In Totally Unrelated News...

If you're on Facebook, you got to see the ongoing long (with photos!) of my husband's ER visit last night after a Kickball injury! Basically, he was running to first, and pulled his right hamstring. His pain and the fact he'd heard/felt it "pop" made us concerned enough to visit the ER. The folks at FMH were great, and we were fortunate to make it into the "Fast Track" area right before they closed.

Chris is fine (relateively) and just has to take some pain meds, muscle relaxer, ice his leg and take it easy for a few days. In fact, this morning, at least he was already feeling a lot better. I couldn't resist, though, a picture of him with his new crutches. :-)

All joking aside (and really, I can only joke because he's going to be okay), as Chris and I were driving home last night (thanks to our friends Steve and Jennie who swapped cars so I didn't have to drive manual all the way home in the middle of the night!) we were discussing how grateful we were to have insurance.

Our visit was pretty basic, all things considered. Other than a co-pay for the visit and meds, we had everything else covered. But we were reminded how different such an injury would be for many other people. Catching this early and getting Chris meds no doubt will speed his recovery. In addition, he is fortunate to have a job that allows his not only to take some time off now, but also to work without straining that leg more. Many people do not have that luxury. Some wouldn't have gone to the hospital because they couldn't have afforded it. Others would have had to work through the pain (likely making it worse) or risk loosing pay...or even their job. We are truly blessed.

I have to admit I am not an expert on the health care debate. There's no good excuse...all I can say is I've been busy with life and haven't had the chance to really look at all the difference policies. But I do wish that everyone had the same opportunity Chris and I had last night--to get help when a problem is still small, and to start getting healthier without also having to worry about loosing money or making the injury worse.

I hope our nation's leaders can find some sort of plan (even if it's not perfect and, like anything, needs to be constantly revised) that offers everything this same opportunity.