"ACCESS DENIED"/HEALTH CARE IN AMERICA"

EXCERPTS FROM OLDER JOURNALS

12/25/95

I'm real sick, my cough has worsened. Deana really wants me to come over for Christmas. (A long lived friendship that ended in 96)  Tom gives me a ride.    But after I got there I started sneezing real bad and feeling really cold. Later that night after I got home, I started to develop flu symptoms. I was hot and cold the whole night. Despite my illness, I had a good time playing Therapy with Deana and Laura and the kids.

1/1/96

The last week of 95 was sheer hell because I've been so sick. I started coughing about last Saturday or Sunday after the sinus/bronchial infection (caused in part by my severe allergy to my landlord's 2 dogs) got more severe and this morning I woke up with laryngitis. I was so crippled up with back pain that I couldn't walk. That had alot to do with the fact that this house is so damn cold. My muscles get tightened up and then I end up in pain. (I would get my Fibromyalgia diagnosis in 97)

I got so weak that I couldn't stand for more than 5 minutes.

1/2/96

Migraine with vomiting. The headaches are precipitated by alot of coughing. Today I didn't get out of bed until 1 or 1:30 in the afternoon. Was up vomiting until around 1 a.m. Crushing fatigue, need lots of sleep, but my breathing is so obstructed that it makes sleep impossible.

Tried to find a sliding scale clinic today to help me with my bronchial problems. I called Ask A Nurse and they could only find one. I called it and it was a private doctor. I got an answering machine. The other doctor was in the Rotunda mall. I talked to the woman in billing who was very curt with me. As soon as she quoted the price of $150.00 she hung up on me instead of asking me if I want an appointment! SHE JUST HUNG UP ON ME!

When I reached the Wyman park Clinic by phone, they said they wouldn't see me at all because I have no income. I said that I would be able to pay something but they wouldn't quote me a fee over the phone. I said, o.k. I'll try your East and West Baltimore sites. She said they MIGHT work with me.

Oh yeah, there's a clinic on Reisterstown Road. Maybe if I got out there Mike (my birthmother's husband) will take me back (but that's only if my birthmother isn't home, because she'd never approve of him helping me with a ride)

I called the MTA and the dispatcher started yelling at me. (which is common) She told me that I was cutting her off, when I was simply trying to get her to slow down so I could write down the instructions on how to get to a chiropractor by bus.

I left the house at 3 p.m.  Three buses (all legally required to stop and pick me have passed me by.  I heard that whites don't always get picked up) Finally, at 3:45, I get tired of standing in the cold rain. I decide to go on foot in Hampden to try to find a chiropractor. There was one, but it was closed. So I went into an internist's office and asked about their fees. She said $70 for the first visit. She offered no other info.

After I sat down for a few minutes, and asked her if I could use the phone, she told me about the Union Memorial Clinic.

At 5:20, I find a chiropractor. The entire appt. only took about 20 minutes. None of these chiropractors/doctors want to take the time to get to know you, but other than that he was good. I liked getting hot massage from the electrodes. Adjustments are somewhat painful but I do believe in chiropractic care.