In February of 2000, I took a bad fall in the bathroom and broke my left leg. Femur. It required an operation (I now have a titanium rod in my left thigh). The operation cost $14,000. I was in the hospital for three weeks. That, I understand, cost an additional $24,000. Fortunately, I had health insurance (my wife works at the Seattle Public Library and they have pretty good benefits).

I had polio when I was two years old, and it left me with a scoliosis (spinal curvature) which wasn't much of a problem until a few years ago. Last June, my lower back hurt so bad that I had to go to the emergency room (ruptured disk, perhaps?). CT and MRI scans, all kinds of tests. They still don't know and I'm due for further tests. In the meantime, they've got me on pain-killers (which I take only when absolutely necessary, because I don't want to get strung out). Once again, I'm covered by my wife's health insurance. $22,000+ so far.

Well, now! I am careful about what I eat and always have been. For my age, my heart, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc., are in very good shape, and apart from skeleto-muscular problems, my general health is excellent.

However, I certainly wish I had known that if I had been even more careful about my diet and paid more attention to my PH balance, none of these things that necessitated hospital visits would have happened.

Don Firth