On Lance Armstrong's Nuts & Bolts

I noted with interest today the CNN stories on Lance Armstrong's "medical miracle": his bolted-together broken shoulder blade. It's great that doctors are able to put in the screws, bars, and nuts to reassemble the great cyclist's shoulder. But it brings me back to a point that's often on my mind: doctors seem to favor fixing the "healthy" rather than performing the hard work of improving the lives of people with disabilities.

When I suffered the compound fracture of my right leg in 2004, the surgeon chose to fundamentally let my leg heal "as-is." "Your bones are too fragile to put screws in," he announced, which shouldn't be a big deal because "you aren't going to run or ski anyway." So, now I have a short leg, Toulouse Lautrec-style, with a knotted up shin bone that looks like I'm carrying around a baseball inside my leg, when you look at the X-ray films.

My 53 years as a patient in the medical world, makes me believe that the profession, like any other, prefers the easy cases. A cab driver would rather collect a hefty fare for driving an old lady around the block, than picking up three black guys in the hood. A TV repairman would rather order a replacement from the factory than rip the case off an old-fashioned tube TV. Doctors would rather treat a single malfunction in an otherwise healthy patient, than trouble themselves with the difficult choices a disability presents. It's totally understandable, of course--we're all human and we all prefer to walk downhill than to climb a ladder.

So--go, Lance! Win one for the team! But hey, doc--don't forget about the hard cases, too!

Off to See the Wizard

Tuesday I went to Sharp Hospital to see Doctor Landers for the usual trach change routine. He's a great guy, and we had fun chatting, as always. Funny, we even seem to agree on politics, e.g., the current mayor of San Diego is an incompetent idiot.

Harold went with with me this time, which made the trip much more enjoyable and laid back than when I go with "Joe and the Volcano," or "Joe the Volcano." On the way back, we stopped by my dentist to pick up a bottle of flouride moutwash.

As my van bumped down Kearny Villa's potholed lanes, I joked to Harold that the citizens of our fair city should "go medieval" on the municipal government's collective ass: tie them one by one to an oxcart and drag them over the crack-filled pavement until they agree to allocate money to road repair.

We need to quit letting Republicans and land developers run our city. Shortsighted government has pretty much wrecked the place, although Harold makes a good point that the weather will always draw folks nigh.

Meanwhile, my ups and downs with K continue, and I'm looking forward to O's visit on Thursday. :)