Good news is they won't have to shoot me like a lame horse! Doc confirms that it looks to only be muscle and maybe a bit of torn tendon, but nothing serious like ligaments (which of course would involve surgery), so I will be up to par again soon. I am still a bit concerned about potential long term effects and whether I will need to change my participation in favorite activities, but PT should go a long way toward helping get me feeling normal again.

And as for my third encounter with the much vaunted American health care system? Hmm...four hours at a clinic, sharing a waiting room with grouchy people, yelling kids, and coughing, hacking wheezers... gee, doesn't seem much different than the system I left.

The difference is I pay $4000 a year for the priviledge!

Not to mention the 45 minutes on the phone and then another 45 in person with the clinic and the insurance company telling them my physician should be an internist, not a pediatrician (who they had me registered with as primary care physician!)

I'm sure there are situations where this system works better, but I have yet to experience them myself.