I am rethinking this whole thing about being able to pick your own doctor.  Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson picked their doctors and how well did that work for them?  Now Walmart is going to offer healthcare  Dr Jimmy used to be a greeter, but since he has been with the company for twenty years they promoted him. 

This may be one of those times when I am writing for me to help me understand things.  If you would rather not read it I understand.

My heart attack was eleven years ago next week—the night my daughter turned three.

My cardiologist has told me that I am his poster child for how someone should redirect their life as someone who has heart disease.  In the eleven years I’ve learned enough about heart attacks to write a blog.

Here is where it gets personal.

My dad. 84. Not sure he wants to get to 85.  His three sons and my mom have a different opinion.

The fly in the ointment is that he has had three heart attacks in the last twenty months.  Number four was Tuesday.

If the patient wasn’t my father the remainder of this blog may have had a different tone. If it did I would be wrong because the patient would be somebody else’s father.  The economists would be up in arms talking about the financial burden that he and others of his ilk place on the system.  And they would be right.  But they would not be right if it was your father.

We are one day from Thanksgiving.  I have had fifty-eight Thanksgivings with my dad.  I am praying to have a fifty-eighth Christmas and a fifty-ninth Easter.

So, there he is two days ago.  Heart rate is 160 BPM.  He feels like if he tells my mom how he is feeling he would be putting additional stress on her, so he says nothing.

The accountants in the room are saying ‘good for him.’  His children and his wife are saying ‘Dial 911.’

Everyone who has any interest in healthcare knows that most of the money is spent to prolong someone’s life.  If you are fond of actuarial tables you know this is nonsense. 

If you are the son or daughter, this is money well spent.