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Narjas Zatat
Jun 06, 2019

Picture:
iStock and Twitter
Two women on Twitter have demonstrated the vastly different healthcare experiences in America and Iceland.
Sci-Fi author Mary Robinette Kowal and Kelly Gregory both found lumps on their bodies but their outcome is vastly different- due in large part to the quality of healthcare available in their respective countries.
Kowal Gregory shared her story in a Twitter thread highlighting an instance when she was living in Iceland and had found a lump on her body.
“I had no idea how to navigate finding a doctor, so I went to our show’s production manager,” she began.
Kowal’s story ended on a positive note:
When I lived in Iceland, I found a lump. I had no idea how to navigate finding a doctor, so I went to our show's pr… https://t.co/M4TgfVn5Sh— Mary Robinette Kowal@🏡 (@Mary Robinette Kowal@🏡) 1559603342
Having accepted that I don't need a referral, I say, "How do I make an appointment?" CC: An appointment? Yes, we ca… https://t.co/uQGmhHWI5u— Mary Robinette Kowal@🏡 (@Mary Robinette Kowal@🏡) 1559603343
So I go. The nurse checking me in apologizes because, since I'm not Icelandic, I'll have to pay for the visit. It'… https://t.co/dydNIbXl2s— Mary Robinette Kowal@🏡 (@Mary Robinette Kowal@🏡) 1559603343
She escorts me into an examining room and palpates the area. CC: Yes, that does feel like a lump. Let's do a mamm… https://t.co/ckYVcqV2yP— Mary Robinette Kowal@🏡 (@Mary Robinette Kowal@🏡) 1559603344
I've been in the building for about twenty minutes at this point when I'm strapped into the mammogram -- WHICH HAD… https://t.co/IgWAVCx5Zv— Mary Robinette Kowal@🏡 (@Mary Robinette Kowal@🏡) 1559603344
She does the ultrasound and when we're finished, she tells me to get dressed and to meet her in the waiting room.… https://t.co/1yeZ2H2t5l— Mary Robinette Kowal@🏡 (@Mary Robinette Kowal@🏡) 1559603345
Forty-five minutes after walking into the Icelandic Cancer Center and 3 krónur poorer, I had the answer. In the US… https://t.co/qiIrO0wH09— Mary Robinette Kowal@🏡 (@Mary Robinette Kowal@🏡) 1559603345
PPPS I said 3 kronur, but it was actually 300 kronur. I got so used to throwing an imaginary decimal place in there… https://t.co/snNc7aVZay— Mary Robinette Kowal@🏡 (@Mary Robinette Kowal@🏡) 1559618216
Gregory's story was very different
@MaryRobinette Another story: When I found a lump in my breast in 2009 and living in Nashville TN, I didn’t have in… https://t.co/yRd9JPFj8D— Kelly Gregory 🌈 (@Kelly Gregory 🌈) 1559606197
@MaryRobinette By this time, lump was the size of a deck of cards. Because of the quick work of that first line car… https://t.co/dzDkeQc4OC— Kelly Gregory 🌈 (@Kelly Gregory 🌈) 1559606437
@MaryRobinette @PPFA I’m about to hit my 9th anniversary as a MBC patient. But it will eventually kill me and I wil… https://t.co/s8k32IBPA0— Kelly Gregory 🌈 (@Kelly Gregory 🌈) 1559606670
Kowal responded to Gregory's story, like many others on Twitter, with fury
@MaryRobinette My friend was just diagnosed with breast cancer. It took her a year to get a doctor to listen to her… https://t.co/058FvvgWcf— January George (@January George) 1559606419
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