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Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nihil who wrote (25292)	5/22/1999 10:31:00 AM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 71178

We have Kaiser, too. I have been pleasantly surprised by the improvement in Kaiser over the last year, especially the last few months. Last September I had a rheumatology referral, but rheumatology told me I could not have an appointment during the rest of 1998. You can imagine how happy that made me! I went outside, paid out of my own pocket, which I can do, thank goodness, and got good treatment. A couple of weeks ago Chris woke up with one joint, his ankle, swollen and painful. No history of trauma. His brother has gout in his knees. I immediately thought, gout. Took him to Kaiser, they spent four hours working him up, tested him for everything imaginable, throat culture (for strep, which can cause monoarticular arthritis), urethral culture (chlamidia can cause monoarticular arthritis), blood, urine, x-rays, aspiration of joint fluid. Every test was negative. I was envious, wish someone had done stuff like that for me last year. I asked if I could have my appointment, to my surprise it only took two weeks. Yesterday the rheumatologist agreed to keep me on Arava and Celebrex, which means $5 per prescription instead of $230. Bloodwork every month, free instead of $300. $5 copay per doctor, instead of $130 per visit. Now I have to go to the outside rheumatologist and tell him, the good news is you cured me, the bad news is I can't afford the cure, so I have to go back to Kaiser. I wonder if the change in Kaiser has anything to do with the big judgments people have been getting lately (I got a nice one, but signed a confidentiality agreement). Maybe they are actually learning? Or maybe it just depends on the doctor. If my chart is flagged, and the doctors know how big the judgment was, I would suspect that I scare the bejesus out of them.