Humans and Heart Aches

Hello, Human. (I'll assume.)

Right now, you have chest pain. Going on for about 15 minutes. It's beneath your breast bone, right there in the middle. Maybe - if you're asked specifically - you'll describe it as a bit off-center, to the left.

You seem to recall something similar a few months back, that got better pretty quickly. Same sorta feeling, somewhere between sharp and pressure, if you're asked to (forced to) describe.

You've just eaten a big meal, one of your favorites, cooked by a Mema or Abuelita or Auntie or Granny. Probably 30 minutes ago. There were some spices, though perhaps she was a little heavy on the curry or peppers on this particular dish, this time.

That burp may've helped. Maybe not. Hard to say for sure.

The spicy meal was special for your 40th birthday, which you and your wife had celebrated the night before at a restaurant with one or two (maybe three of four) glasses of your favorite libation.

You've also been struggling, for a little while, with some pain in your left shoulder. From carrying around the two-year old, your doctor said. Use your right arm more. For whatever reason, right now, the shoulder pain pain seems a bit more present.

Your father died at 45 from a heart attack, so you've always been real careful. You exercise a lot. Get your annual check-up. Take vitamins and keep your blood pressure under control. Last visit, only a couple months ago, doctor said something positive, and what you seem to recall hearing was along the lines: "You're the healthiest human I've ever cared for."

But right now, you have this little chest pain.

Are you scared?

***

I'm almost 45. Three lil' kids. While I consider myself fairly tech-literate for my age, I'm admittedly pretty naive when it comes to social media, outside of a rare post on Facebook - which I hear isn't even 'cool' anymore ' - and without an Instagram account.

Out of touch, even. I mean, I just saw Childish Gambino's 'This is America' video for the first time this weekend. I think I was viewer #371,504, 481. Finger-not-on-pulse.

One thing I've learned, though, from having an article go 'mini-viral' is: "Who is the audience on this LinkedIn machine?" I've seen comments from all over the globe, received good-wishes and best-tidings and prayers and virtual hugs.

Which made me think, How can I talk about my passion - healthcare costs and equality - to all readers? Doable? The topic is such a touch-point in the United States - 'affordability' and 'access' - that I've seen unfettered bombastic meanness on public display by folks who hold themselves up otherwise as do-good progressive 'disruptors'

But, all that stuff is a non-issue (more or less) to my new friends Syed Mudassir Fatmi from Pakistan and Ally Kim from Australia. Boring to them, I imagine.

What IS an issue to everyone? Well, we all have heart aches at some point - figurative and literal - and that very private space between our ears then determines if we're scared, or too proud, or confident, or overly anxious. Do we seek help? Do you seek help? Is help available?

What makes healthcare unique as a service, and so difficult (nigh impossible) to truly find consensus on appropriate costs and models, is that for the 10, or 100, or 1000 people who may read these words, each can legitimately answer the vignette above differently, with a nuance or subtlety ('I need more information!') that is inherently vital and innately intimate to what-comes-next.

Take an pill? Call an ambulance? Wait it out? Pray?

(Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...)

And, there's supposed to be a who, or a where, that has the answer?

BFineMD