Defeating Tomophobia: The Future of America Depends on It

Unfortunately, I lost my insurance because of obamacare, and I can’t afford to buy it on the open market. Most doctors won’t see me because I have to pay cash for my appointments. They’ll make the appt and once they verify that I don’t have insurance, my appt gets “cancelled – doctor is out that day, we’ll call to reschedule”. I never hear from them again and I can’t get back on to the schedule as my account is now flagged. So until I’m old enough for Medicare, I’m shit out of luck. I can’t count on Republicans to repeal obamacare.

They can’t refuse you at Urgent Care, most cities have walk in clinics.

How did I miss this?! Nice job, Bill. Well done.

Little health issues can lead to BIG health issues. Not getting into personal issues, or lifesytles, Bill’s analogy to the automobile and proper maintenance is perfect… those oil changes are important, as well checking the tires.

This has turned out to be my year for medical tests.
It started in February when I got deferred by the Red Cross, two weeks in a row, for low hemoglobin. I went to the doctor, and he diagnosed anemia. He had me schedule a colonoscopy to look for a slow leak.

I’ve been having rapid heartbeat episodes for the last 10 years. The first couple of times, I ran to Urgent Care to get diagnosed. By the time I got in to see anyone, the episode had ended, and nothing showed up on any of the tests. Friday, March 22, the rapid heart beat wouldn’t slow down, and my boss called an ambulance. The EMT crew hooked me up to a heart monitor and caught it in the act of misbehaving. 188 beats per minute. At the hospital, I got diagnosed with a bad heart valve that will need to be replaced. That’s finally happening August 14, and I have a 97% chance of surviving the procedure. (Look up TAVR — Trans Aortic Valve Replacement. It’s kind of cool.)

While I was in the hospital getting tested, another condition was found by the famous Irish diagnostician, Mrs. Angie O’Graham. My arteries are in good shape, but I turn out to have cancer. Don’t tell me not to cry over that diagnosis. It’s my body and I’ll cry if I want to.

Multiple myeloma. Turns out, among other things, it secrets proteins into my bloodstream that are really good at clogging the kidneys. I acquired a kidney specialist who put me on restricted sodium and restricted liquids. I watched over a month as the creatinine levels went from well above normal back into the normal range. Now they’re back at my long-term baseline, where we had been three months before. It looks like we caught the cancer before it had a chance to do real damage to my kidneys.

I don’t know if taking the Red Cross results as a warning speeded up any of the diagnoses. I know it was very lucky that the tests for the heart attack found the cancer when it did. I’m on chemotherapy and it’s being both very effective and very tolerable [pause to knock on wood]. The docs say it’s “treatable but not curable”, but I have hope that we can usefully treat it for decades.

The alternative to finding out about all this is that I would have had, at best, a delay in the diagnosis once I had crashed and was admitted to the ER with very low hemoglobin (as, in fact, I was on May 2). Only I would have entered without a known diagnosis and would likely have continued downhill while they tried to figure out where all my blood was going.

So, the bad news is, I have two serious health conditions.
The good news is, at this stage there’s a hell of a lot they can do about it.

You have no idea how appropriate this little diddy was.

Great Vid, Bill. When it comes to physical problems, I never forgot my Basic Training, 1st Sgt’s command to always perform, “IMMEDIATE ACTION” True he was talking about clearing my jammed weapon in a firefight, but, it applies to Doctors too. Now that I’m in that age where physical problems have taken out almost all my friends I realize that I.A. is what saves you. “when y’ got a baddie on yer 6, be quick or be dead!”

I’ll just hit the high spots of my heart and prostate problems and would like to start by saying that all is well with me now. My 100% blocked LAD went to 100% open with 2 stents inserted through my wrist and was painless. It was an ER situation so I didn’t shop around much. But if you have time, investigate all types of treatment for your condition. My urologist was perfectly willing to do DaVinci surgery to remove my prostate without mentioning other forms of treatment because his practice performs the DaVinci procedure. That’s their busine$$. The thought of the side and after effects of that procedure made me (my wife, to be more accurate) look for alternatives to prostate removal. We (she) found the Cyberknife solution which treats the cancer within rather than removal of the prostate. No incontinence issues and still active sex life. Pretty easy choice for me (and every other man n the planet). My advice, two things, 1)investigate different forms of treatment for your condition and 2) understand that the available tech is mind blowing crazy these days. So go, see the doc, do the tests, do the treatment. It works. You get fixed, you are less fearful next time, you’re once again a bad ass and you’re back to bulletproof.

Just emailed my doctor. Thanks for the kick in the backside, Bill.
I pray for your safety and that of Steve and Scott regularly. We need you guys.
God bless.

I am a Nuclear Medicine Technologist. I have seen thousands of patients over the last 30 years. My favorite line is, we have people in our lives who had or know people with heart attacks, but what is not reported is 30% of the people who have had their first heart attack are no longer here. Always get it checked out. Don’t feel ashamed if it turns out to be nothing. We want to see you. Plus after I give you the radioactive tracer you can ask me if you will glow in the dark.

I did have a test with the radioactive tracer. I never glowed, but I found it amusing to demonstrate to my co-workers that yes, the Geiger counter we have in the office works just fine, thank you.

New member today. I wanted to join for some time but funds are thin. What pushed me over the edge was hearing that Scot works at a furniture store too. It made me realize that if we don’t support it, we really might lose it.

That’s tremendously encouraging, Milt. Thank you.

Bill’s advice would have saved my mother. She died of colon cancer at 73 needlessly after having avoided seeing a doctor despite having serious problems for years. When things get so bad you are driven to the emergency room, you are a day late and a dollar short.

I am 61, lost my health insurance at the age of 57 after Obama made it so damn affordable. Now I am waiting it out until I can get on Medicare because I have a choice between eating and maintaining my mortgage or healthcare services. Fortunately, I had a pretty good checkup prior to losing my insurance so hopefully, I will make it through this void in coverage.

Exactly my problem, and same age. I’m now 61 1/2 and counting the months to a real thorough physical.

Thanks for the kick in the pants, Bill. I moved a year ago and never got around to re-establishing a primary care provider (not that I saw my mainland Dr unless I was sick). I just turned 49 and have a history of prostate cancer in my family.

Bill – Thank you. Superb.
Shared with exactly the right buds who needed to hear it exactly this way (er, including myself).

I made the trip to the doctor’s office this afternoon instead of putting it off. Thanks for the encouragement.

“It is necessary to learn from others’ mistakes. You will not live long enough to make them all yourself.”
– Hyman G. Rickover

Great psa. At 40 I saw a cardiologist for the first time. I wasn’t feeling quite right, so they did the same nuclear stress test. All was good with the ticker, my problem was work stress. Fixed that. Saw another cardiologist at 50. He told me that I should lose weight until I got to a number much lower. I jokingly said, that’s what I weighed when I graduated college. He said, exactly my point. 35 down 20 to go. Amazingly, I feel better. Hmmm. But no fat shaming allowed because feelings.

I loved this video… and I’m DEFINITELY its target audience. I have to say, though, that this is the first Firewall that has not automatically appeared in my feed. I keep fairly tight tabs on how the youtube algorithm affects the stream of content that shows up on my main page, as there are creators (such as Matt Christianson, John Ward, Razorfist, AvE, This Old Tony, Sargon) whose videos I NEVER miss – so when I have to go look for one, it stands out in stark contrast to how it should work. I wonder if perhaps some kind of class-action lawsuit against the company, not from the creators, but from the consumers of their content might be in order. When the attempt to silence Bill, or Crowder, or whomever, it isn’t just the creator that is affected… it’s us.

Great advice, Bill. At 70 y/o I’m seeing doctors regularly now that I’m medicare qualified. It’s good to have tests run regularly and head off the little problems before they become big ones.

Thank you Bill! While my husband and I have always done a complete annual physical, our son does not. From your lips to his ears, he will “make the call!”

Great PSA

Way back when if the medical profession had followed the ‘prevention’ route instead of the ‘reactive’ route, we’d all be better off. Which one makes more money for BigPharma 🤔

I had my moment 8 years ago. The spot on my right arm had been nitro’d off three times over a 3 year period. Then they decided to do a biopsy. Three months almost to the day, I was having surgery to remove the melanoma from said right arm. My family has a history of various cancers. I should have taken stronger notice before. Lucky for me I am only missing some muscle and skin, instead of my life. Always get the check done. Glad to hear you will be with us for a good long time Bill.

This is the second of this sort of video from Bill. I opted to remove an inflamed skin tag rather than fiddle around with anti-biotics and/or pain relievers because of his earlier one.

Bill, I absolutely agree with you. I’ll be 64 in a couple of months, and have been retired with health issues for 15 years. I have been to the doctor, and I have had a lot of tests, but my doctors don’t credit so much that I really have a stake in keeping this Classic 55 in the best that can be expected running condition. The last two tests I had done, I had to demand the results, months after the procedures. When I request tests appropriate for a hard used, 55 Model, I usually get them, but it is often grudgingly, and I get the feeling they think I might be a bit of a hypochondriac. Where do I get my wonderful medical care? The VA… a government run health care program.

I am a retired physician, now 80 years old and in reasonably good health. I began my practice of medicine on entering medical school in 1960. It was great fun, interacting with patients, gathering knowledge about biological processes, learning how to find the causes of a patient’s symptoms and then finding the best way to fix the causes; and explaining all this to the patient. It continued to be fun until things changed in about the mid 1980s. I was on the faculty of the local medical school, and medical students had come from all undergraduate educational backgrounds: humanities, literature, math, chemistry, art, education, etc. The all were interested in people and their problems. This began to change; they became overwhelmingly STEM based, and had little or no knowledge of the human condition (as humanities based undergraduates seemed to have). Several even told me during patient care discussions: “I don’t care about that; I want to learn how to do (procedure X); that is where the money is”. I am not saying they were all like this, but far more were than I was comfortable with. In addition, I and my colleagues had to increase our clinical and administrative loads to cover for those faculty members who had large research grants. You really did not get faculty credit for teaching or patient care any more. All that mattered was how much “research” money you were able to bring in. I tried to enter private practice and was warned by my practicing friends that conditions were even worse there; bureaucratic tasks occupied much of their time; patient interaction had to take a back seat. I retired entirely in 1995, and pursued as an occupation a hobby I had and was much happier for the next 20 years. When I now go to the doctor, he/she spends a brief moment with me. When I see the PA or Nurse Practitioner, I am gratified that the experience is much as it used to be with the doctor 50 years ago. They talk and listen, and explain clearly what is going on, with no apparent time pressure to get the interview over with. And I get the care from them that has kept me healthy.

I agree about the PA, mine is always very nice and willing to listen.

After watching Bill’s Firewall and reading your remarks, I thank God for my “old school” doctor. I am 63 and he is a little older. I was stunned to discover that as an undergraduate, he had majored in anthropology (at Cornell, of all places). “I see patients from all over the world and I use the things I learned [at school] everyday to better understand my patients and how they approach healthcare.” Until I read Dr. Muller’s comments, I didn’t realize how blessed I am to have this man for a physician.

Thanks Bill for all you, Scott, and Steve do to save our country and maybe even a few people’s lives while you’re at it. Now, I will take Bill’s remarks to heart and go have my car serviced.

I would love to see a doctor, but I moved intrastate, had to change my insurance from a PPO to an HMO, and can’t get one to return my calls asking for a new patient appointment. My husband on Medicare had no trouble finding a doctor. Since Medicare kicks in next summer for me, my plan is to stay alive until then unless someone calls me back.

Don’t ask me what I think of Obamacare; my response would melt the Internet.

NOTE: Does not follow directions well.

No offense, don’t know you, but I care. Physically go to an office that provides services through your HMO and demand an appointment. Very hard for someone not to return your call when you are physically in their face. Hope you follow Bills timely advice and go get done, what needs to.

I’m 51 and just had my second abdomimal surgery in two years. First was to remove about 3 inches of my small intestine after finally bowing to the pain and discomfort I had for about a week. The latest, about fouor weeks ago was to remove my gall bladder that has been acting up periodically for the past 10 years. I count myself lucky that I overcame my Tomophobia.

Best wishes.

I did get a call back from a doctor (promised in two business days; took four) and now have had an appointment. Once in the office, all went well.

I’m 68 and I’ve been put through just about every medical test in existence. The most terrifying and dangerous condition they found was uterine cancer, which, thank the stars, was completely removed by surgery. My cancer doctor was the best doctor I’ve had contact with all my life. He gave me real service, not the 10 minutes and out the door kind. I wish he could be my doctor for everything because I could talk to him and he actually took the time to listen to my concerns and explain things in detail. All of the other doctors, without fail, have only spent that 10 minutes with me and most of those were with their faces in a laptop. They’ve been condescending and one of them was outright insulting, not verbally maybe, but I’m not an idiot and I saw the look on his face clearly. My regular doctor, who is categorized under “internal medicine” instead of “general practitioner”, cannot seen to do anything except write prescriptions and refer me to specialists. Our medical establishment has become an assembly line with no real personal care. One of the prescriptions my regular doctor, excuse me “primary care physician”, gave me had side effects worse than the original problem. He dismissed my concerns that I could not dare to leave my house because then I would be too far from a bathroom, if you know what I mean. I suppose he thought I should just accept that and keep taking the drug. I stopped taking it and researched how to treat the problem using natural methods. And that’s my main point with all this. Today’s doctors aren’t trained to treat the problem, they’re trained to treat the symptoms…therefore guaranteeing that you stay on drugs that have adverse effects on your life. I’ve been searching for a doctor who will give me the individual attention my money pays for and will work with me in using natural foods and products to treat the problems this aging body creates. I found the only one in my entire area, but he and his clinic don’t accept Medicare, so I’m having to wait until the temporary job my (younger than me) husband has goes permanent and I can be under his insurance again. It’s just all a huge trap and not beneficial to our ongoing health. The way doctors are just part of the Big Pharma money machine in current times is a travesty to me. I want a doctor like I could have had 30 years ago, or better yet, 50 years ago.

Catherine, first, I am so happy to hear about your recovery. Second, you are right about doctors. Did you see the Bill Whittle Now about healthcare going private in Georgia? That’s real hope, I think.

B

Of course I saw it. Silly man! I watch ALL of your videos. I’ve learned so much from them and they’ve absolutely kept hope alive in my heart

Which is what you do for us, Cathy.

Even if I was a thorn in the side of our beloved Scott Ott for weeks?? That was really sweet to say. Thanks so much! I wish, though, I’d started my account as Cathy Shepherd. I’m not used to my full name as much. Can that be changed? Oops, I just realized I may have just become the thorn again. 😛

So let it be written; let it be done.

Oh, my! Scott, you’ve just risen to internet god (small “g”) status with me. I am awestruck by your uber techno abilities. Thanks so much!!

Exactly! We need health practitioners, not prescription writers!
I learned this years ago, when I was diagnosed hypo-thyroid, my thyroid wasn’t making enough hormone because of an auto-immune action. I had a wonderful doctor who diagnosed me, ran all sorts of tests and took the time to explain things to me. I ended up on medication, which he told me would be for the rest of my life. Over the years, I’ve seen other doctors who’ve prescribed different things that help better, and learned my lesson on researching health issues before you go to the doctor.
Nowadays, I get a lot of info from online doctors, and this has helped me a bit in dealing with the real-life doctors I encounter. I can ask pertinent questions, question their prognosis (what to do about the problem), which unfortunately still is prescribing more pills (which I usually turn down).
So, unfortunately, that means I don’t always go to the doctor when I need to. Because, like you, I’m having a hard time finding a good one locally.
And, BTW, Bill, I’ve got a couple years on you! What’s always surprising is that you are the oldest of your bunch of 3 guys.

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