Lots of money for seemingly little effort

My followup appointment with the hand surgeon was for 2.30 pm. He had been on time when I visited last Monday, so I fed the parking meter for 40 minutes, thinking it should be plenty of time.

Wrong. It seemed all his followups were scheduled for the same time, so I had to feed the meter again. The City of Perth obviously does well from the patients of specialists - street parking costs $2.90 hour in West Perth. I got to see him just before the meter ran out a second time. Total parking cost: $4.90. Not happy about that.

Then I was handed the bill for the surgery. Over $1100. I will get some of that back from Medicare and HBF (our health insurance fund) but we will still be quite a lot out of pocket. Fortunately the cost of the day hospital was completely covered by HBF. The anesthetist (whose bill I am yet to receive) fee will also be covered by a combination of Medicare and HBF.

Last Tuesday the surgeon probably operated on a dozen people. He apparently does surgery on 2 or 3 days a week - say 25 operations. Most would be a bit more complex than mine, but would consequently incur larger bills.

I realise that he has had to have had many years of training and that it costs plenty to run a consulting room and associated staff. But he must earn in a week more than our allocated pension pays both of us in a year. Nice work.

And the assessment? My finger is healing really well, with 90% mobility. No pain except if I bump it, so it needs to be protected with a bandaid when I am working. The thumb injection has not as yet had any noticeable effect, so I have another follow up appointment in late January. The City of Perth will make more money from me then.

Pointing to the spot

The purple arrow indicates where I got the cortisone jab that will hopefully alleviate the pain in my thumb joint that occurs when I do much handsewing or writing. The other spot is where the cannula was inserted. Quite a bruise building up there.


There is another arrow on this hand, but the dressing hides it. I am supposed to keep this hand elevated so I am typing with only one hand. I had both general and local anasthesia. The local hasn't worn off yet, so there is no pain. No feeling in the finger tip either.

A possible stumbling block

in my efforts to finish the Book of Aries.

I have had an appointment with a specialist hand surgeon for a couple of months - the usual wait. It was in regard to a lump on one of my fingers, a side effect of osteoarthritis. This is the third occurrence and at least it is a different finger each time. This was the last one two years ago.

The appointment was today and I fronted up expecting a wait of a least a couple of months for surgery. Nope. He had had a cancellation and could excise the cyst tomorrow. Good - no waiting. Bad - I wanted to finish my textile book by Friday for Contemporary Quilt Group.

Of course I agreed to the surgery tomorrow. Get it over with, quick. This afternoon I have done as much as I can of the bits that require fine manipulation. I have sandwiched all the pages and edged five of them. I am hoping that I will be able to free machine on Wednesday - since the lump is on my left hand I expect the major problem to be the bandage.

So think of me tomorrow about midday when the surgery is scheduled. Hungry - no food after midnight tonight. Thirsty - nothing except clear liquids until 7 am, then nothing at all. And I have to wear my glasses.