Pain In The Knee

by Sandy Cronan

It only hurts for a little while.

Another excellent column (Ed: Latest "Financial")- you do write well and while I agree with you, the question remains - What the hell are we going to do about our burgeoning healthcare system?

While I realize there doesn't appear to be an easy solution (to say nothing of perfect), we are in a medical mess! And that is thanks to every sector involved. You will see this when you get the bill for (blank)'s cataract extraction and I will when I have an MRI for knee pain of some 6 months, just recently worsening!

Now please - I had an x-ray of the knee and not surprisingly, it showed "some" arthritis. Seems like that should suffice, but first we talked about the good old Kenalog (Ed: Brand name steroid /cortisone) injection which I declined at this point, but the decision to have an MRI seemed a bit much to me. The doc insisted as there is a "possibility" of a torn meniscus. I did have a fall awhile back, but doesn't it seem better to take a trial of Bextra and see what happens?

I am going to end up with both (the Bextra at $3.00 a pill) and the MRI at who knows what cost to Medicare and AARP. I am very grateful that I have coverage, but I won't have it for much longer if an answer is not forthcoming from someone, somewhere.

Do I seem a bit reactive? - guess so. While we may check out before there is no medical coverage that is affordable, our kids won't.

(Ed. Note: While we try to avoid such glowing testimonials to our writing skill, it WAS part of the letter! For those not familiar with the drug, Bextra is the third - after Celebrex and Vioxx - for relieving the discomfort of arthritis without upsetting the tummy. It works about as well as Tylenol and glucosamine.

(Here's something else. Suppose the MRI shows a "little tear" of the meniscus? Is arthroscopy then the next option? Is a new joint in Sandy's future? Does a "little tear" have to be fixed? Why not forget the MRI, treat with a reasonable drug, ie, inexpensive, plus good physical therapy, and see what happens? Does the patient in Canada or England, with a national system in place, receive these same recommendations? Absolutely 100% guaranteed NOT.

(Oh, by the way, what if the knee pain is due to a change in the way Sandy walks in her new fancy shoes with the "Z" coils? Wouldn't that be a hoot? Did her doctor elicit this bit of information before ordering an MRI?)