AlDente99

Check this story out....a few years back I started bleeding in the GI tract...like a bleeding ulcer that got really bad. Felt a little like I was coming down with a flu and had to run to the bathroom to vomit suddenlt. What came out was about a pint of blood (or more). It was like the Exorcist but red instead of green. Called 911 and got a ride to a big hospital in the area (not naming names). 3 weeks later I wake up from an induced coma. They had to cauterize the bleed. I was on an IV drip for liquid food and wasn't allowed to even chew on ice chips for another week. The entire thing was just out of a nightmare. Some of the blood wound up in my lungs, so i had a trach tube in my neck. The entire thing was just beyond comprehension. So eventually they released me and I went home to recover, now 40 pounds lighter from the IV food. Soon enough I was ok and went back to work as normal. Then the bills started arriving. Luckily I had insurance from my job, but it didn't cover the entire tab. List price...$575,000 for the hospital, and another $15,000 for specialist fees for people I had never even seen, being in a coma and all. My health insurance settled with the hospital for a grand total of $9000. That's some discount from 575k!!! But I was still on the hook for about $4000 left over from the deductible. So I call the billing department to ask about a payment plan of some sort. They immediately said if I gave them a credit card on the spot, they would let me slide for $2200, so ok, that's what I did. Then my sister in law, who is a big honcho in Accounting there, said "why did you pay anything?? Nobody pays our bills, we just send out fake invoices in the hopes that somebody falls for it". Yep, I felt really good after learning that factoid. Nice!

I used one from Advance auto parts. worked pretty well for the price. All the brands are pretty much the same r134 stuff. The only difference is that the $40 can has the screw on hose, whereas the $8 can doesn't. Not sure how those actually connect to the feeder valve.