(no subject)
May. 13th, 2004 08:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thejunipertreeThis is more for my benefit, then anything. I need to have all of this written out so I can organize my thoughts.
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I am just so fucking tired, it's not even funny.
Every spare moment I've had this week has been dedicated to ferreting out information to help my mother's situation. What is the situation, you ask? Well, let me lay it out for you.
My mother was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer in June 2002. She went on short term disability for six months, when the disability ran out, she was forced to go back to work. During that six months, she went through twenty rounds of intensive chemotherapy.
Some time after she returned to work, it was decided that she should undergo radiation therapy. So, she did thirty days of radiation, during which she also received a continuous low level chemo feed.
Around late November/early December of 2003, her boss decided that it was time to start laying people off. Being the benevolent soul he is (*snort*), he gave her the option of either accepting the lay-off or getting her doctor to sign her out on short term disability again. Since she needed health insurance coverage, she opted for the short term disability route.
Now it's the beginning of May and her short term disability is about to run out again (remember, it's only for six months). And we're faced with some very difficult situations to muddle through.
1. Once she finishes this spate of disability, she would be expected to go back to work. However, she's in no shape to do so. Therefore, she will lose her health insurance because she won't technically be employed with that company any longer. So, problem #1 is no health insurance. No money to pay for her chemo treatments and numerous prescriptions.
2. She's applied for Social Security disability (SSD), which is only given to people who fall under a very specific criteria. What this criteria actually is, I haven't the foggiest notion. However, you do have to be expected to be disabled for over one year or have your disability end in death. It is notoriously difficult to be accepted for SSD. Many people are denied for ridiculous reasons, though most of them hire lawyers for an appeal. Oh, and even if you are accepted for SSD, it can take up to six months to get it. Problem #2 is waiting for SSD/not getting SSD at all. No money to pay her rent and bills (I can cover mine and my brother can cover his, but we just barely squeak by).
3. She has an extreme hernia that causes her to have enormous amounts of pain, which affects whether or not she eats. Not eating has caused her weight to drop to 108 pounds. You heard me right. One hundred and eight. When all of this started in June 2002, she weighed around 176. The hernia needs to be surgically fixed. But, because of how bad it actually is (it's huge), her recovery time would be lengthened. Not to mention that she's in no condition to withstand a very intensive surgery right now because of her weight and general weakness. Problem #3, the hernia.
4. As I wrote in my journal the other day, the oncologist told us that because of the new spots in her liver, lungs, and bladder, if she does not go through chemotherapy again (and posthaste), she has months to live. Months. As in, less than a year. However, she's in no condition to go through chemotherapy. Her weight, may I remind you again, is 108 pounds. To go through chemo she has to get stronger and gain some weight. Problem #4, chemo.
4a. (This is where it gets a bit tricky.) To go through chemo, my mom has to gain weight. But because of the hernia, she has a lot of difficulty eating. To have the hernia fixed, she has to gain weight. Now, say she actually does gain enough weight and is feeling a bit stronger. Does she get the hernia surgery first, so she's not in pain, before she goes through chemo? Or does she go through the chemo first, build herself back up from that, and then get the hernia fixed? It's half a dozen of one, six of the other. If she goes for the hernia surgery first, she runs the risk of actually becoming sicker due to the pressing need for chemo within the next few months. But, if she does chemo first, she's very likely to not bounce back from it because of being weakened from the chemo and weakened from the hernia. Problem #5, chemo vs. hernia surgery.
5. Say she does actually get accepted for SSD, she won't have health insurance for two years. She needs (is there another word that means REALLY FUCKING NEEDS, like beyond needs?) coverage to handle any of the health issues, be they chemo or hernia surgery. Not to mention the slew of medication she has to take, which is rather expensive when you don't have a prescription plan. Medicaid is an option, however one must (again) meet a very narrow criteria to be accepted. And I have a feeling that they are not going to like the fact that my brother and I both work. And that they'll decide we make TOO MUCH money for her to receive Medicaid. We can't lie to Medicaid and say that one of doesn't live here, because our mother has to show cancelled rent checks to welfare and SSD and they're going to want to know why her portion of the rent only equals a third. Problem #6, Medicaid.
--------------
Needless to say, the past week has been hellish. I have used every keyword combination humanly possible in Google to get information on assistance with our problems. I've come across some very valuable resources (like the Patients Advocate Organization and Cancer Care, Inc.), but there doesn't seem to be any kind of program in our state, much less this country, that serves as a safety net for people who are suffering from cancer. I've read innumerable messages on so many message boards from people who are in the exact same situation, that I haven't even bothered to post my own query because there just doesn't seem to be any kind of definitive answer.
The other day, I had the idea that I could solicit some sort of fund raising activity/charity from various groups in my area. I've already started the ball rolling with that by approaching Miss Rowan's husband, Ellis, who is an officer in a Masonic lodge and The Engineer, who is a fledgling mason in a lodge closer to us. Masons give millions of dollars in charity every year. They told me that each lodge master can give a hundred dollars without even approaching the rest of the lodge first. And if they ask the other lodge members, they can give up to three hundred. After that, they can approach the district lodge that governs each county. They could even possibly hold a fundraiser for her.
I'm going to draft a letter and send it out to every single fraternal organization in my area (and the surrounding areas). All of them. Explaining the situation and desperately hope that someone decides to help. If I could, at the very least, get her portion of the rent paid for a year, that would be fabulous ($2976.00, I calculated it). If I could manage to also have her bankruptcy payment paid for a whole year, that would be even better (that brings the total to just under five grand). I'm also going to bring it up to the MWC (the pagan discussion group I belong to), to see if they can spread the word to any of their contacts and possibly wrangle help from any of the pagan organizations around here. Though I'm not banking on that, because getting pagans to do anything all at the same time is a lot like herding ferrets (most people say cats, but I strongly believe that those people, unlike myself, have never tried to herd a business of ferrets).
If anyone reading this has any other ideas, or any experience in dealing with matters such as this (any of it, whether it be SSD or Medicaid or welfare or health insurance or charity or fundraising), please contact me through email (if you have it) or my LJ. I would be infinitely grateful and welcome any suggestions.
-----------------
I am just so fucking tired, it's not even funny.
Every spare moment I've had this week has been dedicated to ferreting out information to help my mother's situation. What is the situation, you ask? Well, let me lay it out for you.
My mother was diagnosed with Stage IV colon cancer in June 2002. She went on short term disability for six months, when the disability ran out, she was forced to go back to work. During that six months, she went through twenty rounds of intensive chemotherapy.
Some time after she returned to work, it was decided that she should undergo radiation therapy. So, she did thirty days of radiation, during which she also received a continuous low level chemo feed.
Around late November/early December of 2003, her boss decided that it was time to start laying people off. Being the benevolent soul he is (*snort*), he gave her the option of either accepting the lay-off or getting her doctor to sign her out on short term disability again. Since she needed health insurance coverage, she opted for the short term disability route.
Now it's the beginning of May and her short term disability is about to run out again (remember, it's only for six months). And we're faced with some very difficult situations to muddle through.
1. Once she finishes this spate of disability, she would be expected to go back to work. However, she's in no shape to do so. Therefore, she will lose her health insurance because she won't technically be employed with that company any longer. So, problem #1 is no health insurance. No money to pay for her chemo treatments and numerous prescriptions.
2. She's applied for Social Security disability (SSD), which is only given to people who fall under a very specific criteria. What this criteria actually is, I haven't the foggiest notion. However, you do have to be expected to be disabled for over one year or have your disability end in death. It is notoriously difficult to be accepted for SSD. Many people are denied for ridiculous reasons, though most of them hire lawyers for an appeal. Oh, and even if you are accepted for SSD, it can take up to six months to get it. Problem #2 is waiting for SSD/not getting SSD at all. No money to pay her rent and bills (I can cover mine and my brother can cover his, but we just barely squeak by).
3. She has an extreme hernia that causes her to have enormous amounts of pain, which affects whether or not she eats. Not eating has caused her weight to drop to 108 pounds. You heard me right. One hundred and eight. When all of this started in June 2002, she weighed around 176. The hernia needs to be surgically fixed. But, because of how bad it actually is (it's huge), her recovery time would be lengthened. Not to mention that she's in no condition to withstand a very intensive surgery right now because of her weight and general weakness. Problem #3, the hernia.
4. As I wrote in my journal the other day, the oncologist told us that because of the new spots in her liver, lungs, and bladder, if she does not go through chemotherapy again (and posthaste), she has months to live. Months. As in, less than a year. However, she's in no condition to go through chemotherapy. Her weight, may I remind you again, is 108 pounds. To go through chemo she has to get stronger and gain some weight. Problem #4, chemo.
4a. (This is where it gets a bit tricky.) To go through chemo, my mom has to gain weight. But because of the hernia, she has a lot of difficulty eating. To have the hernia fixed, she has to gain weight. Now, say she actually does gain enough weight and is feeling a bit stronger. Does she get the hernia surgery first, so she's not in pain, before she goes through chemo? Or does she go through the chemo first, build herself back up from that, and then get the hernia fixed? It's half a dozen of one, six of the other. If she goes for the hernia surgery first, she runs the risk of actually becoming sicker due to the pressing need for chemo within the next few months. But, if she does chemo first, she's very likely to not bounce back from it because of being weakened from the chemo and weakened from the hernia. Problem #5, chemo vs. hernia surgery.
5. Say she does actually get accepted for SSD, she won't have health insurance for two years. She needs (is there another word that means REALLY FUCKING NEEDS, like beyond needs?) coverage to handle any of the health issues, be they chemo or hernia surgery. Not to mention the slew of medication she has to take, which is rather expensive when you don't have a prescription plan. Medicaid is an option, however one must (again) meet a very narrow criteria to be accepted. And I have a feeling that they are not going to like the fact that my brother and I both work. And that they'll decide we make TOO MUCH money for her to receive Medicaid. We can't lie to Medicaid and say that one of doesn't live here, because our mother has to show cancelled rent checks to welfare and SSD and they're going to want to know why her portion of the rent only equals a third. Problem #6, Medicaid.
--------------
Needless to say, the past week has been hellish. I have used every keyword combination humanly possible in Google to get information on assistance with our problems. I've come across some very valuable resources (like the Patients Advocate Organization and Cancer Care, Inc.), but there doesn't seem to be any kind of program in our state, much less this country, that serves as a safety net for people who are suffering from cancer. I've read innumerable messages on so many message boards from people who are in the exact same situation, that I haven't even bothered to post my own query because there just doesn't seem to be any kind of definitive answer.
The other day, I had the idea that I could solicit some sort of fund raising activity/charity from various groups in my area. I've already started the ball rolling with that by approaching Miss Rowan's husband, Ellis, who is an officer in a Masonic lodge and The Engineer, who is a fledgling mason in a lodge closer to us. Masons give millions of dollars in charity every year. They told me that each lodge master can give a hundred dollars without even approaching the rest of the lodge first. And if they ask the other lodge members, they can give up to three hundred. After that, they can approach the district lodge that governs each county. They could even possibly hold a fundraiser for her.
I'm going to draft a letter and send it out to every single fraternal organization in my area (and the surrounding areas). All of them. Explaining the situation and desperately hope that someone decides to help. If I could, at the very least, get her portion of the rent paid for a year, that would be fabulous ($2976.00, I calculated it). If I could manage to also have her bankruptcy payment paid for a whole year, that would be even better (that brings the total to just under five grand). I'm also going to bring it up to the MWC (the pagan discussion group I belong to), to see if they can spread the word to any of their contacts and possibly wrangle help from any of the pagan organizations around here. Though I'm not banking on that, because getting pagans to do anything all at the same time is a lot like herding ferrets (most people say cats, but I strongly believe that those people, unlike myself, have never tried to herd a business of ferrets).
If anyone reading this has any other ideas, or any experience in dealing with matters such as this (any of it, whether it be SSD or Medicaid or welfare or health insurance or charity or fundraising), please contact me through email (if you have it) or my LJ. I would be infinitely grateful and welcome any suggestions.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-15 03:05 pm (UTC)more than enough damage to more
than enough ppl so they do a lot
of charity to help balance it out
(too bad tho cause if they dont
start actually getting rid of
their child molesting priests,
it never will).
pureeing the broth is mostly up
to you. if you think she could
eat & digest it best that way,
go for it. i know my mom did @
first but now when we make it,
we leave everything whole
(& boy is it delicious!)
:D
my sister has rheumatoid arthritis
(or however the hell you spell that)
& it wasnt the sickness that got her
so fucked up, it was the meds.
she was on everything & anything
& nothing was doing any good. she
just kept getting sicker & sicker
& there was a point where i thought
i was just going to have to deal with
the fact that she was going to die
from it.
then she umm i dont know...kinda flipped out.
got sick of being sick & quit taking ALL her
meds & went 100% natural. did an elimination
diet, started taking massive amounts of vitamins
& supplements & believe it or not, started not
only getting *better* but getting HEALTHY.
it wasnt easy and it was expensive as fucking hell.
(medicaid/medicare do not cover one single cent of
any type of natural medicine whatsoever). there was
a lot of trial & error & we made some very expensive
mistakes but in the long run, she is a million times
better than she ever was b4. her diet is drastically
changed & she still has to take supplements but not
quite so many as she did @ first.
this was a HUGE hardship for us cause my mom
wasnt working & on disability too. none of it
was cheap & we all had to contribute pretty much
every cent we made to getting her well. it was
really fucking tough (but totally worth it).
now, not only does she hardly have any
of the symptoms of the RA, she walks again,
shes REGROWN cartilige in her hip (something
the drs said was IMPOSSIBLE) & shes the healthiest
person i know. shes kind of a pain in my ass
sometimes about the way i eat (im not nearly
as disciplined as she is) but its ok. its what
keeps her out of the wheelchair.
the medical system in this country makes
me sick. you dont even want to get me started
on that shit. its all about business & the drug
companies & the ppl who grow & make our food
getting together to keep us sick & dependant
on their products. if i could, id go live on
another planet.
did you know its actually ILLEGAL to treat some
forms of cancer with holistic medicine in this country?
if you email me your shipping addy,
i have a book id like to send you guys.
:)