Posts by rapidnomad322

Sam Martinez9 said:Look at it from this perspective:

Take the work of a cashier at a place like Walmart, for example. As they work, Walmart continues to expand, opening new locations and driving up the owner's bottom line. So, regardless of how much that cashier is paid, the corporation itself keeps accumulating massive surplus profits.

But what about your work?

Well, nothing, I guess, because you guys just shut down my job without even having a clue what I actually do, and then you're all left to deal with the mess that follows. Honestly, I'm just so over the constant exaggerations about how every single government employee is basically useless. Maybe if you actually showed up and did the job yourselves, you might get a little hint of how things actually function. I'm really not going to bother responding to condescending posts anymore. It’s not anyone else's fault that I'm making this salary, since I'm the one who agreed to this position, but seriously, just get off your high horse and see how much work goes into these different agencies before you start judging. And please, spare me the "my taxes pay your salary" routine—it's not like we aren't all paying taxes. 🤣

darkorca52 said:Why is there this constant narrative that public sector wages outpace the private sector, when 90 percent of those employees are working for $1667 or even less
? Which private company actually pays salaries that low?

Honestly, I was just thinking about writing something almost exactly like that! I'm a government employee myself, and my paycheck is actually under $1667 (not that it's my fault, right?) ☕ It feels like even the ladies working at the local Target might be pulling in more than me, though realistically, the level of work, the responsibility, and the specialized knowledge involved isn't really comparable—and hey, I’m totally happy for them if they’re making more, I truly am!

Kimberly Ward said:How do you feel about the Borongaj area?

Honestly, Dubrava is the only spot that really works for me, I guess, because I wouldn't even dream of heading out toward Sesvete. 🕺

So, my mother-in-law is seeing this doctor—I think her name is Kalšan, if I remember right—over at the Trnje Health Center, and she’s actually pretty happy with the care there, which is great. But honestly, all those neighborhoods are just way too far for me, even somewhere like Sesvete... like, if I actually get sick, I really don't feel like making the trek all the way to Downtown or over to Trnje, you know?

If by Trešnjevka you mean the MUP Health Center—yeah, no thanks, definitely not.

Kimberly Ward said:Honestly, I'm not entirely sure. For taking on patients, anyone who has completed the 2100 exam should be required to accept them. You could probably find the details on the Social Security Administration website, though I can't remember the exact link off the top of my head. As for the colors, they're green, yellow, and orange.

I tried looking into it myself, but the site I found wasn't really that helpful... at least not the one I happened to stumble upon...

Kimberly Ward said:Maybe try checking out the MUP Health Center in Dubrava—I'm not entirely sure what they're like, but I might be able to point you toward someone specific if I can remember.

The worst part is, I've actually already been there 😁 🙄 But thanks anyway, really.

Does anyone happen to know anything about doctors Jasminka Cvitkušić, Sunčan Vlah, or Iva Šašlin over at the Grižanska Health Center? Like, if they’re still working there and if they're even taking new patients?

Laura Clark78 said:Hey everyone, I was wondering if anyone might have a recommendation for a really solid specialist in gastroenterology or immunology around the Chicago area? Honestly, I’m not picky at all—it could be someone you see privately or even through one of the big hospital networks, it really doesn't matter to me. I just want to find someone reliable, I guess! Any leads would be amazing, thanks! 🙂

If you're looking for a private immunologist, I can pretty much tell you exactly who to steer clear of: Miran Sentić over at Kvarantan Polyclinic. 👎 Honestly, you really don't even need to go looking too hard—just reading through the comments on Naj Doktor tells you everything you need to know, and besides, I’ve got my own firsthand experience to back that up, too...

So, my colleague is actually seeing Dr. Miroslav Mayer over at the Chicago University Hospital Center—he’s an immunologist, by the way—and she is honestly just so incredibly happy with him, like, really thrilled with the care she's getting. But, she was mentioning that the wait times can be pretty brutal, which I guess is kind of expected with specialists these days, you know? And then she also kind of jokingly brought up the question of whether he'd be your type, if that makes any sense, haha!

So, I’m looking for a recommendation for a female doctor at the Loomis clinic over in Brooklyn. Ideally, someone who actually listens to what you're saying, you know? Like, a real pro where you don't feel the need to pull up your own Google searches just to be heard. I’d also love to find someone who isn't just going to prescribe antibiotics left and right every time you have a sore throat or a little sniffle without even running a blood test or anything. It would be great if she doesn't require appointments far in advance, and I'm really hoping to avoid sitting in a hallway for two hours waiting for my turn. Also, maybe someone who isn't super difficult about signing off on sick leave—even though, honestly, I rarely ever take time off work. If she handles things via email and actually gets back to you, that would be a huge plus!

Thanks a bunch!

vividraven26 said:Oh, please. It’ll happen when it happens, and it's definitely happening.

Honestly, I think I’d go for the permanent version 😁

cosmicpuma84 said:Look, there’s a massive difference between someone hitting a 0.5 BAC because they made some reckless, stupid decision behind the wheel, and someone who’s actually a regular drinker—someone who might just have one too many and suddenly finds themselves spiraling toward a 0.5% level... it can happen to anyone, really. I know women who have one single beer and they're already stumbling around like they don't even know where they are.
I wasn't looking for any "brilliant" critiques here—just wanted to hear from people who actually understand how these situations play out in the real world...

Well, it looks like you actually have a brain in there, which is good, but honestly, you should probably just listen to the lectures instead of risking someone's life! I kind of wish you'd lose your license, but hey, I guess that's probably not gonna happen...

cosmicpuma84 said:Hey... so here’s the situation. Back in September 2016, I got pulled over by some highway patrol guys for doing 1.75 over the limit—yeah, yeah, don't laugh. After everything settled, I had to head to court, and the judge handed down a sentence of three months and a $2,100 fine. I paid the whole thing up front, thinking we were good, but apparently, the prosecution decided to appeal. Even though I thought I was in the clear to keep my license, I find out later that the paperwork went all the way up to the appellate court. Then, just a few days ago, I get hit with a new ruling: five months without a license plus even more fines. To make matters worse, I just had my second kid a week ago... this timing couldn't be any worse. It's a massive problem because I've been waiting nearly a year and a half for this verdict, and in all that time, I haven't had a single other ticket or anything on my record... thanks

Honestly, if it were up to me, I’d take someone's license away for life for stuff like that. I mean, you're out there driving with almost a .40 BAC? You're lucky you didn't kill anyone. Just deal with it and stop complaining about how the laws are set up; in a halfway decent country, you wouldn't have gotten off so easy.

Could someone maybe help me make sense of these lab results?

From blood work:

(S) Ionized Calcium 1.21 mmol/L - ref. range 1.11 - 1.32
(S) Total Calcium 2.43 mmol/L - ref. range 2.14 - 2.53
(S) Inorganic Phosphate 0.94 mmol/L - ref. range 0.79 - 1.42
(S) Total Magnesium 0.80 mmol/L - ref. range 0.65 - 1.05

From urine (24-hour collection):

(dU) Total Calcium 0.84 mmol/dU - ref. range 2.50 - 7.50
(dU) Inorganic Phosphate 13.42 mmol/dU - adult ref. range:
12.9 - 42.0

Should I be worried about that low calcium level in my urine? I mean, how can my blood calcium be totally normal while the urine levels are so low? My TSH and intact PTH both came back normal, too.

Thanks!

EDIT: just in case it matters—my total urine volume was 590 ml

Kimberly Roberts3 said:Can anyone suggest a good primary care doctor in Chicago, maybe around the Pesćenica, Suburban neighborhood, or Central Park areas?
I'm really hoping for somewhere that isn't absolutely packed, and hopefully someone who isn't super stressed out or cranky, you know? It would be awesome if they could handle things like prescription refills over email or something similar.

Well, if it’s not too much of a trek for you, I actually have this amazing doctor over by the Police Academy—it's just like a five-minute bus ride from the Suburban neighborhood terminal, right past the hospital. Honestly, I’m never quite sure how busy they get, but even when the waiting room looks full, I guess I never end up waiting more than ten minutes myself. Neither she nor her nurse are high-strung at all; I mean, it's hard to say which one of them is actually sweeter! I'm not totally sure if she does everything via email for prescriptions, but she definitely has an inbox, and I usually just give them a quick call to see what I need. The nurse is always super helpful and gets back to me right away, as long as they aren't on a break or caught up in something else.

Brenda Cruz84 said:Thanks, but what's the deal with Holy Spirit? It says right here you don't even need an appointment:

I'm really not sure about Holy Spirit, since I actually had my tests done over at Mercy Hospital (though, if I remember correctly, their site also mentions you don't need to call ahead 🤔), so I guess I don't know what all these new procedures are lately... back when I was booking stuff in March, that wasn't really a thing... ☕ Anyway, I suppose you could just book it at any hospital that does those specific tests—and honestly, you could probably just give them a quick ring to ask why they have this whole "no appointment" policy going on anyway...

Brenda Cruz84 said:It’s been years since I last had bloodwork done, and now I’ve suddenly been handed a referral to check my thyroid hormones. My doctor just vaguely mentioned that I need to schedule an appointment somewhere, but she didn't give me any details on where to go or how to actually book it, which is super confusing 🙄 I'm based in Chicago, so what's the standard procedure here?

Well, you can basically book wherever you want, really—but honestly, if you go to Mercy Hospital, they are probably your best bet (they're actually super friendly, and they poke you so fast and professionally that you barely even feel it!), and you can either just walk in to schedule it or send an email over to the Nuclear department (just Google them) along with a scanned copy of your referral and whatever specialist notes you have from whoever suggested the test. I guess if it was just your regular GP who recommended it, then you won't have a formal specialist history to attach, so that's fine too. Just make sure you get scheduled within 90 days, because that's usually how long the referral stays valid before it expires...

I don't know if I can even explain this without sounding like a total nutcase, but I was just sitting here thinking about how weird life gets sometimes, you know? Like, one minute you’re just cruising along, maybe grabbing a coffee in downtown Chicago or something, and the next thing you know, you're staring at some massive, complicated situation that feels way too big to wrap your head around. It's funny, I guess, how we all just try to act like everything is totally normal when things get messy. I mean, maybe I'm overthinking it, but there’s definitely that feeling where you realize just how much stuff is actually going on behind the scenes of our everyday lives. It’s kind of wild if you really sit down and dwell on it for a second, though I probably shouldn't spend too much time dwelling on stuff like that because it just makes my brain go in circles! Anyway, I was just rambling, I suppose. Just one of those thoughts that hits you out of nowhere. kaže:
I feel like there’s this weird, inevitable cycle that just happens sometimes, you know? Like, I guess you end up on some massive waiting list for two whole years, and then you eventually just lose your mind, go to a private clinic, and pay out of pocket just to see a doctor before you turn eighty. And then—this is the best part—you spend months arguing with Medicare trying to get them to reimburse you for the whole thing, which is honestly such a headache. It's just one of those things, I suppose.

So, about that rubber ball situation... I was thinking, if you're looking for one, you can actually find it over at the Virginia location, but for some reason, they don't carry it at the Napa Valley spot. And get this—over in Virginia, they’ve got this cool little prism thing too, where you can peek through this tiny hole to see straight into the control room, just to make sure the engineer hasn't slipped away to grab some street tacos or something. But yeah, they definitely don't have that setup at Napa Valley either, I guess.

So, I figured, why even bother fighting with Medicare? It’s just not worth the headache, honestly. I didn't want to get into some massive back-and-forth argument with them, so I just decided to make the trek out to San Francisco instead. I mean, if things had been more urgent, I probably would've just hopped in the car and driven all the way to Warsaw too, I guess. I really don't get how some people can just sit around, complaining for an entire year, when they could just drive to a nearby city if they actually have the cash to do it. It seems like such a waste of time, you know?

So, about that stress ball thing... honestly, I didn't even need one (well, they didn't have one, and even if they did, I probably wouldn't have bothered using it anyway), so I just spent the whole time squinting my eyes shut and trying to, I don't know, weave all that noise—it was actually kind of rhythmic, surprisingly—into my own little headspace. It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be. My biggest worry, I guess, was that it would feel super claustrophobic because I tend to get a bit lightheaded if I'm stuck in a cramped space for too long, like being on a crowded Greyhound bus or something, but luckily it felt really airy and open. There was this nice little breeze blowing through, so everything felt totally fine. An MRI really isn't the monster people make it out to be, provided you aren't someone who struggles with claustrophobia.

Larry Scott43 said:Bee 88 you totally forgot about that little rubber indicator ball the technician handed you! I mean, honestly, feeling all disoriented with bloodshot eyes is pretty much standard for everyone, especially when you're at the Salad because those magnets are just incredibly powerful

Hey there, Laura Cox5, it’s not even like I forgot to bring it up, it's more like they never actually gave it to me in the first place (so they probably don't even have one lying around)!

gentlemoose57 said:Not really, but I guess if you’re already expecting things to be way worse, then you kind of end up feeling satisfied even when stuff is just mediocre... 🤣🤣🤣

There isn't any kind of reimbursement, honestly; you just take your referrals over there and that's that. It's not like the situation where you can't get an appointment through Medicare so you head to a private clinic, pay out of pocket, and then try to argue about getting your money back later. It's more that for things like MRIs or other imaging, they actually have contracts signed with tons of private clinics for hundreds or even thousands of scans, so you just go in with your referral and get it done like it's totally normal.

Well, I couldn't even get into a public hospital—I definitely wasn't about to wait until June 2018! But yeah, I did think you'd pay upfront and then get a refund. Either way, I suppose it isn't a bad idea to drive to a different city if you can't find anything local through the private options, since those slots tend to fill up so fast.

gentlemoose57 said:Over at the Cleveland Clinic in Washington, D.C., they told me mid-2018. So, I eventually just booked an appointment at the Mayo Clinic in NYC for early February—aiming for a March slot—and actually managed to get it done.

It’s not quite two weeks like you mentioned, but I guess it isn't a super long wait either.

I even gave a call to San Francisco and those Ocean Springs places, and everyone there seemed to say it would take about a month to maybe six weeks or so.

I ended up picking Seattle because private clinics feel a bit pricey to me—I mean, I could probably swing it, but then what's the point of paying for supplemental insurance? Plus, you can never really be certain if Medicare is going to refund part of it, the whole thing, or absolutely nothing at all... anyway, I really hope everything turns out fine with the test results 😉

Quick little update for you guys: I finally got my results back today (even though I actually went in for the tests last Friday!)