My Health Care in Canada

Two and a half years ago, in Florida, I damaged my knee doing high kicks at our New Year's party to "New York, New York". I was in terrible pain for over a month but, by the time I came back home to Canada, it had subsided to just a slight tenderness so I didn't see my doctor.

Diagnosing myself with the help of the internet, I believe I've probably torn or stretched the ligaments which run along the inside of my knee because the knee cap doesn't seem to be involved.

Ever since injuring it, my knee hurts whenever I twist it and that's what happened last week. I dug up a very heavy Hosta and twisted my knee as I was dumping it in it's new spot in the garden. This time the pain reached further down the inside of my knee to about mid calf which made me think I might have torn the ligament further. It was time to see my family doctor and go through all the darned tests I knew he'd subject me to.

I had already phoned last Thursday to ask for an appointment for something else, not an emergency, so was given an appointment for this morning. In any emergency I am seen the same day I call. My appointment this morning was for 10:30 and I showed up at his office at 10:15, was immediately taken in and gave my list of symptoms that needed looking after. By 11:00, I had been diagnosed, given a prescription for a minor problem, had an exray, been given appointments for an MRI and to see a specialist. I will never see a bill for any of this.

Because my knee problem isn't exactly a serious one, the specialist and MRI appointments are for some time in August. Granted, it's a bit of a wait but I still only have a bit of a problem with this stupid knee and I just don't want it to get worse.

My family doctor sort of agrees with my diagnosis that it could be a stretched or torn ligament but he also thinks it could be torn cartilege. I asked what might be done if that's the case and he intimated that minor surgery such as scoping to clean it out might rectify it. If it's the ligament I'm betting on minor surgery to reconnect it but we'll see in August.

Before I left his office, I asked for a requisition form to get my yearly bloodwork done. No sooner asked for than received and this, too, will be done without me ever seeing a bill.

My personal health care in Canada has always been excellent and I really don't know anyone who hasn't received excellent care. One western Canadian lady had such a bad experience with our health care system that she joined forces with American insurance companies to try to stop Obama from bringing in their new government health care plan. I believe she was misdiagnosed and received delayed catscans or petscans so she'd like Americans to believe all health care in Canada is inadequate but that just isn't the case. Mistakes can and will be made no matter what kind of health care plan you have. We're all human.

Oh yes, I took the prescription over to my local drug store and the only cost was the $6.11 dispensing fee. Health care in Canada...I KNOW where we'd be without it!