Can $38 save your life?

Until recently, I would have been inclined to have been a bit sceptical and challenging of this sort of question.  What sort of conditions, etc need to be considered, etc before I’d give a definitive answer.

Logic says of course that one can’t really place a value on life – despite many different attempts at doing so by many dubious and unbiased people & organisations.

So, back to the point and changing the question a bit.  What value do you place on your own life and follow-up question: how much would you spend to save it?

Like most people, I place a huge value on my life and as a result of recent changes in my personal situation, actually feel I’m starting a whole new phase of my life.  So, from my point of view, my life is priceless – not for sale and I’ll do anything and everything in my power to preserve it.

This is somewhat of a nice lead in into what this blog is going to be all about.

I got what I thought was a bit of cold/flu a couple of weeks back and didn’t pay too much attention.  Normal attitude of it will pass, etc.  Decided to go home and sleep it off for a couple of days.  On the drive home, I actually closed my eyes for a second or two approaching a major intersection.  That scared the living daylights out of me and I virtually jolted myself awake and consider myself fortunate to complete my journey home unscathed – and of equal importance, without hurting anyone else.

This made me decide that maybe something else was afoot, so made an appointment to see my local doctor.  As is normal, I had to wait a day for the appointment.

I got called in, told her what was wrong and was all ready to blame it on my haemochromatosis that I didn’t feel was receiving due attention from her.  She conducted the normal “say aaahh” test with a tongue depressor down my throat and this is the point my life changed forever.

Seems I have a 2.5cm “blemish” on my soft palate.  A quick feel of the lymph nodes in my neck, and I’m getting a referral to the hospital ENT clinic.

I suppose I should have started to get a little concerned when, despite all the grief levelled at the public health system, I received an appointment for the following Wednesday.  Hey, I’m happy if this all gets resolved quickly and I don’t have to second guess what is going on with my body.

So, back to the unanswered question.  Of course I’d spend a paltry $38 to save my life, and I’d do it without even thinking about it.  In my case, the $38 for the consultation with my GP could well end up being one of the best investments I’ve ever made.