Passed my driver's re-examination

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Forgive me, I just gotta rant about this. TL;DR

I have mentioned before how Quebec has instituted medicare’s worst nightmare. If you have a family doctor, fine. But if they retire (or move, or die), the province assigns you a doctor–eventually. In my case it took 19 months to even get one and she is a 3/4 hour drive away. And I had an argument with her. I was right and she was wrong (see below). The other thing the province does is check our drivers at age 75, 80 and, in principal, every two years thereafter. Because of covid, they let me get to 85 for the third check. I got forms to be filled out by my optometrist and doctor. The optometrist’s form was no problem, but I suspect that she decided I was losing my marbles. Whatever she put on the form, the result was that I was called to take a driving test. Which I did two days ago and passed easily.

In fact, I think I passed after I exchanged ten words with the examiner. In the MV office, there was a shelf full of roof-top signs that said (in French) “Driver exam in progresss”. Every examiner picked one up on the way out. As we passed the shelf, he started to reach for one of the signs, then shrugged and decided not to bother. So I think in his mind I had already passed.

The test itself was uneventful. Turn left, turn right. I did come to full stop at every stop sign, but other than that drove the way I would’ve without the examiner in the car. There was a nasty bit where my lane was totally blocked by a delivery van and I had to edge into the opposite lane that was full of cars waiting for a light, but I dealt with that with care, exactly as if he hadn’t been there. All in all, it was an utter waste of three hours.

[rant] How do I know the doctor was wrong? Back 15 years when I was a kid of 70, I had a PSA test with a reading of 9, which is high. I had a biopsy and it was clean. After that I had a serious conversation with my then doctor and we agreed that there would be no more PSA tests. He automatically stopped at 75, but agreed that it could be stopped then. When my DIL, who is a family physician (in Boston, unfortunately) hears that my new doctor had ordered a PSA test for me, she was livid. “You don’t give PSA tests to 85 year olds.” But I basically knew that from just general medical knowledge. So when she told me that my PSA was high (turned out to around 10, although she didn’t tell me that), I argued that at my age there was nothing to be done. That was what we argued about. And not only am I convinced she was wrong, my DIL is not the only evidence. Finally I agreed to see a urologist. He laughed and told me that at my age, he wouldn’t even consider treatment unless the PSA was at least 20 and then changed that to 30. He did goose me and said that the prostate was enlarged, but didn’t recommend any treatment.

The worst part is that if I leave her, I would likely have to wait another couple years and get someone an hour away. I would move to the US, but I only 34 quarters of SS coverage. While I could, at some cost, buy into medicare, but then I would have to navigate the whole US medical system. Yes, my DIL and children would help, but could I face it?

[/rant]

2

Congratulations, first, on passing everything.

Your situation with your primary care doctor appears to be a failing of the Canadian health care system. Is it that there are not enough doctors? Or is this some special situation only in Quebec? It is concerning, as so many liberals in the US tout the Canadian single-payer system as a model for us to shoot for.

For what it’s worth, I too think you were correct about the significance (very low) of your PSA score.

3

It is the result of not enough doctors. The province restricts the number of med school admissions and makes it very difficult for non-Canadian trained doctors to qualify. They also pay new doctors 30% less if they choose to practice in Montreal. This was instituted several decades ago to encourage doctors to move to the sticks, but that problem has been solved; now it is the city that is short of doctors. About ten years ago, nurses were given bonuses for early retirement. Now there is a severe shortage of nurses and some are being given bonuses to unretire.

4

In my biz, a PSA in a public service announcement. What is it in yours?

5
6

Ah, thank you. That’s something I may have to “gently urge” my husband to look into soon.

7

Nothing like this in Saskatchewan but by all means tell how superior the US system is.

8

I had to re-take my driver’s exam about 20 years ago at age 35 (long story, ignored a speeding ticket from RI 10 years prior). I COULD NOT stop spinning the wheel with my palm instead of hand-over-hand. After correcting me at least 4 times the examiner said peevishly “It’s clear you know how to drive, and also clear you’re too old to learn.” Got my license.

9

Rather like the U.S., each province has it’s own rules and regs that conform to national requirements but differ from each other. My friends in B.C. seem to do fine with their docs in the metro Vancouver area. My friend in the Kitchener, Ont. area has had some major problems when she needed a tumor removed, but some of that was due to Covid. Here in Minnesota, USA, we have similar issues. It’s hard to find a good primary care provider.

10

Just for the record, PSA is prostate specific antigen and a high level can be a sign of cancer. In my case, it wasn’t 15 years ago and, even if it is today, it is slow growing and unlikely to cause problems for my few remaining years. This is basically what the argument was about. And the urologist agreed with me.

11

At this point I’ve been driving so long that it’s muscle memory. If I tried to drive hand-over-hand, I’d be so in my head it would greatly diminish my ability to drive.

Do you want me to pay attention to my hands, or the road?

12

Previous posts have answered my question (yes, it is fairly peculiar to Quebec within Canada).

I think there is a difference between expressing concern about this kind of issue with the Canadian single-payer system, and extoling the current system in my own country. I did the former, I did not do the latter. Please don’t try to put words in my mouth.

13

It’s a common American pastime to gripe about our health system and our driver’s license registration system. It’s so common that they show up frequently in stand-up comedy routines because everyone can relate to them.

An informed and honest American is unlikely to extoll the virtues of either.

14

Neither method is correct. Both of them relinquish a certain measure of control over the vehicle.

For large or sharp turns, the correct method is to slide your hands, one at a time, around the wheel as you turn it. That way both hands remain on the wheel at all times, and thus you have more control in the event of hitting a pothole, etc.

For smaller turns, you don’t need to move your hands at all; just move the wheel. But if your arms cross over each other to the point where you physically cannot turn the wheel any further without moving your hands, then the above method comes into play.

15

Well, you can tell I’m getting old. That was the standard in 1982 when I took Driver’s Ed. Now I do your technique or palm the wheel. I have a wheel spinner in my tractor, but they’re illegal for cars…