Playing the European Model Card

I got an inkling yesterday of how Phase Two of the health care debate continues. I went down to UIHC to get an endoscopy (tube down the throat looking for ulcers, sort of thing). Since my last bout of "conscious sedation" (for a routine colonoscopy!) had left me wide awake and blazing stars and planets and lightning bolts about the discomfort level of having one's ass inflated while wide awake before the sedation part kicks in, I was... a little concerned.

I mentioned my concern to my G.I. guy. And promptly got a five minute soapbox derby along the lines of, "You wanted (I wanted?) European plan health care. Next year you'll get the European plan, and that's no sedation at all! It was one of the first cost-cutting measures to be implemented. Fine by me, sedation really cuts into my day since you have stay around for recovery."

I'll give him credit. Between the Versed (50-2) and the Demerol, I was out of it until this morning, incompetent to drive, use machinery more complicated than a toothbrush, or anything requiring verticality. Except for the part about lots of time to think. Maybe. If that's what it was...

"I tink, toe I teal toiletries" — Tinkerbelle