I saw this announcement last night on Fur Affinity. Frankly, I didn't know Dragoneer for jack shit, but I did know he was someone you kind of either loved or hated for how they ran Fur Affinity. Nonetheless, he was a human being with a life and feelings, and choices, as valid in every way as our own, and in the end, they have my respect, and their family has my condolences. I may not have known the guy, but I'm nonetheless shaking my head. How many people must keep dying these days? Why is everybody dying? That's horrible to hear how they went, and absolutely disgusting and infuriating to hear how he was handled by the wonderful US healthcare system. Welcome to America. When I saw he had passed, I had hoped that maybe it was a car accident or something, and that it would have been quick. God damn it. Just...God damn it. Dragoneer has my respect as a fellow human being, and if not for how they necessarily ran Fur Affinity, for starting something that changed and touched the lives of so many countless fellow furries for countless years, a place that has meant so much to so many, and a place I myself was never actually part of until a couple years ago, the forums not until their dying days. Thank you, man, and Rest In Peace. I hope they're soaring through the skies as a dragon should now, free from burden, free from pain and worry, and watching over us all in the times ahead. May the ancestors look after you. May they look after us all.
Seeing as people are sharing their (or people they know) experiences with the horrendous US healthcare system, I'll share mine. So about four years ago, I was driving home from work at a different job I used to work (I was a loader at a Lowe's at the time - I helped customers load bags of concrete, lumber, and cinder blocks onto trailers or into their cars, shitty job that sucked absolute ass for the several months I was there, in the Summer, in 100+ degree heat), and I was stuck in an awful traffic jam on an off ramp leading off a highway. Stop, go, stop, go, keep inching the car a few feet each time, you know the type. I was behind some big, black SUV, and they hit their brakes as we were going forward, and so I hit mine, barely avoiding touching their bumper. I was in the middle of griping and bitching when-
BANG!
Some truck behind me didn't just rear end me, they straight up nailed me right in the ass. Instantly, I was a little dazed and out of it, and it was kind of a strange feeling, wondering if what I thought just happened actually just happened, because I never have accidents. The one car accident I've ever been in in my LIFE to this day. I pulled over, so did the other guy, I got out and asked them if they were okay, everybody was fine. Except me, because the whole time, I was having the weirdest tingly sensation right between my eyes, and the back of my head - my brain had impacted my skull in two places. My truck's rear bumper was smashed right in at a steep angle, frame was a little warped (I'd later find out), but overall, my truck wasn't too bad. Still driveable. The other guy's truck didn't fare so well, the whole front end was all fucked up, bumper and grill hanging off, hood creased and bent, but we both decided not to contact our insurance companies, a stupid decision, honestly, but it's what we did in the heat of the moment. We both just drove off. About halfway home as some discomfort was setting in throughout my neck, and a headache was starting to come on, I didn't even realize, a hat I had been wearing before the accident had come off my head and had literally landed behind the seat, if that tells you how rude the jolt was (and I was dazed enough that I never noticed my hat wasn't on my head anymore). Came home, got a pretty good chewing from my dad for not exchanging insurance. The discomfort in my neck actually went away over the next day, but for a straight week, at least, I had a burning, throbbing headache that just wouldn't go away - a concussion. I had hoped everything would just solve itself in a couple days, and didn't really see the need to go to a hospital at first. After a solid week of this, I finally went to an emergency room. With a headache beating on my head like a drum, I waited for THREE HOURS in a crowded emergency room, sitting on the floor because all the seats were taken. Three HOURS. I finally went back, got asked some questions, and finally got put in some tube-like machine for like thirty seconds or a minute, I don't remember exactly how long, but it was stupidly short. Literally zero effort on anyone's part, the whole visit realistically shouldn't have costed but like $20, if I could pay whatever I thought was fair. So all that was said and done. Three hours of waiting, for such a short actual visit once I went back.
THEY FOUND NOTHING. AND CHARGED ME OVER $600 OVER THE NEXT MONTH.
Needless to say, unless I'm literally bleeding out, I'm not going back to a fucking hospital in the US. Even if I'm dying, you know what, fuck it, just let me die, I'm not giving them fuckwads a ridiculous amount of money to scratch their ass. Bury me flipping my middle fingers, I don't care. And you know what's even more bullshit? At the time of the accident, a good friend of mine I had known for a while, someone I actually met here on FurryPile, said I was talking strangely, and that I wasn't being myself. I never knew what they were talking about, not feeling any different, but they insisted, so there's that. Since the accident, I've had a MASSIVE increase in frequency of headaches, no doubt from damage to my brain. Before the accident, I used to get headaches once every several months, at shortest between intervals, and now they're literally a continual thing I battle at least once every week, typically minor and not really a huge deal in themself, and nothing a pill can't normally solve. But still. Also keep in mind, the worst headaches I've ever had in my LIFE have been recently, ones so bad even laying in a completely black room, I'm curled up in bed and clinging to myself, clenching my fists and my whole body is shaking, and it actually feels like I'm going to burn out. I genuinely wonder in these moments if this is it, if this is how I finally go. Perhaps a little dramatic in hindsight, seeing as I'm still alive now, but that's not the point. And you know what's also bullshit? Ever since the accident, I've had back problems. Serious back problems. Not neck problems, but back problems. It never occurred before the accident, but ever since, my back has been extremely stiff, and rapidly becomes very painful after doing even just a little bit of work. Anything labor, my back rapidly becomes inflamed, and it genuinely hurts to the point I can't move. Getting low to the ground to retrieve things I've dropped is always an issue, and often, especially after my back is already sore from doing things, getting up from a sitting position from a couch is also problematic. I literally get up in slow motion, because everything inside of me is flaring straight up, and my back feels like a metal rod going through it. In the past year, I've started having issues with it GOING OUT on me, too. It's almost always when doing something down low, but THREE TIMES in the past year, I've had something in my back go out on me, and I'm in absolute excruciating fucking pain when it happens. Just standing up makes me want to scream, and I have to clutch a cane for dear fucking life, SHAKING and standing still for minutes on end groaning and seething before I can start to move, very, very slowly. Usually clinging to walls for support as I do. Sitting down on a couch just isn't happening when my back goes out, and I have to sit up on a bar stool, and even then, I'm ridiculously uncomfortable and can't sit still. Sitting in a car isn't happening either for about a week, I can't possibly get into one for several days, and even when I finally can, it's very painful and slow. Getting in and out of bed is an absolute nightmare when it happens, too. Laying in bed, It takes me a whole minute just to roll my body from one side to the other, and the pain is ridiculous in doing so. Getting out of bed, I have to very slowly shift towards the edge, and carefully slide off onto my knees clinging to the side of the bed, and very gingerly and slowly stand up from there. THREE TIMES this has happened in the past year, and only in the past year has it started happening. Keep in mind, before the accident, I NEVER had issues with my back, but interestingly, I went to a small sort of checkup place many months ago, and they did a real basic scan, nothing in-depth, but they did find I have 15% Scoliosis, something I never knew I had my whole life.
So seriously - what IS the US healthcare system good for? BullSHIT they found NOTHING all those years ago!
Seeing as people are sharing their (or people they know) experiences with the horrendous US healthcare system, I'll share mine. So about four years ago, I was driving home from work at a different job I used to work (I was a loader at a Lowe's at the time - I helped customers load bags of concrete, lumber, and cinder blocks onto trailers or into their cars, shitty job that sucked absolute ass for the several months I was there, in the Summer, in 100+ degree heat), and I was stuck in an awful traffic jam on an off ramp leading off a highway. Stop, go, stop, go, keep inching the car a few feet each time, you know the type. I was behind some big, black SUV, and they hit their brakes as we were going forward, and so I hit mine, barely avoiding touching their bumper. I was in the middle of griping and bitching when-
BANG!
Some truck behind me didn't just rear end me, they straight up nailed me right in the ass. Instantly, I was a little dazed and out of it, and it was kind of a strange feeling, wondering if what I thought just happened actually just happened, because I never have accidents. The one car accident I've ever been in in my LIFE to this day. I pulled over, so did the other guy, I got out and asked them if they were okay, everybody was fine. Except me, because the whole time, I was having the weirdest tingly sensation right between my eyes, and the back of my head - my brain had impacted my skull in two places. My truck's rear bumper was smashed right in at a steep angle, frame was a little warped (I'd later find out), but overall, my truck wasn't too bad. Still driveable. The other guy's truck didn't fare so well, the whole front end was all fucked up, bumper and grill hanging off, hood creased and bent, but we both decided not to contact our insurance companies, a stupid decision, honestly, but it's what we did in the heat of the moment. We both just drove off. About halfway home as some discomfort was setting in throughout my neck, and a headache was starting to come on, I didn't even realize, a hat I had been wearing before the accident had come off my head and had literally landed behind the seat, if that tells you how rude the jolt was (and I was dazed enough that I never noticed my hat wasn't on my head anymore). Came home, got a pretty good chewing from my dad for not exchanging insurance. The discomfort in my neck actually went away over the next day, but for a straight week, at least, I had a burning, throbbing headache that just wouldn't go away - a concussion. I had hoped everything would just solve itself in a couple days, and didn't really see the need to go to a hospital at first. After a solid week of this, I finally went to an emergency room. With a headache beating on my head like a drum, I waited for THREE HOURS in a crowded emergency room, sitting on the floor because all the seats were taken. Three HOURS. I finally went back, got asked some questions, and finally got put in some tube-like machine for like thirty seconds or a minute, I don't remember exactly how long, but it was stupidly short. Literally zero effort on anyone's part, the whole visit realistically shouldn't have costed but like $20, if I could pay whatever I thought was fair. So all that was said and done. Three hours of waiting, for such a short actual visit once I went back.
THEY FOUND NOTHING. AND CHARGED ME OVER $600 OVER THE NEXT MONTH.
Needless to say, unless I'm literally bleeding out, I'm not going back to a fucking hospital in the US. Even if I'm dying, you know what, fuck it, just let me die, I'm not giving them fuckwads a ridiculous amount of money to scratch their ass. Bury me flipping my middle fingers, I don't care. And you know what's even more bullshit? At the time of the accident, a good friend of mine I had known for a while, someone I actually met here on FurryPile, said I was talking strangely, and that I wasn't being myself. I never knew what they were talking about, not feeling any different, but they insisted, so there's that. Since the accident, I've had a MASSIVE increase in frequency of headaches, no doubt from damage to my brain. Before the accident, I used to get headaches once every several months, at shortest between intervals, and now they're literally a continual thing I battle at least once every week, typically minor and not really a huge deal in themself, and nothing a pill can't normally solve. But still. Also keep in mind, the worst headaches I've ever had in my LIFE have been recently, ones so bad even laying in a completely black room, I'm curled up in bed and clinging to myself, clenching my fists and my whole body is shaking, and it actually feels like I'm going to burn out. I genuinely wonder in these moments if this is it, if this is how I finally go. Perhaps a little dramatic in hindsight, seeing as I'm still alive now, but that's not the point. And you know what's also bullshit? Ever since the accident, I've had back problems. Serious back problems. Not neck problems, but back problems. It never occurred before the accident, but ever since, my back has been extremely stiff, and rapidly becomes very painful after doing even just a little bit of work. Anything labor, my back rapidly becomes inflamed, and it genuinely hurts to the point I can't move. Getting low to the ground to retrieve things I've dropped is always an issue, and often, especially after my back is already sore from doing things, getting up from a sitting position from a couch is also problematic. I literally get up in slow motion, because everything inside of me is flaring straight up, and my back feels like a metal rod going through it. In the past year, I've started having issues with it GOING OUT on me, too. It's almost always when doing something down low, but THREE TIMES in the past year, I've had something in my back go out on me, and I'm in absolute excruciating fucking pain when it happens. Just standing up makes me want to scream, and I have to clutch a cane for dear fucking life, SHAKING and standing still for minutes on end groaning and seething before I can start to move, very, very slowly. Usually clinging to walls for support as I do. Sitting down on a couch just isn't happening when my back goes out, and I have to sit up on a bar stool, and even then, I'm ridiculously uncomfortable and can't sit still. Sitting in a car isn't happening either for about a week, I can't possibly get into one for several days, and even when I finally can, it's very painful and slow. Getting in and out of bed is an absolute nightmare when it happens, too. Laying in bed, It takes me a whole minute just to roll my body from one side to the other, and the pain is ridiculous in doing so. Getting out of bed, I have to very slowly shift towards the edge, and carefully slide off onto my knees clinging to the side of the bed, and very gingerly and slowly stand up from there. THREE TIMES this has happened in the past year, and only in the past year has it started happening. Keep in mind, before the accident, I NEVER had issues with my back, but interestingly, I went to a small sort of checkup place many months ago, and they did a real basic scan, nothing in-depth, but they did find I have 15% Scoliosis, something I never knew I had my whole life.
So seriously - what IS the US healthcare system good for? BullSHIT they found NOTHING all those years ago!
