Thursday, August 11, 2016

Expensive Conversations


Last night I had my follow-up appointment after my colonoscopy. It was just a 10-minute conversation in which the doctor confirmed that everything is fine, the tissue biopsies were normal and I don't have to go back for another five years or so. Why I had to pay £200 for that conversation I'm not sure -- rather than just accepting the "everything looked good" that I got from the doctor on the day of the procedure -- but at least the news was happy.

I nearly forgot the appointment entirely. I remembered with about an hour to spare just as Dave served dinner. I had to race through a plate of roast chicken and then race down to Baker Street on the tube, which did my digestion no favors, I'm sure.

I really do need to get another phone -- one that will keep my calendar so I don't forget theater performances and doctor's appointments and who knows what else. Lately, my phone has been doing this thing where it stops seeing the SIM card, and consequently stops working. I have to turn it off and turn it on again, and then it functions. For a day or two.

When it can't see the SIM card, it can't make or receive calls. And being able to call someone is probably the most basic requirement for a phone, right? I can do without Pokemon Go and a functioning map and Facebook and all that, but I do need to be able to make calls and send texts. (More expensive conversations!)

My iPhone is from 2009, and Dave's been trying to get me to buy a new one for ages. Methinks the time approacheth.

Can you believe Donald Trump? I promise not to go on a political rant, but his veiled suggestion that gun owners might be able to do something about Hillary Clinton and her Supreme Court nominees is truly beyond the pale. There are things you just don't joke about, especially in a country with a painful history of assassinations. The man is not presidential material.

(Photo: Mile End, in late July.)

11 comments:

e said...

Sorry about your phone, the almost indigestion and your expensive conversations...I chuckled because the last time I had one of those conversations, the bill was double what you paid and I could not agree more, the man is frightening...Have a wonderful school year!

Yorkshire Pudding said...

I always wondered what the gate of heaven looked like. Is that St Peter outside on his bike? He was probably leaving his post to buy a kebab for his lunch. It must be hungry work guarding heaven's gate.

Sabine said...

Excellent news. Congrats to a healthy colon.

I suppose the expert is charging for what is called "performing and evaluating of specialist care", meaning in theory that he had a careful and detailed look at all results and images prior to meeting you and based on his vast expert experience and training, he used most of his expertly qualified brain cells to assess what's going on, taking into account all current medical findings and the latest international consensus of the planet's gastrologists' associations.

Of course, his receptionist could have passed on the information just as well but how would that make you feel.

In the EU, these charges are all fixed by a medical rate agreement but with brexit, who knows what's it based on now in the UK. Could be his kid's tuition fees.

Ms. Moon said...

I love what Sabine said.
When you get your new iPhone, you'll be so happy. I swear you will.
When Donald Trump disappears from the media forever, we'll all be so happy.

Sharon said...

I'm about to visit the Verizon store to get a better understanding of how to put my music on my phone and if I have enough memory to do that. If it's going to cost me more money, I think I'll just leave things as they are and keep my music on the iPod.
I really don't know how people can continue to support Trump. He's unfit and dangerous.

ellen abbott said...

Trump is a dangerous buffoon. right now what I object to the most is the medias continuing tendency to paint them both as the two most disliked people in America. Hillary is the target of a smear campaign and has been for 25 years but she has a lot of supporters, people who look at her record and don't listen to the bullshit. her ratings are always low when she is running for some position but as soon as she is elected, her approval rating go way up.

glad to hear the colonoscopy was clear. at least you met with the doctor for that $200. over hear you get charged and never have a face to face with the doctor.

jenny_o said...

Good grief, that's nearly forty bucks a minute! Ouch. I wonder what he'd charge if there was a problem with someone's results and it took an hour? Talk about adding insult to injury ... well, at least you have peace of mind. And that's important.

Having a phone you can rely on is also important. It's one thing not to have a phone at all, and plan your life around that, but having one and assuming people can reach you and you can reach others and then not having it work is a different thing altogether :)

Red said...

Great news on the colonoscopy. I like the gates of heaven photo. It's a little weird!

Marianne said...

I fought getting a iPhone and kept my flip phone for too many years because I didn't want to spend the money. Now I upgrade regularly because I use the darn thing all the time for stuff which does not involve talking on it.

That man is scary

37paddington said...

glad you got a good report! as for trump, i sometimes wonder if he's trying to deep six his chances. i mean, one must have to work really hard to be so clueless.

utahDOG! said...

After not being able to know when you were calling me to ask about dad I decided that there was a fine line between frugal and cheap, when it comes to something like a phone, and I'd crossed it. I got a new phone.