When is Medicine Absurd?

http://www.medicinenet.com/rheumatoid_arthritis_pictures_slideshow/article.htm

Yesterday I spent the day on a stretcher in the ER of a nearby hospital because when alerted by the throbbing in my temples and the perspiration that soaked my shirt, I took my blood pressure and found, despite the fact that I'm on very high doses of three BP medicines, that it was again 190/105.  As you may or may not  know; this is stroke territory, so my doctor's office told me when I called them to "Hie thee hence to an emergency room NOW."  so I did... quite unwillingly I must add.  I hate Emergency Rooms.  Hated working in one and hate even more to be a patient in one..and REALLY hate the $75 copay I will have to pay!

I was there for a "mere" 8 hours.  And they did a.b.s.o.l.u.t.e.l.y NOTHING for me.  M y  BP went down a bit by itself and eventually they released me with instructions to see my primary doctor immediately...which I did today.  And he added another (fourth) medicine and is sending me to some kidney specialists because as he said to me today "It's time to get serious about this and bring out the big guns."  I didn't realize this but the hormone which controls BP levels is produced in the kidney and when there is a problem there, the pressure rates can become uncontrolled , as  mine did about 5 or 6 months ago and has been ever since.

Today, I also confessed to my doc that I"ve had daily...and now, nonstop, headaches at the base of my skull - and that my guess was that it was the PA (psoriatic arthritis) compressing nerves and spine up there.  I also told him of the constant nausea and the numbness in my hands...He looked once more at my MRI results of a year ago and confirmed to me that this was indeed the case.  He ordered a new C-spine MRI as well as a brain MRI (I gather to check on the status of my brain stem where the damage is ominously close to).  So these are the next three appointments I'll have to make (4 if you count the neurologist which Dr. D said would also be necessary).

Honestly, I think it's time to address the  question that begs asking: When  does one simply say "Enough."???    If I lived in some less medically inclined or proficient country...even one like the UK or Canada with state-regulated medicine, I would have died a number of years ago.  There would either not be the technology, the speed , or the funding available to meet my huge demand on all of this over the past eleven years.  So does one finally intervene in the medical insanity of tail chasing that has become my life and put an end to it?  I'm NOT saying to commit suicide, but merely to put the matter into God's hands instead of wrenching my life from the jaws of Death and insisting on prolonging it.

I think that once I see the direction that this next MRI shows is occurring (which I can pretty much predict to you), then I think I will have to seriously consider this issue and maybe put a halt to the whole medical rat  race that has become my life.  Honestly, WHO in the world needs to have between 5 and 7 MD visits per month??? Copays alone - never MIND paying for the 20ish medicines I take - are ruining me financially.  It is for this reason that I'm so glad right now that I had cancelled my shoulder replacements and have decided on a mere elbow arthroscopy  instead, to clean up some of the damage there, temporarily.  Enough nonsense is enough.  My shoulders hurt ...but I can live with it; at least thus far.

Do you have any thoughts on this issue?  When does medicine become an absurdity?  It's  not like anything except for the random sinus infection....ever gets healed...It just becomes another chronic condition to be suffered with and monitored by doctors forever after.

The question then that begs asking is : Am I ready to stand before God  and give an accounting for my life???  THAT question will have to be asked and explored further...stay tuned....