UPDATE ON MY HEALTH --- Oh My God, two postings in one day. It is the end of life as we know it
To begin with, and right now on the top of everyone's list, I have been formally diagnosed with Chronic Pancreatitis which is pretty much untreatable and almost always fatal. My life expectancy currently is an additional 10 years...so 85 at the most. Of course I do not agree with that and plan to live well beyond 85 years of age. Then next would be an appointment that I have on the 25th to discuss, among other things, the fact that my last blood work came back showing that my kidney functions were off and placing me in a stage 3A of kidney disease. That means, yet one more time, changing my diet and all my daily routines. It causes me pain if I walk to much or too far (my pancreas does this also so it is difficult to determine which is kicking my ass on any given day). Next would be my diabetes which is totally out of control and would have a direct impact on my kidneys, my legs and feet, my heart and just about every other part of my body. I am now using a Dexcom G7 glucose monitor that test my blood glucose every 5 minutes 24 hours a day, the patches that I have to wear for that cost almost 300 dollars each and I use 3 each month. So basically a thousand dollars a month if I had to pay myself, thank god my insurance covers them 100 percent. Oh, and there is a medication that I have had to start to help me digest food as a direct result of the Chronic Pancreatitis. It is called Creon and if I had to pay for it then I would have to come up with just over 2 grand a month for it. My out of pocket copay for that is 45 dollars a month. that prescription came from my Gastroenterologist who is also trying to address why I have trouble swallowing food (seems that my own body wants to choke me to death on top of everything else). Then, on the 24th I start physical therapy for issues I have with balance. I currently use a cane all the time to maintain balance. For a while I had to use an upright walker which I no longer need to use except when I have a bad dizzy spell. Don't know what that would cost if i had to pay. Of course there are the issues with my heart. I formally have Congestive Heart Disease and an Aortic Aneurysm. I had a heart attack in 2010 so have been surviving those for 13 years and plan to for a lot longer than that. I hope that if either of these take me out it will be the Aneurysm which is really fast and pretty painless. You just feel a little prick in your chest and you bleed out internally in a matter of minutes. Luckily this usually happens at night and you don't even feel it. Then, of course being an out of control Diabetic I have to take insulin injections twice a day to keep my out of control blood sugar in the 150 to 300 range (normal is between 70 and 100) and they keep adjusting my insulin dosage up trying to get it in control to no avail. I pay 50 dollars a month for my insulin out of pocket. Its real cost is in the thousands. Again, thank God for my insurance. I am sure I am missing something really bad but that is pretty much it...oh, I also have early stage adult Macular Degeneration which could leave me blind...of course it might not.
Oh, I forgot about my arthritis in my right shoulder which causes (is causing right now) serious pain and there is really nothing they can do about it that even my insurance will approve doing.
Well, you're here and you're Queer, so that's enough.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the pancreatitis. It sounds quite stressing. Glad there's a medication, though.
I'ts always tough to balance all the stuff that's going on with one's health, but I guess it comes with the territory. And thank goodness for insurance. DAMN!
XOXO
Those are a lot of medical expenses. No wonder you didn't have spare dosh for Mr Vermont.
ReplyDeleteTake care of you!
ReplyDelete