Hard lump on top of finger, no health insurance

You might not be able to get it removed at a free clinic, but I'm sure the doctors there would at least be able to give you some advice. It's probably a better idea than diagnosing yourself.

I never thought the US healthcare system was this bad, I only thought you'd start having to pay extortionate rates for major surgery.

I'm so sorry everyone.......

Are you sure you hit it hard enough with the book? Can't believe that didn't work. I'd maybe try slamming it in a door, just to make absolutely certain it isn't something that can be cured with blunt trauma.

@Jimbo said:

Are you sure you hit it hard enough with the book? Can't believe that didn't work. I'd maybe try slamming it in a door, just to make absolutely certain it isn't something that can be cured with blunt trauma.

LMAO! Try this OP. It might work.

@Sooty said:

I never thought the US healthcare system was this bad, I only thought you'd start having to pay extortionate rates for major surgery.

I'm in the US and everyone I know has health insurance. Especially after Obama care.

@Orbitz89 said:

@Jimbo said:

Are you sure you hit it hard enough with the book? Can't believe that didn't work. I'd maybe try slamming it in a door, just to make absolutely certain it isn't something that can be cured with blunt trauma.

LMAO! Try this OP. It might work.

I know you guys are joking, but because he thought it might be a ganglion cyst the idea of whacking it with a book adds up. They used to be called 'bible bumps' because people would just whack them with large books to make them go away. To quote Wikipedia: 'Striking the ganglion cyst with a large tome is usually sufficient to rupture the cyst, and re-accumulation is uncommon.'

However I've also read that it's a bad idea because it can cause infection. My own experience was: leave it alone = goes away.

I know how Canadians are always bragging about free health care and how tired all of that is, but as a Canadian, it's not until I read about something like this that I realize how much I have taken for granted. For me, I never have to worry about just going in and checking something out cause it's odd, or be afraid of having to go in for anything health related because of money. That just completely blows my mind.

Sorry to hear you current situation Duder. Regardless of cost, you should go in to check it out.

Are you sure you just didn't get bit by a spider or some other bug? Doesn't look serious to me. Also, I am pretty sure a tumor doesn't grow that fast unless this is something that has slowly been getting bigger. Maybe you said it has been, but I didn't see it.

Stick a match in your ear.

@Sploder said:

Cut your finger off

I'm no doctor but this seems to be your best option.

Stick a match in your ear.

Emergency room has to take you and will not come after you for payment (but they will send you "reminder' letters until you pay it.) Also some will tell you before they start analyzing you that it probably isn't that big a deal and you should go home. (Or at least I've had that happen before.)

Just make sure you go to a good hospital and not a shitty one in a ghetto district and you should be fine. (If you are headed toward downtown you are probably not going to a good hospital)

For those wondering, an ER visit if you can pay it is about $300-400

@WalkerD said:

@Trainer_Red: Want it to get hotter? I was so surprised by the lack of blood spraying out that I went deep enough to touch the bone.

VIDEO GAMES!

Bandsaws, for all your finger problems.

I was about to say that it sounds like a wart.  Just get a wart remover and see where that takes you.

@Neonie said:

For those wondering, an ER visit if you can pay it is about $300-400

It all depends on what they do. My wife was having back spasms and couldn't stand up; took her to the ER and they just gave her an IV with some liquid Moltrin/Ibuprofen. Got a bill in the mail for just under $1,000 AFTER insurance paid. The total bill was about $2,400 for just some pain meds and a couple of hours. I would honestly think twice before going to the ER. It would probably be cheaper to make an actual appointment with a doctor.

@TyCobb said:

@Neonie said:

For those wondering, an ER visit if you can pay it is about $300-400

It all depends on what they do. My wife was having back spasms and couldn't stand up; took her to the ER and they just gave her an IV with some liquid Moltrin/Ibuprofen. Got a bill in the mail for just under $1,000 AFTER insurance paid. The total bill was about $2,400 for just some pain meds and a couple of hours. I would honestly think twice before going to the ER. It would probably be cheaper to make an actual appointment with a doctor.

Indeed it is better to schedule if you have the resources, but ER literally -has- to take you even if you can't pay. Also yeah, if ER has to go into deep stuff it gets more expensive, my estimate was base, like the minimum you will get away with for a visit.

@thebatmobile said:

Seriously. What the fuck is wrong with the states? It baffles me that you still seem to have these issues with health insurances etc.

Yeah, I wish my taxes were higher so I could pay for everyone else's well-being. I really hate private industry and a free market. Yeah, fuck the states. I want our already-bankrupt government to pay for healthcare AND welfare at the same time. PLEASE, TAKE MY MONEY.

In the states, there are TONS of employers that offer benefits and government employees get a federal plan that is on par with the most expensive plans out there for free*.

*I guess you could follow the bread crumbs back to tax.

It could just be a wart :/

@the_OFFICIAL_jAPanese_teaBAG said:

I was about to say that it sounds like a wart. Just get a wart remover and see where that takes you.

It's not a wart. The skin is completely intact and it looks like it grows directly under the skin, as if the skin is pushed up.

But I agree the location on the finger isn't typical for ganglion, but statisically speaking the ring fingers gets a lot of ganglion.

It could be an infection, but that would mean it should be swollen, red and painful.

Calcinosis is kinda rare.

@WalkerD

Dude I totally solved it. It's not ganglion. Since you're a diabetic (I'm stupid for not thinking about this earlier), it's simply a tenosynovitis. It happens a lot with diabetics. It's a swollen tendon of your extensor tendons of your finger. I'm willing to bet a few steam games/gifts on it. The weird thing maybe is that you do not seem to experience pain? You're definetely lucky it is high up so it isn't a so-called trigger-finger.

Treatment consist of injecting the area with corticosteroids (anti-inflammatory medication). If the problem persist, you could consider surgery.

@thebatmobile said:

Seriously. What the fuck is wrong with the states? It baffles me that you still seem to have these issues with health insurances etc.

Your country would have the same problems if it had to invest so much in its military. zing!

@AlexW00d said:

@Jace pretty sure you pay more tax than us anyway. Sucks for you buddy.

That's factually incorrect of the population as a whole in terms of percentage. However, because of progressive tax you're most likely correct in monetary amount.

@Icemael: with no insurance itll cost probably around $125

Just to keep this on topic and not devolve this into discussion about US health care (which naturally implicates economy, society, culture, government, nationalism, etc.), I'm going to say this. The US healthcare system is part and parcel of a larger character of American society which is that it's incredibly stratified, varied, regional, and principled in all manner of ideas, perspectives, life situations, wealth, you name it. The "flaw" in the system is that one's mileage can vary considerable between quality of customer experience, itself split along two lines of having and not having insurance.

We must also keep in mind that we are still living in a post-Nixon and post-Reagan America which both saw the decline of liberal/Democrat universalism of the FDR through LBJ era and the growth of American military and financial institutions thanks to reactions to the inflation crisis and rabid path to getting economy back on track through high-end spending. Couple that with a few more factors, like drug trafficking, and political bi-polarization, and you have a lot of American structural society. Anyway, just wanted to say that be forewarned that if anyone wants to argue about healthcare, you'll at the very least be subject to what you would likely consider a boring lecture on American history and culture.

As far as advice goes, yeah it seems like people have been giving good ideas so far, nothing for me to contribute but I just want to head off the politics before they get too heated, as it always seems to get on the internet.

@ajamafalous said:

@musclerider said:

Stick a match in your ear.

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaha

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

Tell the doctor to go to hell.

Sticking a match in your ear is well on it's way to being something on the level of that's million bucks. It just doesn't have the same ring to it.

Sounds like a wart.

Sounds kinda like a calcium deposit. Friend had one. Went to the doctors and they lanced it or drained it. (Can't remember) He said it was painless and never got a bill to my knowledge. Then again we're Canadian so... yeah...