In a recent entry, one entitled “Remember to Itemize,” posted here July 3, I asked Rittenhouse readers for a little help interpreting an itemized bill I recently received from a nearby hospital for treatment related to a bizarre -- and I mean that -- accident I recently experienced here at home. (So bizarre, in fact, that not one member of my immediate family has asked exactly what happened.)

I thought I knew a great deal about medicine, physiology, and pharmacology, at least enough to make my regular physician freak out. (Tip: Throw around terms such as pruritis and hyperhydrosis, and see what happens.)

More recently, however, it was my readers, the “freaks of the blogosphere,” recent affiliates of Rittenhouse, some of them doctors, some of them R.N.s, P.A.s, and N.P.s, and some of them, in their words, not mine, “lowly billing/coding clerks,” who have taught me more about the practice of medicine -- and the odd, but blitethly accepted, billing practices for services -- that occurs in this country today than I think anyone might learn in nine or more years or classroom or “clinical” training.

And so, without acknowledging their specific contributions to my ever-growing knowledge base, let me here extend my thanks and appreciation to the following readers of, and correspondents to, The Rittenhouse Review: S.A., Henrietta, N.Y.; A.C., Creve Coeur, Mo.; E.C., Bronx, N.Y.; R.C., Columbus, Ohio; C.D., Mount Kisco, N.Y.; E., Berwyn, Pa.; F.E., Unknown; S.E., Villanova, Pa.; H.F., Unknown; K.F., Philadelphia; G., Wynnewood, Pa.; R.H., Greenwood, Colo.; K., Unknown; J., Wellesley, Mass.; J.I., Manhasset, N.Y.; P.K., Skokie, Ill.; J.L., Philadelphia; J.L., Unknown; M., Fullerton, Calif.; A.P., Scarsdale, N.Y.; G.R., Unknown; R.R., Edina, Minn.; C.S., Columbus, Ohio; J.T., Kumamoto, Japan; and T.T., Loudonville, N.Y.

These women and men are amazing, the only word I can conjure at this moment given what I have learned from them individually and collectively. (My apologies here to those readers and writers whose knowledge and assistance I failed to note above.)

Let me conclude by adding that I am convinced, if simultaneously delusional, that someday, one day, nurses in this country will be treated and compensated with the respect they deserve.

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