New Year, New Blog Entry

Well, it's finally here...2009. I'm really glad because 2008 was "hellish". It was a true "trying of my faith". Who would have thought I'd be on medical leave for most of the year!?! I was bracing myself as 2009 rolled in because I just don't know what it will bring for me physically.
There are a few changes (not New Year's Resolutions) that I will be implementing in 2009. My diet will be more vegan. I'm already more vegetarian-ish than I've ever been in life, but I have to practice consuming complete proteins, so I won't become deficient and I'm changing chiropractors.
The chiropractor I currently go to, I've been a patient of for over 10 years. She helped me get back on my feet on more than one occasion. Recently (I guess the 2008 year), I began to realize just how expensive this chiropractor really was and something didn't sit quite right with me. I do a procedure called decompression therapy. My current chiro charges $250.00 per session...and it's NOT paid by my insurance. I had two spinal incidences this year. The first was a severe pinched nerve and I needed 10 of these $250.00 sessions. The second incident was a diagnosis of DDD (degenerative disk disease). Every disk in my cervical spine was bulging or herniated...and quite painful! That incident caused me to need 20 of those $250.00 sessions. Make a long story short, I had to take out a health loan to pay for the sessions. One day I decided to take a good long look at this decompression machine. I took a mental note of the company, model name, etc and looked it up on the internet. To my GREAT surprise (and disgust), this "miracle machine" cost (and I'm inflating the price slightly) $15,000.00!!!!!!! How can a machine that I only spend 15-20 minutes on at a time and cost $15,000.00, cost me $250.00 per session?!??! Doing the math, I realized I paid for 1/2 of the machine! And I'm 1 of probably 100 or so patients that utilize this type of decompression therapy. Now...to add insult to injury, I began to research other chiropractors specifically in my area because my current chiropractor is just WAY too far from my home. To my surprise, I not only find (what looks like) an awesome chiropractor that is 5 minutes from my home, he even offers the same decompression therapy...FOR $40.00 PER SESSION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT...was the straw that broke this camels back. $40.00 per session??? I've been paying a 600% mark up???? Talk about being livid! That health loan of $7000.00 caused unnecessary financial strain on my husband and I and I'm SO angered by that. So...I'm going to my chiropractor Monday to tell them to stick it where the sun...just kidding. I'm not that vindictive. LOL I will definitely tell them about the price gauging that seems to be in place for therapies not covered by people's insurance. That is SO not cool! It's really quite sad because I liked the chiropractor, the staff and their care but I DO NOT and will not tolerate being taken advantage of. Hmpf! In the name of Jesus, this year has GOT to get better! LOL!