We moved our home and business to Lowell, Indiana, 46356 in the spring of 2019 from the Ukrainian village neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois, 60622.
36 round trips between here and the big city to the north, dragging a small trailer that needed to be loaded and unloaded daily (+2 moving vans ~ one had a team, one I was the team).
The 2 of us filling a 4000 SF 2-story building having a full basement with personal possessions and an internet fulfillment center, wracked this bony old frame and I began to hurt almost all over once the move ended,
My new Indiana primary was an OD that I selected from Franciscan MyChart.
I liked where he went to school and served his residency.
A PA did the intake and then the good doctor joined us.
He immediately diagnosed me with “probably” sciatica based on my symptoms discussed during our one and only visit
I told him I’ve had sciatica and replied “this ain’t it” His face flushed ~ That was golden.
I was seated in a chair, during my entire conversation with this physician.
That he never asked me to stand while dangling the word “sciatica” was a red flag that turned out to be prophetic.
Editors note My wife and I both find your doctors to be dismissive.
A PA called me after receiving the MRI results.
Editors note: In Illinois, my doctors call me with test results.
They were
- Referring me to an Orthpod to scope my knee
- I did not have sciatica (duh) but I could talk to the specialist about pain management.
- The neck pain was just arthritis from neck surgery ~ which is when I hung up ~ and fled.
Red flag -> I’ve never had neck surgery <-the prophecy
No one in the Franciscan system listens to or touches you during exams.
And I have been examined and tested ~ a lot ~ by your staff which I’ll be getting to in phase II of this document.
The “neck surgery words”, we’re disconcerting, like a needle sliding across a record ~ for some that may remember that metaphor.
My Illinois doctor saw me 2 days after that call.
He’s been my primary caregiver since 2002,
He is board certified in family medicine.
I had the Indiana MRIs zapped to him.
After greetings, understand, we’ve been chatting 2 – 4 times a year for 21 years, and with 40 or 50 interactions over that long period, you get to know someone and their family.
It’s quite grounding, anyway, he briskly said, “stand up, back to the window then walk towards me.”
After 2 steps, he verbalized, “you may have a small tear in your knee (tissue I forget??), which I get regularly from playing street hockey with the neighbor kids, I’ll be right back”
He returned with a large syringe, then commanded me to sit on the table, cradled my right leg in his left arm then started probing my knee with his thumb while his hand restricted calf movement. <-touch/exam.
He decided on an entry point for the needle when I exclaimed “that’s it,” and bathed my knee just beneath my integumentary system in steroids, killing the pain, instantly, which has not returned to this day.
Dr. J’s Big Diagnosis
“The stress on my knee caused me to compensate for my walking which triggered the groin pain.”
The neck issue was “old age”
“BTW” he added, “you don’t want to get your knee scoped” and said no more.
4 weeks of physical therapy down the street at Athletico eliminated all my pain for the next 3 years
Phase II
Fast forward to 2022.
I’m intimately familiar with your Crown Point ER staff having spent about 8 hours over 3 stays from January 2022 to September 2022 – as well as my wife’s 3-hour Crown Point ER event.
I’ve actually had a Crown Point ER nurse asked me to run away with her.
Editors note You can’t make this sh*t up
Ironically she too, Catherine, my wife was apparently magnesium deficient because the girl got a purple Slurpee 2-hour mag drip, just like my 2.
And medicare got a $9,000 bill.
Was there a sale on Magnesium Sulfate I missed?
I must get a script and stock up ~ I hear the stuff works well for lowering blood pressure.
She suffered from a rapid heartbeat which they brought under control with more fountain-flavored bags and tubes.
She was sent home with the name of a Cardiologist for follow-up ~ that saw her ~ 10 weeks later.
It took 6 weeks for me to see an audiologist ~ really?
Speaking of audiologists.
On my first visit to one of your ENTs presenting symptoms of a gentle but persistent cough, I was told to take over-the-counter allergy medication.
Down the road a few months later, in this post, you’ll read about how my cough’s intensity literally began to prevent me from speaking.
That slight but nagging cough accelerated after a dosage increase for my blood pressure med prescribed by my Franciscan primary at the time whose one of the side effects of the drug was guess what? – A COUGH!
And my blood pressure was still trying to imitate a Chinese spy balloon.
The cough vanished in 4 days following 6 months of chest-crushing hacking after deleting one med.
Who the fu*k is in charge there?
Editors note: a certain ER facilities maintenance engineer <-politically correct ~ spent 10 to 30 minutes dusting one cabinet top and then moved to the next ~ for 3 hours.
Who the fu*k is in charge there?
In November of 2022 one evening, I walked into Crown Point Urgent Care and McDonald’s err Midwest Express clinic aka Community Healthcare System with left-side pain.
I related to the PAs at both facilities, “I was certain it was nerves not muscles” were my exact words.
Another X-ray @ Urgent – no exams at either place.
Urgent Care gave me the name of an orthopedic surgeon and a prescription for muscular pain pills.
Midwest Express clinic gave me another lecture on the evils of coffee and liquor on blood pressure because mine was so high, and prescribed more muscular pain pills.
She was literally old enough to be a grandchild, I politely thanked her for the advice.
I’m not a pill guy.
Both interactions define “dismissive.”
I’ve worn this ragged ole’ body for 71 years at the time of this writing, so I ask “is there a snowball’s chance in hell I JUST MIGHT KNOW something about it?”
The thing with my happy ending in Chicago (time tripping here) is that I was formally diagnosed with “spinal stenosis” a NERVE disorder.
Should I have “dismissed” the Ortho recommendation from a licensed Franciscan professional even though I knew Ortho was a bad call?
Seeing a bone doc would have been much like a belt made of watches, a waist of time, now that I understand the new diagnosis.
A Neurosurgeon isn’t going to see me without a reco anyway.
I messaged/called 4 Franciscan specialists – Zero responses 5 months later.
Even the ones in Franciscan MyChart with “Taking New Patients” banners, failed to respond.
Let’s run the numbers.
The Crown Point ER system bills medicare approximately $3,000/hr, and submitted invoices to medicare for about $29,000 on my behalf ~ you’re welcome.
The figures are from what I recall, I shred the docs – but I’m a Jew so I’m good with numbers.
What I find fascinating, is the middle ER event.
Having Covid that summer, the doctor’s office recommended I get an oximeter.
When queried as to why and how to use it, she replied, “if it falls below 90, go to the hospital”.
Sure enough about a week later I’m seeing “79” and dropping, panicked we rushed to our favorite ER, a 20-minute country road drive.
Upon admittance, my O2 was back at “100”.
Me, “Can I go home now?”
ER, “No we, want to keep you for observation.”
Turns out, we learned the next day from a retired RN friend that “fresh air” from the drive in our case was the fix.
So with nothing wrong and receiving no treatment, Franciscan billed medicare six grand.
More numbers.
In October of 2022, no one in Lake County could tell me why the left side of my body hurt.
My primary wasn’t available until January, which I scheduled and he canceled.
By December I developed a cough so severe, I was unable to speak complete sentences.
When you are injured, you are not a happy or pleasant person to be with ~ ask my wife, she too suffered and for that, I am deeply sorry.
The final most mindblowing facts?
FOR ALL OF 2022 MY BLOOD PRESSURE AVERAGED 210 OVER 180 upon admission to the Franciscan Crown Point, Indiana, ER three times.
Can one of you big-brained professionals tell me why I was placed at risk for heart attack or stroke for one year because I was taking the wrong meds?
How on God’s green earth was that missed, by 50 caregivers?
I gotta tell ya though, you guys are got a great scam going.
A 2-hour magnesium drip – on visits 1 & 3 (plus an hour back and forth around the place and forth for tests)
It’s a murical lord, his blood pressure is down from suckin’ all them mags.
Send the old man home ~ he’s cured!
It would climb by the following week.
I was admonished by your staff “no alcohol – no coffee” ad nauseum.
Testing and logging my BP every 2 – 6 hours for 10 days proved that advice miserably inaccurate.
I was also encouraged to use CBDs and THCs by my primary.
It was irresponsible.
I buy wholesale for self-use and spent many years researching CBD and the cannabis space.
I have blogged prolifically about CBD and vertebrates for the pet industry way before it was a thing.
This author posted CBD warning signs (blog posts sent to 20,000 followers weekly) 5 years ago.
Unless you keep up with the changes impacting dosing and blends, you will be in serious trouble.
Like advances in medicine, fresh content must always be consumed and digested and I doubt many doctors STILL read High Times.
Why this knowledge is important?
CBD does not get you high. It’s supposed to help with pain, which I call bullsh*t, in that, I ingest a lot of CBD while recently having been diagnosed with spinal stenosis ~ anecdotally ~ I mark CBD as a failure for pain management.
Then there’s Delta’s (THC) 8/9/10 <- extraordinarily simplified
THC gets you high and like everything else today, you can literally dial in your high.
Relaxed ~ intense ~ click this box, oh you kids, keep my credit card on file, I need more stuff.
Here’s where the bafoons in Washington once again demonstrate their exponential lack of foresight, clarity, and planning.
Editor’s note: No surprise here.
I do thank our legislators for whitelisting this THC cornucopia of legal goodies for one of my hobbies.
See, a flock of children that are still on the hook for student loans became chemists.
These kids are busy with that .03% THC nugget, the limit set by the 2018 Farm Bill.
The number sounds so small, “what could possibly go `wrong”?
Their collective big brains in the chemical discipline are manipulating cannabinoids making product shipping in Q1 2023 10 times more potent than product shipped in all of Q3 2022.
All the young eager white lab coat squads needed was a .03% nugget they could drop into their beakers and centrifuges.
In that, they are able to start with an arbitrary limit of .03% and then turbocharged it, using science ~ making the .03% well, no longer a limit but a gateway (that word in this context will confuse many in congress).
This has clearly morphed from a letter into a blog post, apologies, blogging is my profession and passion.
My readers, some who have followed me for more than a decade tolerating my rants about pet birds will tell you “Yes, he goes off-road a lot”
Hmmmm, wonder why that is?
Let’s jump back on the road with the admonition that if you’re a medical professional, unless you are intimately familiar with the legal cannabis industry, don’t mention it to patients, someone will eventually someone will get an eye poked out ~ you’ve been warned.
To scale this content, DYK most veterinarians will not talk about CBD and pets ~ they have learned.
Conclusion
Between Indiana primaries, specialists, and ER staff I have interacted with what. 50 Indiana medical personnel spanning a 12-month period in 2022?
I met with my Illinois primary at Northwest/Swedish Covenant, Chicago, IL, the first week in January 2023.
He’s been my primary since 2002.
96 hours after an office visit with Dr. Krister Johansson.
- My blood pressure dropped to 138 over 78 and is stable 2 months later
- My cough vanished
- My left shoulder pain was reduced by 75%
WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?
For verification of my story, I have linked Franciscan’s MyChart to NorthShore’s MyChart
I had my legal team look into a suit – “not worth the time.”
But I do have this document and 400,000 fans on social media.
- About 2100 words give or take
- Maybe 7 hours to write with dinner and bird cage cleaning breaks
- Written 100% by a human
- Can’t wait to add images
- I feel great!
This was cathartic, thank you.
Mitch Rezman
Former patient
CC Senator Todd Young
CC Senator James Bard
CC Congressman Frank Mrvan
Online link to the original document using Google Space with secure share-> t.ly/ue6N
