Political or Human Rights Issue

Another Friday, another chemo treatment. Actually I got two treatments today - Abaxrane & Avastin. I got there at noon, hour & half later my labs are back - but there is a problem. I had too much protein in my urine so they have to call the Dr. Now this is where the fact that I don't have insurance really causes problems. You see, I have to get my treatment somewhere other than my Dr's. office, like most folks. Instead , I have to go to the out patient dept. of my local hospital. It really isn't a bad place and I like the nurses better, but when a problem arises it is really hard to get in touch with a Dr. It took two hours to get in touch with someone and it wasn't even my Doc. Each of my treatments takes 30" - I didn't leave there until 5:45 pm. At least I am off next week. To clarify - I do have medicare and it pays 20% of most things, but just one of my drugs is $15,000.00 every other week !





But the real issue is the state of health care in this`country. Like I said - where I get my treatments is not a bad place. It always takes about an hour longer and much longer if there is a problem. But my real issue is that I have been told I can't go over here, I have to go over there. I feel that I have a right to the exact same care as anyone else regardless of ability to pay. I belong to a list for stageIV Breast Cancer, and health care is an on going topic. Unfourtunately many people don't want to talk about it for fear of ridicule from the few people on the list that can't understand how we could not have insurance.




But I feel that we are the ones that can change the rules about health care, we are the ones going through this nightmare, we are the ones that are constantly worried about whether or not our insurance is going to pay for the next new med, or if they will stop paying for meds that are working. How many times have I read a question from the list that went something like this.....My spouse got a great job offer, but it would cause a change of insurance, or we would have to move to another state - would my medicaid lapse and for how long. How many of us have had long periods of time, because of chemo or disease process, that we just felt terrible. But we still had to make countless phone calls, send out endless email, or sit in long lines at a medicare office trying to figure out how to live for another month or two. Not only did we not feel good, most likely our brains could not comprehend or effectively sort it all out. All of this while some of us work, others have children, and some of us work and have children.We have to share our stories, we have to talk about them to everyone that will listen .





We, the patients, give a face and soul to the cold hard facts of health care in this country. Most people are only concerned with how much their premiums & co-payment will go up, as they should be - and they complain about it. But until they (or a loved one) have to make a choice between food and drugs, living or sending their kids to college, or feeling that they are holding their spouse back from the future they always wanted, they can't possibly understand what it is really like.I have heard from several on this list that my/our poor planning has left us in this situation. Somehow we have been lazy about finding ways to get coverage. But let's get real - how many of us ever thought that we would be in this situation, how many of us thought we had planned for everything, how many of us are wealthy enough not to have to worry about it.Please don't let this issue fade from your mind, please don't feel so embarrassed that you can't bring yourself to share your story.And if that isn't enough to convince you to shout to the world, then think about this. How much will health insurance cost our children and grandchildren.