficult to adjust to how different, complex and innefficient the healthcare system is here in the US.  It causes me great sadness and anxiety having to deal with it as often as I do, with two children with Muscular Dystrophy.  A cardiologist asked me today, “why on earth did you leave Australia?!”  I responded while shaking my head, “I know, I know.”  I could hear a slight Canadian fleck in her voice – she has no doubt had experience in a health care system similar to Australia, and knows that this, the United States of America, is not the place to be if you are sick.  I told her, as I do everyone who asks that question, “We came here for all the other reasons – definitely not the healthcare system…”  

There are many reasons to love this place – it’s diversity, it’s amazing landscapes, it’s sense of adventure.  But, there are many ‘buts’.  So much poverty and so much greed.  So much ignorance disguised as patriotism.  So much potential, so many bad political decisions.  So many people dying needlessly because they can’t access the care they need because of the ludicrously high cost of healthcare…

I stumbled across this picture just now, of beautiful Phoenix looking so happy after a nightmare of a sleep study.  An untrained technician on minimum wage was the sole person in charge of operations and it made me nervous to the point that I doubt the sleep study results and have not changed the settings on the children’s bi-paps.  I miss you Princess Margaret Respiratory Department in Perth!!  Your beds may not be as posh as the sleep study beds here (whose pointy edges gouged my thighs each time I got up through the night), but you are professional, caring, genuine, trained and you do your job well…  It is not about, ‘how much profit can we make from Jasmine and her unfortunate circumstances today?’  It is all about, ‘how can we help your beautiful, special children be healthier and stronger…’