People Describe The Brokest They've Ever Been
Reddit user Krisrunnintina asked: 'What’s the brokest you’ve ever been?'
For many people, the difference between being housed and unhoused is a single paycheck.
For some it's a matter of money management, but for most it's the lack of a living wage for many jobs. Add a poor social safety net and poverty is always a footstep away.
Let's face it—many people have lived with a zero balance in their bank account and bills to pay and empty cupboards.
Reddit user Krisrunnintina asked:
"What’s the brokest you’ve ever been?"
Dumpster Dining
"Found four unopened packages of pasta while dumpster diving."
"Nearly cried."
~ WhimsicalError
"I found like 10 pounds of NAVY BEANS."
"The next week my EBT was approved."
~ LiveLaughTosterBath
Thou Shall Not Steal
"The lowest I’ve been is sneaking around looking for unlocked cars so I could take any change they had."
"I never stole any personal items or whatever. Just change and food if there was some."
"I had too much embarrassment to ask people for money."
"Now, over 15 years later, I still feel like sh*t for doing that. Stealing is stealing."
~ xithbaby
Portion Control
"My most vivid memory from college was eating half a hot dog and saving the other half for the next day."
"That probably cemented my decision not to ever have kids."
~ Sobriquet-acushla
Predatory Lenders
"I got caught up in the housing crisis back in 2006."
"It looked like I had enough to afford a cute little house nothing extravagant. I was surprised when they gave me the loan and as I didn't have much in the way of credit and I was in my early 20s."
"When I went to sign and saw the monthly note, my heart sank. I should have refused to sign and cut my losses but I was dumb and went ahead with it. I figured I could just budget like hell and make it work."
"It lasted about a year. Ant any given point I was either behind on my note or my electricity or gas was cut off. Sometimes all three. Got caught up in an endless cycle of payday loans."
"Came home to an empty house that was with dark or cold every day after 12 hour manual labor shifts, usually taking cold showers with the light from an old hurricane lantern."
"Don't even get me started on food. It usually consisted of rice and beans cooked over an old camp stove I rigged to a propane tank on my back porch."
"Eventually they foreclosed and I had to start everything from scratch. But I learned a lot during that period."
"Took me almost 15 years to get stable enough where I could finally buy a house again."
~ OkaySureBye
Making Do
"I worked as a bank teller for two years, and was able to collect many American silver coins, such as quarters dimes and nickels made during certain years. Had probably $75 worth of silver coins, worth much more to collectors."
"For those wondering, the bank didn't care if I took those coins as long as I replaced them for the same face value - it's all legal tender to them."
"But one day my gas tank was empty. I needed gas, had $0 in my account and no other money. I went to a pawn shop and barely got over face value for all my silver coins. Got 3/4 a tank of gas."
"It wasn't about the money though, it was about those 2 years searching and collecting and getting excited when I'd come across one... all to trade it away for something my car burned off in less than a week."
~ Redditor
It All Falls Apart
"My dad had a coin collection he started in the late 80s. He had probably saved 20lbs of every coin when I finally found his collection."
"His sketchy girlfriend sold it off along with my book collection (lots of first editions like Harry Potter), my n64 and games, along with all my Disney movies, entire first and second round Pokémon’s (most with regular and shiny), and beach cruiser bike."
"She sold the lot of movies for like $3, my Pokémon card collection for about $20, and all my books were basically <$1. I don’t know what she gave the n64 and bike away for."
"I think in total she managed to get about $300 or so for the entirety of my lifes collections up to that point."
"She did it while my dad was at work one day. They did indeed break up, but I’ve never been more broke in my life."
"My dad passed away shortly after, along with the rest of my family and a bunch of lawyers stole my inheritance. All in all I’d frequently have $4 in my account on a Tuesday that needed to last until Friday."
"I had roommates, slept on couches, rented cheap motels until I finally grasped some stability. Still hurts every time I think about what could have been. Completely altered my life."
"I’m in a wonderfully successful and happy place, but I absolutely 100% would look back to see what would have been had none of that happened."
~ otterpop21
Food Shortage
"Really didn't have enough money to eat regularly."
"My mother kept giving me articles about anorexia, couldn't get it into her head I was broke."
~ Sea_Firefighter_4598
Get Out
"An eviction. Watching all my stuff being carried to the curb at 20 years old."
"It definitely changed my perspective and priorities."
~ damnedspot
Hidden Treasures
"'Happy to find some forgotten rice and spinach in a cupboard so I had something to eat until my next paycheck' poor."
~ Hakar_Kerarmor
Counting It Out
"Giving change to a gas station attendant definitely doesn’t feel good."
~ anonomousername
"I did that once but buying packets of ramen. The man behind me in line had the audacity to try to lecture me about how unhealthy they were."
"If you are buying ramen with change, you are not caring about how healthy it is."
"Thankfully I’m in a better place but it certainly didn’t feel good."
~ Draginia
Collateral Damage
"Probably when I was a kid and my parents divorced. My father left us in debt and didn't contribute financially to helping my mother raise me."
"I've never been particularly well off but nowadays I have a job and can afford to do things."
"My mum did as best she could so I didn't go hungry."
"I remember when I got my first paycheck, I went and bought some £2 Ravioli and felt fancy as heck."
~ PKblaze
Starting Over
"I was a single mom of two after just leaving my children’s dad. He cleaned my bank account out from spite and stopped paying for the car that he was driving that was in my name."
"Worked some stuff out with the bank and they took the car without impacting my credit, but I still had to pay an $8500 loan off."
"My 2 year old son and I shared a futon for a year and we had no refrigerator, but we made things work."
"I broke down and cried that first Christmas alone because I barely had anything to give my kids."
"It took a few years, but I was able to rebuild financially and just bought my first home two years ago. My kids are thriving and they are my entire world. They drive me to be a better me every day."
"I learned a lot about how sh*tty people can be from that situation and time."
~ NoodleSpooner
United States Healthcare
"Rolling Pennies for insulin in college before Obama care. My single mom was poor and couldn’t help."
"Back then if you were not insured when you were diagnosed in childhood, insurance didn’t cover insulin because it was a pre-existing condition."
"One month I was so so broke from getting laid off that I applied for emergency Medicaid for my insulin but made 4 dollars over the poverty limit."
"I asked what I was supposed to do for insulin, and they told me to go to the emergency room, which would have put me further in debt."
"I called the local ADA in tears to ask if there was any way someone could get me some expired insulin. The lady gave me a number and told me I could only call it once."
"It turned out to be a man who owned a small private pharmacy that had been a family business. He gave me 4 months of insulin and others supplies that was enough to not only get me through but get me ahead in my rent and groceries."
"Back then over half my money went to insulin and test strips."
"Sir, if you are out there THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. Your kindness restored my hope. I couldn’t pay you back but I do pay it forward."
~ Nova_Tango
While these stories are heartbreaking, the people came out the other side.
As the saying goes, when you're going through Hell, the best thing to do is keep going.
Technology advances so fast that odds are the device you're reading this on was most likely obsolete before you even took it out of its packaging. That's okay though, because the world needs new tech to keep up with the new demands.
Most of the time.
Turns out, there's a lot of old, outdated, outclassed tech still floating around out there, and some people are forced to use them every day.
Pity them.
Reddit user, nathan_thinks, wanted to know what tech should be relegated to the bin when they asked:
"What is a severely out-of-date technology you're still forced to use regularly?"
Sometimes, even though the technology might be old or outdated, it works just as well as anything we use today. No need to change what still works at the level it's required.
If It Ain't Broke...
"Kinda boring but I guess the oldest thing I regularly use is my alarm clock, same one has been next to my bed for over 30 years. Just a basic 80s clock radio."
BrandonTaylor89
Heavy Audio Requires A Heavy Mixer
"My quarter million pound audio mixer was built in 1998. It runs on Windows NT and a Pentium III with a 256Mb memory stick. We added an SSD a while back and changed all the fans. Our satellite uplink dish runs on two very old Mac's."
John5247
"I have a Wheatstone broadcast mixer in my home studio. I have to run a virtual machine with windows ‘98 to work the software for it. Luckily the software is really just needed to re-configure, and set things up initially. I’m not doing music, so inputs rarely change. It works well though. Each channel strip has a little screen on it that tells what the input is. It’s one of the first consoles that did that, and I just put in a new SAS console in a cluster build and the little screens on it look the exact same as my Wheatstone. Rarely digital stuff ages well, but this has done great."
TravisGoraczkowski
Ever Seen A Movie About Reporters In A Library?
"Wouldn't say forced because I love it but microfilm. Work at a library. Super cool to still have this stuff. Lots of history would be lost without this."
turducken19
"I work in government records. Microfilm is the sh*t. The only thing that really worries me about it is what we’ll do if one of the microfiche readers breaks beyond repair….."
Karnakite
"My state's archivist said that the reason for microfilm as an acceptable archiving material is because all you need is a light and a magnifier. It would suck to lose the machine that makes it easy, but we could still read it."
Available-Love7940
Won't Break As Easily
"I'm way off base from the other comments, but the only thing I can think of is the 'thumb breaking' can opener. The battery ones just don't cut it (hee hee), so I resort to old faithful. It works, but it's a bit hard on the hands. :):)"
MamaKitty28
Sometimes it takes old technology to get the job done.
That would be the only sane reason why you're still tearing small strips of paper off of the sides of your sheet after it's done printing.
Electronic Mail Must Seem Like Witchcraft To These People
"Fax machine"
f-ckitweredoingitliv
"Fun fact: The fax machine predates the telephone."
mprecup
"Swear to God, some of the older people at my work still ask me how to use the fax machine....are you kidding me."
throwingplaydoh
"Fax machines. Dear lord why do we need fax in 2022. Most businesses don’t even have a copper landline. And why pay for an online fax service?"
RoadOk3108
When You Have To Schedule Time In Your Day To Print
"At work we still use a dot matrix printer with the strips you have to tear off. We've been told that when it breaks next time that's it. So we are all waiting on it to die."
Edrock627
"Does it go “SKKEEEEEEEER SKEEEEEEEEER SKEEEEEEEEEER” every time it prints? I gotta admit, I have a lot of nostalgia associated with that sound."
Karnakite
Code: Blue, No Matter Where You Are
"We still have a pager for our on call. It's ridiculous!"
Wiccataz
"I’ve heard the reason that hospitals still use pagers is that they are much more likely to have a signal than a phone in certain parts of the hospital."
ichliebekohlmeisen
And then there's these, tech maybe better suited to be a paperweight than what they were intended for.
So Much More Sanitary
"TP instead of a bidet. I've never used one but the sounds cool and cleaner than TP"
FluffyPancakes90
The Peak Of "Why?"
"How they still charging $100 for the TI-83???"
UndressMyBoner
"I started working for TI at the end of last year and during the info session the first thing they said was “no you don’t get a free calculator”."
"We are actually having a fundraising auction right now to support United Way and tons of employees are auctioning off their rare TI calculators within the company. It’s wild."
kpidhayny
Pray For Those In The Classroom
"My school computers. They have 4GB RAM and Intel Pentium processors from 2012, plus Windows 10 bloated with school security stuff. It takes half an hour to have it running, then the other half waiting to do stuff because it freezes"
Lollooo_
While You're At It, Pray For Those In The Medical Field
"Windows XP on a 20 year old computer. Scientific instrument that we can't upgrade."
Mica_Dragon
"We still use windows xp for our X-ray fluorescence spectrometer 😩. I know the pain"
liberalvenery
Seriously, Does Anyone Use Internet Explorer If They Don't Have To?
"Internet Explorer, I do programming as a mechanic whenever we install a computer on a car and many of the programming softwares need to run on IE to work correctly."
Sergio-14
Laws Keeping Old Machines Running
"In these parts, property titles MUST BE type-written using a REAL TYPE-WRITER. Which means a document that could be shot out of the laser-printer in 6 seconds needs to wait for 43 days while the type-writer person gets through their pile of other documents from 8 other counties."
"There exists some silly statute from colonial times (50 yrs ago) to this effect."
tastes-like-earwax
We're Totally Paperless....Kind Of...
"Paper bank statements as part of proof of address/identity. It’s dumb especially in today's climate."
"I use online banking, my bank has no buildings and doesn’t use paper. It’s all done via an app. My statements are all online and are not acceptable forms of identity/address for some stupid reason, even though my name and address are there along the official bank stamp."
"I was forced to open an account with £1 at a brick and mortar bank and print off half a tree, get this… to take and upload photos of them and send them via email. And this bank is 8 miles away from me so I had to drive there and use fuel."
"What a wasteful and time consuming process."
MeMuzzta
We can only keep working towards the future. Sometimes that's a little harder when seemingly everyone is set on hanging out in the past.
What old technology are you forced to use every day? Tell us about it in the comments!
Health Professionals Divulge The Creepiest Thing They've Ever Heard From A Dying Patient
The end is coming for all of us. If we are lucky, no matter how it ends, we'll have something to say.
So let's discuss last words.
Have you ever thought about it? If you had last words... what would they be?
Bless our healthcare workers—they have seen it all.
Redditor BOBO24PLAYZ wanted to hear the confessions of the dying, no matter how dark, so they asked:
"Doctors and nurses of Reddit, what was the creepiest/scariest thing you heard from patients before they died?"
If I say anything in the end, I hope it's happy.
But, you never know.
So one day we'll see.
Keep HIM Away!!
"Had 3 patients all pass away within a week, they were all on different parts of the ward and all asked who the little boy in their room was and within an hour of asking passed away." ~ gingercelticfan
Tonight
"I work on a ward for elderly with dementia. We had one patient who was pretty well in the beginning stages of dementia. She had very little medication and could still do a lot by herself. One day i put her to bed like every night and she asked me when i would be back."
"I told her I had an early shift and would see her in the morning. She looked me in the eyes and told me with a smile that she wouldn't be here. I asked her why not, and she told me that she would be dead. I discussed this with a fellow nurse because it was something she had never done before and decided to check all her vitals."
"Everything was well within limits, nothing raised a red flag. But when I came to work the next morning they told me she passed away an hour before my shift started. I still find it creepy how she could have known she would die that night." ~ Pitiful-Metal754
"Who's that man?"
"I'll share a few with totally different vibes."
"Creepiest ~ Patient looking not behind me, essentially looking through me, asks 'Who's that man?' When I assured her it was just the two of us in the room and that she's safe here she responded 'Ah, so you can't see him either'."
"After I had an ughhhh okay moment I got her comfortable in bed now that she received her pain meds, she smiled and said goodbye to me, as I walked away she mumbled 'I suppose it's time,"'she died about two hours later." ~ nicolewasnthere
“It’s time to die now.”
"My dad had a major stroke and was in the hospital for several weeks. He wasn’t in much pain, but he also wasn’t aware of what had happened to him, and was conversational, but a lot didn’t make sense."
"One afternoon his wife and I were sitting with him when he said, out of the blue, 'It’s time to die now.' We looked at each other and she said incredulously 'Can he do that?' He hung on for a few more weeks, but not very lucidly." ~ mel_cache
These Low Effort Jobs Have Surprisingly High Salaries | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Have you ever worked one of those jobs that paid you to kinda sit there? If you have, you know the joy that comes with watching the entirety of Breaking Bad ...Goodbye
"I'm not in the medical profession but the last thing my sister said to me was 'I've had enough now, time to go, I think' ...she died a few hours later." ~ floydie1962
So much sadness.
Let's discuss more...
Baby Boom
"When I was a student, a dying woman told me 'Congratulations on the baby, she will have beautiful blue eyes' I was confused because I was 18 and I wasn’t pregnant or planning (but 3 weeks later I find out I’m pregnant, and my girl have blue eyes)." ~ __Only_me_
They always know...
"Last week I took care of an older lady in septic shock, transferred to ICU so she could get levophed. She was getting a little more disoriented as my shift progressed and kept saying 'I'm so scared, I'm so frightened'."
"When I asked her what she was afraid of, she said she didn't know. I kept reassuring her that we were taking good care of her. She ended up coding and dying that same day on night shift. They always know." ~ callmesula
She's Gone
"My great grandmother went into a shock when she came to know my father passed away (we did not tell her about it but she overheard a conversation a couple of weeks after the cremation)."
"Within a few hours she had completely forgotten our mother tongue and could converse only in English and Bengali (which she had not practised for more than 80 years)."
"The next day morning she told us that her parents, husband, daughter (my grandmother) and grandson (my dad) are waiting outside for her. She closed her eyes and was gone." ~Jolarpet
Papa Gary...
"My grandma was dying of lung cancer she would always talk about dreams of fishes when someone was pregnant, the only people who knew my girlfriend and I we expecting was us and she wasn’t even showing any signs along with wearing baggy clothes to hide."
"My grandma had told me congratulations and that she and our baby are beautiful in the late stages... she ended up passing about 5 or 6 days later.. Fast forward 2 years…"
"My mom and dad have a picture of that same grandma and my grandpa hanging up my grandpa passed some time before her so my kids never got to meet them... my 2 year old pointed at that picture and Knew it was his 'Papa Gary.'" ~ Remixed_Ghost
Let's Go!!
'I didn’t think this would take so long.' He was gone within 2 minutes." ~ thr0wawaydoc
This is It
"My patient just came into my ward and I went to his bedside to do the necessary admission and administrative paperwork and questions. He had end stage kidney failure and has been adamant on not continuing dialysis, but came to the hospital because his family literally begged him to come."
"The creepy part was this: When I went to insert a IV line for him, he calmly and nonchalantly told me that it's OK if I can't get it in, as he was going to die soon. When I asked him why did he say that, he told me in a matter-of-fact voice that his deceased parents and grandparents are standing around his bed just waiting to help him into the afterlife."
"It was 3pm in the afternoon and the chill that went down my spine had nothing to do with the air conditioning, and said chill intensified when his exasperated wife who was seated next to him told me that he has been saying that for the past few days. True enough, he passed on within a day." ~ jayuscommissar
Peace & Brutality
"I've held the hand of an old woman, she was little more than skin and bones. I believe she was actively trying to die while I held her hand and stroked her hair. She asked me why it was so hard to die and if it was this difficult for everyone. I will remember her for a very long time."
"I sincerely hope she found the peace that she sought. Other patient end of life events have been disturbing, but not in the way that I think this question is asking about. The fear in the eyes of someone about to be intubated. That sticks with you."
"Y'all, have some conversations with your loved ones about your end of life care. CPR is brutal. Consider what you would or wouldn't want done to or for you. Talk about it with your family. Find out what their wishes are. It will make it easier if you ever have to make decisions for them." ~ vanael7
Similar Fashion
"A lot of people die in a very similar fashion, in an untouchable discomfort and pain, every time you ask them to rate their pain on a scale of 1-10 they say 10 and they just beg and beg and beg for help, and so eventually you just start bring the morphine dose up and up, the Ativan dose up and up until that, combined with their illness brings them into a state of unconsciousness that they stay in for a few days and eventually die. It's sad, but I can't honestly say it scares me, I'm confident that in the same situation I'll probably be able to take myself out before it gets to that point." ~ BangkokMohel
Hurry!
"Pre-oping a patient for an urgent, non emergent surgery in the middle of the night four or five years ago. His IV was infiltrated so I started to put a new one in before we went back to the OR. He panted ‘please… hurry… up’ then coded and died." ~ usafutbol5454
"Wasn’t creepy necessarily, but painful and actually caused me a lot of nightmares for years. Context- I’ve been a nurse for 9+ years now. I became an LPN at 18 after graduating early and became an RN at 19. This is a ton of responsibility for someone so young looking back."
"Was working on a medical floor, my first job. Had a 50 year old woman come in as a direct admit from her Dr’s office (not through the ER) with chest pain and started coding within minutes of me getting her in front of her spouse. She came back a few times begging me for her life while attempting to resuscitate her, but after hours of trying to bring her back she died in front of me."
"Dreamt about her begging for her life nightly for almost a year, drank a lot of alcohol to cope. Made me very angry that her physician made the choice to not send her to the ER first because they were more equipped then the critical access medical floor I was working on without a physician. Anyways... I hope her family has found peace." ~ bsn2fnp1
Begging
"I don't wanna die, please. Sounds cliche but if someone seriously tells you that with all his fear and panic and you're the only One this person hold on to then it's fucking scary. You have that first rush of 'I have to do something' but you can't do more. It's straight up traumatic when someone dies sudden, kind of awake before in an emergency situation compared to the sleepy sedative deaths over a few days." ~ Old-Banana5410
Goodbye and thanks!
"A giant bald patient that everyone became familiar with shows up on the fifth floor asking if his family showed up yet. The nurse told him he was on the wrong floor, 'maybe they’re visiting you on the third floor where your room is.' She said. His sad voice answered: They’re not down there. Goodbye and thanks!'
"The nurse called the third floor desk and informed them of their wandering patient. 'It couldn’t have been him. He died this morning.' She looked up and he was gone. We never heard the electronic door behind him open and never saw him again." ~ banditk77
In 20 Seconds
"I once had a patient who was super sick, close to the end, and just chilling the bed as the soon to die do. Out of nowhere they were suddenly, vehemently, terrified. Screaming, saying things like 'oh god no' and 'please no' etc. Then died. Whole thing was probably 20 seconds." ~ TheVapingPug
Restless
"I was a CNA both in hospital and long term care centers until I messed up my back. I spent many hours on light duty after I hurt myself holding the hands of people who had no family to come while they died. But my most memorable patient was when I worked in the hospital."
"We had an older gentleman who was a 1:1 and in full restraints as he died because the meds they were giving him actually made him very combative. Shortly before he died he managed to get out of all the restraints, took about 5 of us to get him in new ones, he ripped out his IV and my shirt in the process. I will never forget him because of how restless he was before he died. It broke my heart honestly." ~ SoilAffectionate492
Shattered
"Clock in the room fell down & shattered on the floor. Patient died 20 mins later." ~ Decent-Sea-7321
Time Clock GIF by MOODMANGiphyLesson?
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The United States is going through a bit of growing pains, isn't it?
According to these people, yes. That appears to be the move to make.
Reddit user, FrozenChair, wanted to know your reasons for taking off when they asked:
"People who want to move from America to Europe, why?"
The appeal is right there on the surface.
Want more time with your family? Want to pay less for medical care?
Want to eat better food?
Europe.
More Time With The People You Love
"Still trying to get used to my five weeks of vacation. The three weeks this summer with my family was incredible."
"Still having two weeks to spend with them at Christmas, is beyond belief. All vacation is paid vacation."
"And it is standard everywhere. Oh and the two hour lunch, and 32 hour work week."
"I think this is is literally going to add up to years more with my family. Since I think time with my family is the most important thing, this just makes the quality of life here so much higher."
"I don't know if I will ever get used to it. But I love it! Berlin!" ~ witaji
But, Pineapple!
"Because Italy has some of the best food in the world." ~ BlueMysteryWolf
Short. Sweet. To The Point.
"I can walk to all the amenities I need."
"People say what they mean."
"Sh-t works as intended a lot more." ~ _Steve_French_
While not for everyone, there can be a certain level of attractiveness to it because things are already so bad for some people here.
Taking It Easy
"Quality of life - I hate having to drive everywhere in the US, city parks are usually way worse, and my friends thought I was crazy for not wanting to default to spending money as a way to hang out (restaurants, bars, concerts, nail salons, shopping)."
"I know that exists in Europe but there still seems to be more appreciation for the slow life."
"That plus being able to walk more and use public transport, long vacations, better social safety nets…I just feel happier and healthier with that lifestyle." ~ wingswednesdays
Practicing Your Skills Somewhere Less Corrupt
"Because practicing medicine here feels dirty. I was never in it for the money or prestige. I've already started working on my exams to go to the UK."
"There are pros and cons to the way healthcare is handled in the UK, but I'd rather be able to treat a patient and sleep peacefully knowing that I haven't financially crippled someone for life."
"Medicine as a career is much better in the US than anywhere in the world, but I'd rather make much less money and have a clear conscience." ~ Tzanax
There Does Seem To Be A Lot Stacked Against You
"You won't be bankrupt for being sick, your kids won't end up with serious student loans (in most of Europe) or be funneled into a for-profit private prison system."
"Less chance of a maniac shooting you. You aren't afraid of losing health insurance after a layoff/firing." ~ WorldCitzen99
Will you actually do it?
Depends on how brave you are and how comfortable you are with starting over in another part of the world.
Still, the appeal can be too great to miss, isn't it?
Pick Your Battles With The Support You Deserve
"I moved to Spain from the US 6 years ago (initially through a program to teach English, now I'm married to a Spaniard). As much as I deeply love and miss the US—the nature, the food, friends, the VIBE -- I have no plans to move back."
"Healthcare in America scares the bejeesus out of me, especially as I age. I just had surgery on an injury that cost me nothing—I still feel like I'm getting away with murder."
"And the work-life balance is so insane once you see it from the outside. I stopped being able to understand how my mom was slaving away for a company that really didn't pay much for 2 precious weeks of paid vacation a year (and I would describe my family as privileged)."
"COVID really changed my view, seeing everyone in my city dutifully wear the mask even after it's not required, whereas my state in America devolved into a culture war. 'Devolving' is, unfortunately, the best word I have to describe the US in the last decade(s)."
"But I do want to also stress that fascism is on the rise in parts of Europe too, and issues like racism are still around even though it's a different flavor."
"Part of me feels guilty for giving up on America instead of fighting the good fight there. But here I am." ~ sweetest_oblivion
People Explain Activities They've Added To Their Post-Pandemic Bucket List | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
While we've all been cooped up for the better part of two years, many of us have been dreaming up exciting plans for the future. Maybe it's finally time to s...Can't Overlook Castles
"I moved from the US to Germany almost 5 years ago:
-cheaper Uni
-more respect for employees
-sensible gun laws
-affordable healthcare
-more liberal politics
-cool old castles" ~ Ririkkaru
Hard To Argue Facts
"I moved from the US to Europe (Austria) quite some time ago (nearly 20 years). I don't regret it and can't ever see myself moving back to the US."
"A couple of my friends are still trying to figure out ways to move over where. Just a few things off the top of my head regarding why:"
- 5 weeks of paid vacation
- up to 2 years of paid parental leave (including for dads as well)
- no such thing as a copay at the doctor
- price cap on prescription drugs (like EUR 6)
- low crime rate
- more well developed social safety net (ie. less poverty)
- I once spent 10 days in the hospital and needed emergency surgery. My bill: EUR 0.
- Free daycare
- Excellent and well-funded public schools
- No tuition for college
Obviously, make the choice that seems best for you and the people in your life that would have to uproot and move to another part of the world.
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Doctors Who've Given A 'Second Opinion' Describe The Worst 'First Opinion' They've Ever Heard
Many of us grow up assuming that doctors are almighty, chosen people that know far more about our bodies than we ever could.
The context around the profession hammers home that outlook: they seem to be in school for practically forever, we pay them a lot of money, and they're always surrounded by instruments that look as powerful as they do bewildering.
But as we become adults and interact with doctors of all different kinds, we realize that they are humans like us. And that means they are prone to mistakes.
Unfortunately, a doctor's area of expertise makes the stakes pretty high for those oversights.
Thankfully, there's always another doctor out there to double-check those mistakes. Some Redditors who were on the wrong end of those initial mixups shared their stories.
CreativePhilosopher asked, "Doctors who have given a 'second opinion' diagnosis, what is the worst 'first opinion' you've ever encountered?"
Plenty of the responses to the thread came from doctors, some of whom were specialists. They spend their entire careers focused on one area of medicine.
So you can imagine how commonly they interact with patients who just came from a doctor that wasn't quite so stocked with knowledge.
Letting the Guard Down
"I'm a gynecologist. The number of times I've seen patients pregnant and upset (or happy) because some other doctor told them they can't get pregnant - so they didn't use birth control - is appalling. Usually it's family med."
"Not ragging on all FM docs, just how it goes. I then have to explain that even if the patient has whatever condition that makes it unlikely for them to get pregnant, the odds are almost never 0%. Maybe <1%, but still not zero, so of course it can happen."
-- MDFlash
Tough Days at Work
"I'm a surgeon."
"Most patients come to me after having seen another physician who has diagnosed them with something and told the patient to see a surgeon."
"I've been called to see more than one patient for appendicitis....who has already had an appendectomy."
"I've also been called in multiple cases for patients who very obviously have previously undiscovered, very advanced cancer. It always too far advanced for me to be of help, so I have to wonder....am I being called so I can be the bad guy and explain everything? Yes. The answer is yes."
Two Sides to the Story--The Truth is Somewhere in the Middle
"Doctor. This thread is helpful to see how important communication is. 90% of the stuff we diagnose it's a 'clinical' diagnosis and not confirmed by any lab test. Plenty of conditions too need time to declare."
"I see a lot of patients who come in saying their previous doctor said 'this' or was totally 'wrong about that' or 'now your saying it's this? Why didn't he/she know that.'"
"And when I go back and look at their (the previous doctor) note, they almost always give consideration to the new diagnosis but either something needed to be ruled out, or the patient presented differently that day, etc. They communicated it effectively to another doctor on their note, but not effectively to a patient who could repeat it."
-- JTucf35
Some patients are simply not taken seriously.
Instead, some doctors chalk their discomfort up to a vague diagnosis of mental influences on physical health. Of course, mental health is massively important in its own right.
But not when it's used as a metric for minimizing.
3% is Pretty Stressful I Suppose
"Told by my doctor my health issues were stress related. The second opinion found my gallbladder was functioning at 3% and had that sucker removed a couple weeks later."
"What's worse is I specifically asked the first doctor about gallbladder and they assured me it couldn't be that."
"Get a Haircut?!"
"Not me but my mom. She was always exhausted, the type of exhaustion that she'd have a bath, be so tired from it, she'd sleep on the bath mat when she got out."
"Went to her doctor told her, 'oh, you're just depressed, go get a hair cut!' She did. Still exhausted. Went back to the doctor."
"Continued to tell her she's 'just' depressed, get a hobby, it's all in her head etc. Never sent her for blood work, never referred her to any specialist."
"Months later she goes back. Her doctor is on vacation. Physician reliving her doctor takes one look at her eyes and says, 'it's your liver. Get these blood tests now.'"
"Abnormal blood work and a liver biopsy later, she was told she had autoimmune hepatitis and was 3 months from death."
"After she improved with medications, she went back to the original doctor and said, 'I didn't need a haircut.'"
"27 years later she still suffers from lingering effects."
-- positivegal1
Our Puritan Roots at Play
"Patient. When I was in college I went to the doctor because I was pissing razors. It progressed pretty rapidly and by the end of the week I couldn't walk or sleep."
"The doc asked me about my sex life and I told him the truth that my girlfriend and I had only been with each other and together for many years. He sorta scoffed at that and told me it was likely chlamydia."
"Had a long condescending speech about safe sex with me and sent me home."
"A week later my piss tests were back. Turns out I had the worst bladder infection they'd ever seen. I had to have a camera shoved up my pee hole, multiple rounds of antibiotics, and to this day I struggle to pee due to irreversible damage the infection caused."
-- HomelessSock
Can't Be Undone
"Not a doctor but my sister was suffering from headaches and minor seizures for a while, went to an urgent care and that told us she had an anxiety disorder and just needed something to calm her down. we got a second opinion at the ER and turns out she had stage four brain cancer."
"i miss her everyday."
And for others, the mistake goes the other way. They're left spooked by a devastating diagnosis. They panic, even get their affairs in order in some cases.
But the deflating moment later comes that it was never happening at all.
Salty is an Understatement
"I was diagnosed with MS, sought out a second opinion, and turns out it was an easily solvable vitamin deficiency."
"Pretty damn different... $15K in medical bills later only go have all symptoms subside with some nutritional advice, and supplements. I'm still salty about it."
-- ediblebable
Emotional Whiplash
"I'm a lawyer, but.... had a client given a devastating diagnosis of an extremely rare heart condition. Doctor told him he had six weeks to live. He contacted me to make his will and set his affairs in order."
"Thankfully, he sought a second opinion with an extremely well-known cardiologist (I guess the cardiologist was intrigued due to the rare nature of this heart condition)."
"THERE WAS NOTHING WRONG WITH HIM. HE WAS FINE. This poor guy, and his family, were tortured over this, so devastated and terrified, FOR NOTHING."
"He actually called me to tell me all of this, he seemed to be still in the joyous, 'I'm not going to die' stage, but I imagine anger comes at some point, when you take stock of what you went through."
"I don't know how a doctor fu**s up that massively, or if somehow my client's results were mixed up with someone else's, and some poor bastard's number is almost up and they don't even know it."
-- Domdaisy
"Pregnant. Wait, no, dying."
"When I was 13 I went to this doctors office for a physical for volleyball and the doctor tried to tell me I was pregnant. She left the room and then 5 minutes later comes in and tries to tell me I'm dying."
"The next day I went to my dads doctor and he tells me I just have an irregular heart beat but I'm perfectly fine, and not y'know ... dying."
-- bunbunkun22
By no means does this mean doctors can't be trusted. Of course, they're absolutely the most qualified person to diagnose the things that come along in our lives.
But it's not a bad idea to have your head on a swivel when you hear the news.
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