Laughter is the best medicine - says a doctor's secretary

After the all the horrific stories and scary news about your wonderful new O'Bumbler Health Scheme (scheme being the operative word here), I thought you might enjoy a wonderful new book that will make you LOL literally. "Open Wide and Say... Ha!" is written by Lynda Greeneberg who is the secretary of her husband's pediatric surgery.

Here's what the Amazon book review says:

If you believe that laughter is the best medicine, then this unique compilation might be just the thing to provide you with a daily dose of healing. At the busy pediatric office where Lynda Greenberg works as a secretary and office manager, it’s normal for over a hundred and fifty patients a day to pass through the doors. As you might expect, the staff members there have plenty of stories to tell, many of which are unusually hilarious! ....  In this lighthearted volume of tales, you will meet: • A mother worried that her two-month-old infant gets migraines when it rains • A parent requesting medical assistance...to get her teenager out of bed • A toddler with fluorescent, day-glo urine from a most unusual cause ...and many other interesting characters from the practice’s belly-busting vault of strange but true stories!

Full disclosure: The author, Lynda Greenberg is my Canadian cousin (she lives in Toronto), and here is what she has to say about herself

Lynda Greenberg taught pre-school for twenty years in  Alberta,  British Columbia and  Ontario before deciding on a career change. She began working in her husband's pediatric practice fourteen years ago and has never looked back!  Although Lynda loved teaching, she was intrigued at the thought of working with her husband, as well as trying something new. That's when Lynda made the change from teaching to become a medical secretary and Office Manager.

Over the years, Lynda  has  regularly jotted down funny stories as they occur during the work  day. This book is the result.

There are currently four pediatricians working in the office, which has given her plenty to write about! Lynda lives happily in Thornhill, Ontario, Canada with her husband of 36 years.  Dr. Manny and Lynda have three  children and eleven grandchildren, whom they adore!

I can vouch personally for Lynda's fantastic sense of humour. In fact she's probably one of the funniest people I know.  You can watch a snippet of her in action at her book launch last week:

Lynda told me to tell you that "Open Wide and say ... Ha!" is available on Amazon, but if you order it directly from Lynda's website, the price is only C$14 for the book, plus the exact cost of postage.

 

Highly recommended as feel-good medicine! 

Pay The Lady At The Front Door

The patient of a friend of mine went to the doctor for chest pain, and the doc wanted to "rule out" cardiac issues. He didn't think it was a cardiac issue, but he still wanted to cover his bases. The doc ordered a chemical stress test to be performed by our local hospital. No biggie. The hospital injects a radionuclide and takes pictures of a heart at rest, then injects a chemical that artificially elevates the heartrate, and a second set of pictures are taken to show how the cardiac vessels are performing. This is a relatively quick and easy outpatient procedure.

The hospital called this patient, who works full-time but is uninsured, to schedule the test. The hospital demanded $8,000 UP FRONT, plus the cost of the images and the doctor who reads the images. Needless to say, the patient angrily declined to schedule the test, and is reportedly fuming mad. The hospital-lady on the other end of the line suggested this patient go online and "get insured".

Apparently, this is one of the evil ways the bastards will force everyone into the socialized medicine quicksand. Tests, hospitalizations, medications, and even trips to the doctor will be made unaffordable to the common working person paying out-of-pocket.

Meanwhile, anecdotally, I was chatting with a full-time health care worker the other day who boasted that she and her family were now insured. According to her, the local DHS office signed up everyone on their subsidized housing rolls for ObamaCare. She didn't have to lift a finger, and her shiny new "insurance" doesn't cost her a penny.  She was so proud to have insurance! When did Americans become so blinded that they can't differentiate between actual insurance and welfare? Bonus question: can I really blame this good woman, this woman who works hard every day, for trying to salvage a bit of dignity?

I told her congratulations. What else could I say?

The Quest For Immortality

This is amazing!