This morning I was feeling slightly depressed—a mixture of stress and hopelessness.
I tried to figure out why I was feeling this way.
I decided it might be because there's so much in our life that's defective or broken, and it's so difficult and/or expensive to get it all fixed.
This week I learned, from Tim, that there's a shortage of building contractors. This means it's going to be very challenging to find workers who can fix all the things that are wrong with our house. And there are a TON of problems with our house. Some stuff can wait, but other stuff needs to get done very soon.
Tim struggled to find someone to help us. Someone came, did some work, announced they were done; then Tim checked on their work and saw there was so much NOT done. He called someone else. They're supposed to come tomorrow. But who knows if they'll show up. And if they show up, they too might do crap work. Or they might do okay work but overcharge us.
My sister's family had a shit of a mess when they bought a new house recently. It took forever for them to get to the point where they could move into their house. I think this is due to this shortage of building contractors. Because there's so much work available, people who CAN do the job, can also afford to be as lazy, incompetent, unreliable, etc. as they want.
Another job that's in shortage, in the United States, is neurologists. I learned that this morning when I Googled to find out what's the average wait time to see a neurologist, and what's the reason behind this.
I read this article and this one.
In a strange way, it made me feel better and at the same time, maybe worse.
I sort of felt it was taking a long time for me to see a neurologist because the universe is against me seeing a neurologist. Why? I thought it was because the universe hates me or doesn't give a shit about me.
But now I've learned that there are a lot of people needing to see a neurologist, and there are a lot of people waiting.
The cause? More and more people are living long enough to develop Alzheimer's and other age-related neurological disorders. Obamacare has given more people the opportunity to afford medical care. SO...there's more demand. As for supply...according to the second article, I read, the cost of medical school for neurology outweighs the benefits that will be received. Neurologists are paid less. If I'm understanding things correctly.
One of the frustrating things for me is that I've already been through the waiting period for the first appointment. We called for an appointment in...October, I think. Then we had an appointment in December. In January I was supposed to get an EEG. But we changed insurances and then needed a referral to get any more neurology tests, examinations, treatments, etc.
We could have asked to be referred to the same neurologist, but I had been thinking, well he wasn't actually that great, so maybe let's try someone else.
If I had known about this neurologist shortage, maybe I would have made a different choice. I wouldn't need a second initial appointment and could have probably already started the EEG adventures.
Anyway....
With our newly assigned neurologist, to just MAKE the appointment takes time. The neurologist office we were referred to said it would take 7-10 days to get back to us. I assume that's business days, because otherwise they're late. Once we talk to them, I imagine our appointments will be a month or two from now.
And once the appointment arrives? I doubt it's going to give me any satisfaction. Since neurologists are in shortage, like builders, they can afford to be what I don't want them to be—rude, cold, ignorant, uninformed, dismissive, etc.
It seems it would be less stressful and less expensive to just let nature take it's course. Really. What's the chance of going to a neurologist and getting the correct diagnosis and the correct (if needed) treatment? I don't have much hope, personally.
But...I'll probably go, anyway. Someday.
Edited to add 7/2/19-I ended up going to that neurologist (Maria de Jesus at DFW Neurology). It was a total nightmare which I've described in several posts.
I tried to figure out why I was feeling this way.
I decided it might be because there's so much in our life that's defective or broken, and it's so difficult and/or expensive to get it all fixed.
This week I learned, from Tim, that there's a shortage of building contractors. This means it's going to be very challenging to find workers who can fix all the things that are wrong with our house. And there are a TON of problems with our house. Some stuff can wait, but other stuff needs to get done very soon.
Tim struggled to find someone to help us. Someone came, did some work, announced they were done; then Tim checked on their work and saw there was so much NOT done. He called someone else. They're supposed to come tomorrow. But who knows if they'll show up. And if they show up, they too might do crap work. Or they might do okay work but overcharge us.
My sister's family had a shit of a mess when they bought a new house recently. It took forever for them to get to the point where they could move into their house. I think this is due to this shortage of building contractors. Because there's so much work available, people who CAN do the job, can also afford to be as lazy, incompetent, unreliable, etc. as they want.
Another job that's in shortage, in the United States, is neurologists. I learned that this morning when I Googled to find out what's the average wait time to see a neurologist, and what's the reason behind this.
I read this article and this one.
In a strange way, it made me feel better and at the same time, maybe worse.
I sort of felt it was taking a long time for me to see a neurologist because the universe is against me seeing a neurologist. Why? I thought it was because the universe hates me or doesn't give a shit about me.
But now I've learned that there are a lot of people needing to see a neurologist, and there are a lot of people waiting.
The cause? More and more people are living long enough to develop Alzheimer's and other age-related neurological disorders. Obamacare has given more people the opportunity to afford medical care. SO...there's more demand. As for supply...according to the second article, I read, the cost of medical school for neurology outweighs the benefits that will be received. Neurologists are paid less. If I'm understanding things correctly.
One of the frustrating things for me is that I've already been through the waiting period for the first appointment. We called for an appointment in...October, I think. Then we had an appointment in December. In January I was supposed to get an EEG. But we changed insurances and then needed a referral to get any more neurology tests, examinations, treatments, etc.
We could have asked to be referred to the same neurologist, but I had been thinking, well he wasn't actually that great, so maybe let's try someone else.
If I had known about this neurologist shortage, maybe I would have made a different choice. I wouldn't need a second initial appointment and could have probably already started the EEG adventures.
Anyway....
With our newly assigned neurologist, to just MAKE the appointment takes time. The neurologist office we were referred to said it would take 7-10 days to get back to us. I assume that's business days, because otherwise they're late. Once we talk to them, I imagine our appointments will be a month or two from now.
And once the appointment arrives? I doubt it's going to give me any satisfaction. Since neurologists are in shortage, like builders, they can afford to be what I don't want them to be—rude, cold, ignorant, uninformed, dismissive, etc.
It seems it would be less stressful and less expensive to just let nature take it's course. Really. What's the chance of going to a neurologist and getting the correct diagnosis and the correct (if needed) treatment? I don't have much hope, personally.
But...I'll probably go, anyway. Someday.
Edited to add 7/2/19-I ended up going to that neurologist (Maria de Jesus at DFW Neurology). It was a total nightmare which I've described in several posts.