The Great Abdication: Why No One Can Be Bothered Anymore
"Do you want us to test you for HIV?"
I'd come in for severe strep throat, only to find out what I had was a fungal infection that shouldn't have been happening. The staff was dumbfounded. "Do you have diabetes? Do you want us to test you for that?" I declined the tests. There was nothing else they could do.
"We can give you a mouthwash."
So there I was outside the ER at 4 am, after being told there was something deeply wrong with me. And yet it didn't strike them as urgent, not like a gunshot or a knife wound. Nobody had any answers, and nobody really cared. A few weeks later, I would get billed $2,000.
I would pay half of it.
At home, I combed through the internet to confirm that, yes, you're at risk of fungal infections after Covid.
I'd just had it.
"Mild."
It wasn't a doctor but someone on social media who recommended I get a lymphocyte panel. They sent me a link to a commercial lab where I could get a blood workup. I paid out of pocket for several reasons. Most of all, I didn'…