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In reply to the discussion: Ron Paul's campaign manager died of pneumonia, penniless & uninsured. [View all]tblue37
(66,035 posts)sister almost died from it. At first she kept ignoring her persistent "cold" because she was so busy with 3 small kids, and mothers often take care of themselves last. Then, when she felt bad enough to finally try to see a doctor, the receptionist kept pushing her off, because the doctors were booked solid for 2 weeks--not uncommon, since certain forms of insurance coverage at the time enabled people to see a doctor for litttle or no co-pay for even the most minor issues. Finally, her mother-in-law found her collapsed and unconscious on the floor. When she took her to the emergency room, they admitted her immediately. The doctors said she was lucky that she was found and brought in then, because she probably would not have lasted another day.
In my late 40s I also became seriously ill with pneumonia. I had been masking my symptoms with DayQuil because I needed to keep making it to work. When I finally found time to see the doctor, I stopped taking the DayQuil so she would be able to actually see what my symptoms were. By the time I got in to see her, after a nearly one-hour wait in the waiting room, I had to be pretty much carried in, because I was too weak to lift my head and walk. They took me to X-ray in a wheelchair, with my head hanging down from weakness. I could have died, simply because like most relatively young, healthy people, I did not think my "little cold" was serious enough to take time off work or to see a doctor. (Of course, if employers were more reasonable about letting people miss work for illness, that would happen less often.)