Hi Dealer,
"Where the heck ya been"?
As you know, I have a hard time with reducing things to
succunct little sound bites. It leaves too much room for
folks to fill in the blanks with their own perceptions that
become their reality...... regardless (or in lieu) of the
facts.
Suffice it to say there's two reasons for my absence of
late. One reason was due to having knee surgery last month.
Since I live in a split level home & my computers are on
the lower level, I've been mostly unable to get online.
It's quite painful walking stairs right now. Recently my
wife bought an extension cord for our cable modem & brought
our old notebook computer upstairs. I could surf fairly
easily, but I needed to keep my knee elevated, so I had to
balance the notebook on a pillow. That made posting
messages quite unwieldy (cut & paste wasn't too bad). Now I
can sit at the table for a spell & type away.
I've discussed my ongoing battle with Workman's
Compensation here a couple of times. I seriously injured my
knee while working in Washington DC, January 2000. From the
get go, Worker's Comp did everything they could, legally &
illegally, to keep me from getting a proper diagnosis. In
fact, they did likewise in keeping me from receiving any
medical services, treatments & benefits whatsoever.
Many approved, legitimate bills went unpaid. Three times
since my injury I had collection agencies harassing me due
to Worker's Comp not only failing to pay these bills, but
repeatedly ignoring letters from the vendors, my
Congresswoman, my Senators & myself imploring them to pay
these long overdue bills.
However, I digress.
Worker's Comp successfully, albeit illegally kept me from
getting a proper diagnosis of my injury. As it turns out,
an MRI would have easily revealed the problem. Instead,
several months ago they "successfully" terminated my claim
& determined that I had been 100% recovered from my "contusion"
since March 2000. Worker's Comp achieved this "successful"
termination by violating numerous laws, regulations & their
own established policies & procedures, including the
Freedom of Information Act & the Privacy Act. Oh, & they
also committed fraud (their doctor filed a blatantly false
report that was based on an orthopedic examination that he
never performed). Their Claims Examiners & supervisors lied
& distorted facts in their reports as egregiously as anyone
from SI's doom & gloom political threads (at least they had
bonuses on the line - ng).
Nevertheless, my claim was terminated. I went to my doctor
who prescribed an MRI after examining my knee. It was
obvious to him there was something seriously wrong. The MRI
clearly revealed a torn meniscus.
My Orthopedic surgeon explained after my surgery that it
was an extensive tear & most of it had to be removed as it
was not repairable. Also, since I had been living for more
than three years with this tear, the meniscus damaged some
of the cartilage, which also had to be removed. That now
leaves me with very little protection from bone on bone
contact in my knee.
I found out that surgery for a meniscus needs to be done
immediately - they can repair some/most of the meniscus
with mini-staples, as this allows the meniscus to generally
heal itself. Unfortunately, I ground the torn portion of my
meniscus to shreds during the three years that Worker's
Comp screwed me over in order to to save a few $$ &
allowed a few unscrupulous people to earn bonuses. Great system, 'eh?
My surgeon showed me pictures of the tear before he removed
it. It looked like the frayed end of a shoe string. I can
now understand why I had so much pain & swelling after only
mild exertion.
I'm rehabing the knee now. I'm hopeful that I will recover
sufficiently that I won't be as incapacitated as I've been
these last three years..... or at least not have as much
chronic pain.
All of the costs are being paid by our health insurance
which is complete BS.
And now back to your regular programming...... |
