Update on Latest Events (and some whining about US healthcare)

Everything went well yesterday in my drive to the airport in NYC. I'm lucky because my kids are used to traveling and behave really well in the car. Kelvin's starting that phase in which he asks "Are we there ye?" and "When are we going to get there?" a lot, but nothing too bad. He was actually awake the whole time (since 4:14 am!), eating apples and cheerios, and he got so excited with his grandparents' arrival that he didn't sleep on the way back either - he chattered away the whole time, in his high-pitched little voice. Linton slept both ways... My dad drove most of the way back, and I was able to take a short nap, which helped a lot.

After we had lunch, my parents stayed with the kids and I drove to the hospital to see my husband and pick him up. I don't like hospitals at all (particularly for childbirth - I wish I could have had both of my boys at home - but that's another subject), and it was a shock to see my husband so weak when I first saw him. He didn't have general anesthesia, just a block to numb his arm, and some sleep inducing drug so he wouldn't remember anything that took place. He was feeling a bit dizzy, so the nurse let him rest some more and get more fluids in the IV before letting him go home. We were both shocked when we saw the X-ray of his arm, because the metal plate they put in is HUGE and has 6 screws into the bone - yuck! (I could never ever be doctor or nurse...). When we came home, he decided to sleep downstairs in the sofa because Kelvin still comes to our bed almost every night even though he has his own toddler bed (my parents tried to get him to sleep in their bedroom, but he still came in the middle of the night).
DH's pain wasn't that bad yesterday because he still had some of the anesthesia in his arm, but this morning it's really, really strong, and it was tough for him to come upstairs to the bedroom (he had to because the kids will be making too much noise in the living room and other parts of the house). I had to go out at 7:30 a.m. to get some Ibuprofen [Motrin], for him to take in between his two pills of Percocet (a mix of narcotics and acetaminophen [Tylenol]), because the nurse had instructed us to do so if the pain got too bad. Another nurse called this morning and said he was doing everything right, and that the pain is supposed to be very bad in the first 24 hours.

My mom says that in Brazil he'd have stayed at least one night at the hospital to receive pain medication through the IV, but here they send people home. I guess it's both because they're otherwise fine and shouldn't run the risk of getting an infection and because hospital care is ABSURDLY, UNBELIEVABLY expensive in this country. They charge well over 1 thousand dollars per day for their bed, crappy food, and a few visits from the nurses (and very rarely, a doctor) - I can't be more angry about this, it's unnaceptable - that's why so many people can't afford healthcare in this country and the healthcare companies make so much money. After I stopped working at the university and having our great student plan (which I didn't have to pay for because of our wonderful Grad Student union - I'm so thankful for that) now I have a "catastrophic" health plan, so if I get cancer or something, I will ONLY spend 5 thousand dollars a year, and then the plan will pay for the rest of the treatment. If I want to see a doctor, I pay 40 dollars (I don't need to have referrals, though), so I never go to the doctor here, I go in Brazil, and there I pay half that amount, and the exams are pretty cheap (I did a check-up last March and my PAP smear now). Oh, and do you know how much I pay for this plan? 94 dollars a month. Just in case, you know, I get a really terrible illness like cancer...

OK, I'll stop whining. It's just that I feel really angry about this. I forgot to explain that my husband's plan doesn't cover me or the children (he's only a postdoc after all), so I'm thankful that we're poor enough and we happen to live in a state that provides free health-care for children of families below the poverty line (yes, I'm "proud" to say we're below the poverty line for families of 4 in this particular state - it does vary from state to state). I don't even have to do a co-payment on their doctor's visits and prescription medicines. Well, it's about one of the few things we like about living in PA (I know that's mean, but for some reason we don't like this state very much... we're getting used to it, though, maybe with time our opinion will change :) .

Question for my lovely readers: how's healthcare in your state or country? What are your opinions on this subject? You can respond in my comment section or even post about it in your blog and let me know in the comments about it, so I can link to you.