Some of you may have read my diary of September 2nd http://www.dailykos.com/... in which I detailed an ongoing health crisis and my efforts as an uninsured American to receive proper medical attention. The Cliff Note version is that on August 22nd I experienced a sudden bilateral loss of strength in my arms and legs. This was accompanied by intense pain down all four limbs, and eventually my neck. Fine motor skills have been seriously compromised, with tasks such as operating the computer mouse impacted. Balance and walking has been affected as well. The problem, whatever its cause, has only worsened in the time since, with tasks such as holding a fork and extracting money from my wallet becoming real challenges. Three days after its onset I went to a local hospital's emergency room, only to be quickly discharged since my breathing is not affected and my life was not in imminent danger according to the ER's doctor, who advised me that I needed to see a neurologist for tests, as did my own GP (who I pay for out of pocket) when I saw him two days later. Below the fold you can read of how in today's America an uninsured individual can struggle for weeks to get needed medical care, eventually come to believe he is only a week away from undergoing a series of important tests, to learning he is in fact months away from these tests and any hope of a diagnosis. And of how the Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare" will change this.
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