Hope it all goes well. 

Posted by: robert

Hope it all goes well. 

Thank you very much, sir.

Same here, brother!! Robert recalls my own surgery four years ago to remove a massive melanoma tumor from my fretting hand no less......zero guitar playing for three months.....definitely anxious times and although this was hardly 'minor' surgery..........and I concur with you about any time one's put under general anesthesia it's hardly minor........my poor wife had major (large intestine removed with numerous surgeries)......yet I believe she was even more uptight over mine (two sessions....removal and then grafting)..........so I know how you feel brother!! You're absolutely correct to share this and not feel too alone.........although this is nearly impossible.....but still the well wishes of others always helps!!  Jim C. 

Hillbilly_joe...

Best of luck to you and your wife. Let us know how it goes!

all the best. ❤️  ❤️ 

Best Wishes, Joe.   👍 

Best Wishes, Joe.   👍 

I want to thank all you fine folks here for your kind thoughts of my wife's hospital stay. The surgery went very well. She's home now and still a bit buzzed but doing fine.

I'd like to say a little about the National Health Insurance here in this country.

For her stay in the hospital with all the exams and surgery, the cost came to about $360 USD.

Rooms are 4 patients to a room, cost is about $32 USD

I just can't understand why the States don't have a national health insurance policy that everyone must pay into and it be based on ones income. That is how it is here.  Little income, one pays about $70 a month (for husband and wife) The maximum one pays on a yearly basis is about 8 grand a year. And that is because their income is high.  Good system, not perfect.  Also one must pay at the time of service, there's NO "I'll pay you later doctor".  You have to have a valid health card before they even talk to you. No valid health, no service. Emergency situations, I don't know how they handle that.

There was a story about an old lady that wouldn't pay her hospital bills. The police came and arrested her. That's all I know about that story.

Again guys, thank you for your kind thoughts.  We are all like family here.

Glad it went well. As for the USA and healthcare, well that's hard for a lot of us non-Americans to figure out. Here are my thoughts:

1. Many Americans think that the government should play a limited role in providing health care.  Under this point, we can also list political propaganda.

2. It's difficult to make it happen, due to the difficulty of implementation. The reason it's difficult to implement a health care system has to do with the inertia and complicated bureaucracy of getting something done. 

3.  There are many parties making lots of money in the current "health care system". These range from doctors, pharmaceutical corporations, and insurance companies, and so on. Restructuring the system to get rid of these extra expenses is quite difficult. Those parties would fight back, bigly!

4. Politics  - the country is extremely divided.  

Not to get too political Robert but.........always a but, right..........hopefully not thinking about adding a ''t'' butt................my own oncologist sums up the issue nicely with one word and as he puts it.......right across the board........"GREED". Greed from doctors expecting a new Mercedes in every one of their garages........greed from hospital administrations  and even universities but mostly greed from pharmaceutical companies. Let's just hope our two countries can now iron out this 'free trade' agreement with a win/win and then concentrate on much more important topics like world peace and quality affordable healthcare!!  Jim C.

Posted by: jncinn

...  Let's just hope our two countries can now iron out this 'free trade' agreement with a win/win and then concentrate on much more important topics like world peace and quality affordable healthcare!!  Jim C.

and of course blues, music, gear etc...