Hospitals and the state of healthcare in Alberta

(This post was partly written on the day-of, but was delayed until now for personal reasons. The events took place on Sun Jul 27th)

I had a interesting experience this morning, I woke up with what might be the worst pain I’ve ever felt. The pain was in my back, but it didn’t feel like back pain. Layman’s self diagnosis? Kidney.

Decided to hit a hospital just in case it was something serious — The way I see it, pain is my body’s way of paging me to tell me I need routine maintenance.

11-something in the morning we head in to the hospital. I bring my iPhone and an extra battery pack, assuming this will be an all-day experience unless I should happen to start dying midway through the process.

In just under an hour, I’ve had various bodily fluids tested, an IV inserted and removed, and am walking out the door diagnosis, pain pills and a prescription in hand.

Now I realize this may or may not be typical, but still, it’s pretty hard to argue with that level of service when I did need it. Damn you Kline for ruining our health care system.

Oh, and for those curious, just a kidney stone.