Survivor Blog

Dear Demonstrator.

I thought you should have the opportunity to hear my story while you are standing out on the corner shouting buzz words at passersby like “Tyranny” and “Socialism”.

I am a 45-year-old female who started a small media consulting business about 5 years ago, here in Cobb County, Georgia. After leaving a good job at a local TV station in ‘03, I decided to go out on my own. For 3 months I paid for Cobra insurance, which cost me about $180 per month. Then I switched to United Healthcare. My premium was $385. More than I would have liked, but manageable.

Then cancer struck in 2005. After being very healthy all my life I suddenly was thrust into chemotherapy for lymphoma and deteriorating kidney disease. My new insurance company refused to pay. While I was at the sickest point, my doctor’s office called and said they would have to move my treatments to the Red Cross because I had an $80,000 bill, which was unpaid. United had been systematically sending denials of claims to all my medical providers. They claimed later, that they could not find a mailing address for my primary care doctor (at Emory) even though it was provided on my original application and despite spending 4 full months to underwrite and approve my policy 8 months earlier. Northside hospital was now demanding credit card payment for my latest MRI which my oncologist said was urgent.

Luckily for me I had enough strength and sensibility to call an attorney friend of mine and filed a complaint with the State Insurance Commissioner. Through the efforts of both, United reluctantly but suddenly “changed their mind” after a few more weeks and decided to cover my claims. By this time thousands of dollars had built up (all denied) from many different doctors and hospitals. My friends and family had to pitch in to write all of these providers and beg them to refile the claims. (Some of which did, some did not). After the first round of chemo drugs were ineffective, doctors tried a second more successful drug and I went into remission after about a year and a half. I asked the doctor why I was not able to get the second drug earlier and he indicated that it was because “insurance company rules” prohibit administering the second drug until the first one failed. The first drug cost nearly $200,000 The second drug cost roughly a third of that.

Now that I am relatively healthy again, I am still dealing with the credit effects left by bills going unpaid for 6 months and the handful of providers that refused to refile their claims.

In addition to that United Healthcare has raised my premium 5 times in 4 years and is now at $787.60 per month. (From $385)

I cannot go elsewhere for coverage because no insurance company will underwrite my now pre-existing condition. Ultimately the goal of United is to raise my premium so high that I simply have to turn to Medicaid. Unfortunately Medicaid requires that you have no assets at all. So while I sit waiting for a day when I can buy insurance for an affordable price, you stand on the corner waving a sign against me.

Yes, we need a new system of healthcare. In my own case, hundreds of thousands of dollars were wasted. My doctor’s time was wasted arguing with my insurance company.

Let me ask you for a common sense dialogue in this country for everyone’s benefit. We need a non-profit Co-OP that has been suggested as a workable solution. This is not socialism. Medicare may be socialism but I doubt any one of you would now pull your parent out of it because of your moral outrage at socialism. Your signs are benefiting only the big money insurance companies and big pharma. What would happen in your own family if someone was diagnosed with cancer and your insurance refused to pay? Who would you call? Remember, if profit is the motive, good health will not be the result.

The “Gang of Six” is working hard to negotiate a solution, which gets coverage to the millions of American citizens who cannot afford private insurance. People like me who are desperately searching for a breakup of the stranglehold that big insurance has on those of us with pre-existing conditions or hard working Americans like you who have lost jobs or have part time only work. We need your Christian voice.

Healthcare may indeed cost 1 trillion dollars. So did the war in Iraq. It’s time we Americans looked at what’s happening in our own country. The Congressional Budget Office did not take into account the fact that 62% of US Bankruptcies are the result of high medical bills. Many of these people had insurance but their claims were denied by the for-profit insurance companies. You and I pay for these bankruptcies and soon you’ll be paying for mine if we don’t find a workable compromise.

I urge you to support Senate Finance Committee “Gang of Six” and to encourage them in their attempt to control costs and improve access with a Co-OP plan similar to Credit Unions. Call Mike Enzi (WY-R) 202 224-3424 and Charles Grassley (IA-R) 202-224-3744 Ask them if they are taking money from big for-profit insurance companies and demand a legitimate dialogue.

Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee. –John Donne http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=1006021913000

Most people would say I’m a news junkie. I don’t know when this happened. When I worked as an Account Executive for a local television station here in Atlanta back in 2003 I was immersed in shows like Mad about You, Alias, and Hope & Faith. Then Cancer struck and I became a realist.  Gradually shows like Law & Order and Boston Legal gave way to Anderson Cooper and Nancy Grace.  Occasionally some Sean & Bill, but just to raise my blood pressure a bit. Now I  listen constantly to NPR. My game shows are Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me and Sez You.

Until Thursday afternoon, I was Tweeting Iran and following the healthcare debate. Now all I get it Michael Jackson, so the TV is turned off. What saddens me most about this is the utter lack of coverage for one of Cancer’s great hero’s of my time: Farrah Fawcett. Her life inspired so many girls (now women) my age to look beautiful, act determined and always walk with grace.  Her untimely death represents another chime on the clock that is ticking down for all of us survivors. We want a cure, now and we want to go to sleep at night knowing we have good insurance.

Our members of congress seem to think that we have all the time in the world to work this out. They dig in their heels on both sides, all the while having full coverage and no one would dare question a pre-existing condition in one of their cases or mention the word “recision”.  Meanwhile, the rest of us struggle under unrelenting pressure from rising premiums (Mine is $789.71 per month from Golden Rule) or the creeping fear that we are undercovered and our cancer will return and bankrupt us.

Farrah was lucky enough to have adequate coverage and wealth.  But in the end it did not save her.  She left behind a loving father, who had already buried one child and her son and loving companion, Ryan O’Neal. What she also left behind are millions of women like me; survivors who followed her case and prayed along with her in silence, that Charlie (God) would sweep in and save our angel in time for the show to have a happy ending.  We watched her documentary, Farrah’s Story, with renewed hope and inspiration that her cancer would be beaten back like so many criminals on Charlie’s Angels.  Her bravery in showing her balding head on television brought tears to my eyes in remembrance of my own struggle with vanity, when adriamycin and vincristine ravaged my body and took my beautiful blonde hair.

Those of us who were fans of Farrah, Jaclyn and Kate also grew up with Michael Jackson. Their deaths on the same day are a study in contrasts. We laughed and danced to Michael’s music, but we never wanted to be like him.  Perhaps he was incredibly naive. Perhaps he was a predator. What we know for sure is that he was weak. Drugs were his crutch. He was ashamed of how he looked and was consumed with changing his appearance. What a contrast with Farrah; A woman of incredible strength and natural beauty. I will always want to be like Farrah.

Eventually the media buzz will return to more important issues like Iran, Healthcare Reform, North Korea and the economy. We’ll probably discover that some irresponsible personal “doctor” killed MJ just like Anna Nicole Smith and move on. The bigger milestone here is that we’ve lost another sister in the battle against cancer and we have no more time to waste on frivolous news stories of self-indulgent pop stars. Our health and the health of our nation depends on remembering Farrah and continuing her fight.

Rest in peace, Angel. You are and will always be, a Survivor.

Farrah Fawcett

I’m collecting statistics. So far it seems that 62% of all US Bankruptcies are caused by medical expenses which certainly seems reasonable because, insurance companies do everything they can not to pay your claim and millions are uninsured altogether.

What I’m looking for is the percent (%) of those medical bankruptcies that are from people who actually HAVE insurance of some sort. People who are diligently paying premiums for what is obviously too little coverage.

Who pays for bankruptcies?  It’s the business of course.  Yet these misguided myopics seem to forget that when someone files for bankruptcy, everyone else pays more and the one who is unlucky enough to be holding that person’s debt, pays a whole lot more.  They stand tall with the insurance companies, who are making record profits while everyone else gets buried under a mountain of debt.

The american auto industry has been crippled by high insurance costs for it’s current and retired employees. Indeed, in every industry, American’s are less competitive because business has to calcuolate in the high cost on insuring their employees in their products and services. What happens when you take that burden away?

Yes Virginia, Universal Healthcare is going to cost more but how much is it going to SAVE? Would your business be doing better if you did not have to insure your employee’s health?

I’m still looking for those stats. Must be here somwhere.

#5  No one has to hold your hair back when you throw up

#4 No more expensive foils at the hair salon

#3 No more curling iron burns on your forehead and neck

#2 Showers feel wonderful (when not much else does)

#1 When it grows back you’ll never have another bad hair day again in you life!

I was touched by Farrah Fawcett’s strength while watching the documentary of her battle with cancer. So many of us have lived through the very same things and the only ones that understand our suffering are our close friends and family. The hardest part is the one we survivors fight when others look as us as if we have lost. In order to survive, we must have everyone believing! Cancer does not kill people, chemo does! Now, I am not advocating for people to stop taking chemo, but we need to advance research on alternative therapies that are not as damaging to our bodies. They are still doing the same radiation and administering the same chemo drugs: adriamycin, vincristine, etc, that they had back in the 60’s!!
So, what frustrates me about Farrah Fawcett’s documentary and the surrounding hype, is that the media seems to be counting down the days until her death. They are using terms like “terminal”. Hey! This is wrong!! We are all “terminal” folks. Everyone of us. Cancer or not. The fact that people are describing her fight as over is just plain wrong.
I am praying for Farrah. She is a survivor. Live Strong sister!

I just read this article on the natural healing effects of cinnamon. Having suffered thru chemotherapy and looking for herbs that will lessen the side effects, one of the things that helped me was cinnamon. Now I have it almost every day in my healthy breakfast routine.  (Plain organic yogurt, Ezekial cereal, plain oats, honey, banana and lots of cinnamon)- Trust me it’s yummy.  So if you are wondering what herbs are ok to take with chemo, try cinnamon and read this.

Once you officially become a “survivor”, you never really want to own up to feeling fabulous  because you feel you might jinx it.  In the interest of possibly helping others to regain their old self, I have to share this story of a guy from my Multiple Myeloma support group in Atlanta. His name is Vinnie M.   I  visited the Atlanta area MM group back in early 2006 when I was still battling with Waldenstrom’s Macroglobulenemia, which they say has characteristics of both MM and Non-hodgkins Lymphoma. I asked if anyone in the group was aware of any natural remedies that were working for them. In particular, with WM I think its the MM side of the disease that is the most dangerous. So Vinnie, who is a MM patient, says he has been following the clinical trial parameters of Circumin which is being studied by MD Anderson. I immediately start taking Circumin because I am committed to never ever going thru chemotherapy again, because I think it’s vile.  Long story short, both Vinnie and I are still, knock on wood, without further progression of our respective diseases 3 years later. Perhaps there is something to this. In keeping with the demands of medical science which insist you tell your doctor of every single herb, vitamin and medication that you are taking, I always disclose the Circumin and never had any doctor tell me to stop. There are no side effects or intereactions that I could find. One other thing; in India, the incidence of cancer is 1/10th of the USA incidence of cancer and their diet is very heavy with Circumin/Turmeric which is the main ingredient of curry. So there.

I just finished the tutorial on how to install your blog on your website in 5 minutes or less by Yaro Starak and company. His website teaches you how to become a blogger and potentially, drive yourself insane by staring at your computer screen for 20 hours. I think I’ve finally got it going now. Stay tuned….