Baldies' Blog began originally in the UK by a 26 year old journalist with a blood cancer on a mission to inform the world about bone marrow donation.

He has since died, and I took on the cause of making cancer care more transparent for everybody.

Cancer is a disease that will touch everybody through diagnosis or affiliation: 1 in 2 men will be diagnosed and 1 in 3 woman will hear those words, "You Have Cancer."

I invite you to read how I feel along my journey and
how I am continuing to live a full life alongside my Hodgkin's lymphoma, with me controlling my cancer, not my cancer controlling me.

I hope that "Baldies' Blog" will prepare you to handle whatever life sends you, but especially if it's the message, "You Have Cancer."

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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

YES! YES! YES!

WHOAWHOAWHOAWHOAWHOA!
I don’t know if I’m having delusions of grandeur or not, but either way, I’m hearing some discussion in Mass. that I really like.
I’ll give you a little bit of back ground history.
In February, I was feeling pretty good. I was thinking about going back to work, and a career. Then, WHAMMO, my pet scan was positive.
I was a little blindsided.
I was scared to death. I had used the majority of my 2 million dollar cap on my insurance. I couldn’t afford the out-of-pocket expenses for my treatment. I was acutely aware that saving my life may bankrupt my family.
I started to run through scenarios. I’d divorce my husband and give him all my assets. I’d pay out of pocket to stay in his insurance. I’d eventually go on Medicaid and pay out of pocket for co-insurance.
This would put me and my family in a better place. I’d pay $0.50 for copays. The hospitals would get stuck with the bills. Jon could get out with his credit intact.
I’d transfer my home to a business asset and change my standard mortgage to a commercial loan. Not only would this protect against its seizure, I could write of some of my home bills: electric, heat, phone etc.
THEN, I got pissed. How dare I be put in this position?! How could the system be set up in such a way that I’m considering these as options, viable options, my only options.
Those a**holes.
Then, Ted Kennedy got diagnosed with a brain tumor, an unfortunate turn of events.
I posted a rant on craigslist in Mass. Stating, I wanted a lawyer, or guidance, on how to approach the insurance industry to prove that the system, and there treatment of me, was unconstitutional. The insurance co.’s failure to cover my expenses was directly interfering with my clearly stated “right to life.”
I would not survive with out my treatment, and I would not receive treatment without reimbursement. Do the math and my insurance is interfering with my ability to live.
I posted this is Mass. because of their “avante gaurde” approach to health care. They provide a unique model of care and reimbursement. They are on the right track.
During the Democratic Convention a month later, Sen. Ted Kennedy stood up and said our current health care system “directly interferes with our right to life.”
YESYESYESYESYES. SCORE. HE SAID IT!!!
Do you think he actually listened to me? Either way, I don’t care, he is bigger, more powerful, and has more influence, and he’s thinking like I do.
Maybe I’m having delusions of grandeur regarding my influence. I don’t care if you don’t believe me, but it you don’t, I have the files to prove my story.
You can fact check any story I post. It will be backed up.
In May, I started to move to the Metro West District in Mass. for treatment. I intended to stay there from July to Nov. I set up my address and opened a bank account.
Welcoming me to the neighborhood, Metrowest (the newspaper) ran a wonderful article about my position and financial struggles on the front page, with a gigantic picture of beautiful bald me.
I’d like to thank them for listening and believing in me. There is so much fear in the world that the kindness in others is being taken advantage of, especially by manipulative con artists using stories like mine.
I’m a sad, sad story. My life is a train wreck. I should be a cautionary tale to all of America, but everything I say is true. I don’t ever want to be anything but real.
I keep my eye on the prize and roll with the punches.
As if this attention was not good enough, Heather called today, after voting, and summarized question number 4 on her district’s ballot.
In summary, the question asked:
Do you think citizens have an unalienable right to life and to receive care regardless of ability to pay, etc., etc., etc.?
YES! The answer is yes. This is exactly what I want. This is my prize, being asked in my alternative district.
If I can’t survive, if I can’t live the life I’ve dreamed of, I want to fix the struggles for everybody else.
Maybe, I’m a little out of my head to think I have influenced anything. I don’t know who watches me. I don’t know who is listening, but I’ve never been so happy to know someone somewhere in power thinks like me.

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