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Post by Rune Lai on Jun 23, 2019 18:26:42 GMT -5
Thanks guys. It's really frustrating, but I'll get through this somehow.
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Post by Rune Lai on Jul 10, 2019 10:28:58 GMT -5
If the $750 for extra bloodwork wasn't enough, apparently that was just for the clinic's in-house costs and the lab company has billed me separately to the tune of $2150, with a due date of simply UPON RECEIPT. Which (by the way), the clinic did not warn me would happen.
On top of that the egg freezing attempt ultimately failed, so getting the bill right after the emotional trauma of having paid through the nose only to not get any eggs, was just salt on the wound.
I was mostly sympathetic to the clinic staff in the wake of the retrieval failure. I had five follicles and while not every follicle is likely to yield an egg, it's not their fault they all were empty, and they did a test afterwards to confirm that the my trigger shot for ovulation had in fact been administered correctly.
But getting this bill without warning after the procedure had happened was... grrr...
As if I didn't already have other medical bills to worry about.
There is one silver lining though. I started venting on social media about my situation (I hadn't been public about my cancer or fertility treatment until this past Monday), and because I'm a professional writer, someone on the Emergency Medical Fund committee for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America reached out to me.
It used to be the EMF was just loans, but apparently since the organization's conversion to a non-profit they are now willing to outright pay for certain medical costs, depending on the patient's medical condition. The goal is to financially assist the author who is facing a temporary (not ongoing) medical condition so they can get back on their feet and start writing again. Since the hysterectomy is expected to remove my cancer, this qualifies as a temporary condition, and they're willing to look at all my expenses since this whole fiasco started back in January.
The committee member warned me that the fertility treatment will not be covered (so I'm still going to be out several thousand dollars for that), but he says he would like to see if they can cover as much of my cancer expenses as possible. And if they can cover the cancer, I know I can manage the rest.
I didn't go into being a writer for the fringe benefits (I just want to tell stories), but I'm glad that it's been able to pay off in other ways.
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Post by Solana on Jul 11, 2019 15:57:43 GMT -5
(Hug) Good to know that writers have each others' backs.
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Post by Rune Lai on Jul 11, 2019 20:02:45 GMT -5
Yeah, it's pretty amazing. I'm sure there are bad parts of the writing community too, but many of the people I've met since going pro have been nothing short of generous. SFWA is almost entirely volunteer-run by its membership and I don't quite know how they find the time. The guy helping my case is a doctor for his day job, so I don't know how he manages writing and volunteering on top of it (though I guess being a doctor makes him a good fit for the being on the medical fund committee).
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Post by Solana on Jul 13, 2019 14:29:31 GMT -5
Wow, and that's good that they have a doctor who knows how the system works from the inside. That's quite the schedule, though. Michael Crichton was writing bio-thrillers WHILE IN MEDICAL SCHOOL, and I wondered when the hell the guy had time to sleep. Of course, John Grisham actually is a lawyer, and Patricia Cornwell a medical examiner. My own plan was always to do science as the main job and writing on the side, and working at a university has been quite helpful in figuring things out for my current project.
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Post by Rune Lai on Jul 15, 2019 15:13:00 GMT -5
Just FYI. My surgery is on the 17th and then I'll probably be out of commission for a while afterward. Not sure if I'll have a chance to stop by tomorrow, so you guys have fun and I'll be back when I can.
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Post by Roas on Jul 15, 2019 15:44:28 GMT -5
Just FYI. My surgery is on the 17th and then I'll probably be out of commission for a while afterward. Not sure if I'll have a chance to stop by tomorrow, so you guys have fun and I'll be back when I can. Best of luck. We all hope it goes off without a hitch.
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Post by Solana on Jul 16, 2019 16:59:06 GMT -5
Here's a good luck, make cancer feel foolish hug. May it go well and may you have a quick, easy recovery!
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Post by Rune Lai on Jul 18, 2019 15:54:07 GMT -5
It went well! The surgery part at least. Not fully back yet, but I'm trying to check in with friends and family online just long enough for people to know I'm alive and recovering.
I won't have the full damage analysis until the lab gets done, but the operation itself was successful and though I can't sit up long, at least I'm not bedridden.
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Post by Roas on Jul 18, 2019 18:20:12 GMT -5
It went well! The surgery part at least. Not fully back yet, but I'm trying to check in with friends and family online just long enough for people to know I'm alive and recovering. I won't have the full damage analysis until the lab gets done, but the operation itself was successful and though I can't sit up long, at least I'm not bedridden. Great news. Hopefully it goes all the way to the best conclusion.
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Post by Solana on Jul 19, 2019 15:47:30 GMT -5
Good to hear. May the rest of your recovery go even more smoothly!
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Post by skylark on Jul 20, 2019 9:19:08 GMT -5
Glad to know it went well. Hopefully you'll be back on your feet in no time.
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Post by Rune Lai on Jul 22, 2019 14:10:18 GMT -5
I'm sitting up more now. Walking for a short period is fine, but I still tire quickly. I think I'm well enough now that I'm starting to feel like gaming rather than reading all the time (though reading is still good and I don't have to sit up as much for that!).
My brother and sister-in-law visited over the weekend and even though that probably wore me out, it was nice having some company after my dad left (he stayed to look after me the first couple days out of the hospital). We had been meaning to finish our co-op game of Kingdom: Two Crowns on his Switch since my visit to his house got derailed by my accident in January.
It'd been so long that we forgot what we were doing and got ourselves wrecked so we had to start over on our first island again, but it was still fun.
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Post by Rune Lai on Oct 27, 2020 21:03:40 GMT -5
I hate that I'm reviving this thread, but just so you guys know, I've been diagnosed with cancer again. This time it's a different one (stomach cancer, yay ). The doctors suspect I might have Lynch syndrome, which is a genetic condition that predisposes you to having them, but I won't know until I get tested. In any case, I'm likely to be running a gamut of medical visits and ending up in surgery again soon, so I figured I'd post about it in case I suddenly disappear for a while. I'm alllllllmost done with Caligula Effect (seriously, on the last story arc) so I'm hoping I can finish that and my playthrough posts before I get hauled off. I know it's not the highest priority, but it'll help keep me sane to do look at something other than medical stuff. Unfortunately NaNoWriMo is out. I look forward to doing it ever year, and I've done it for nine years in a row. This was going to be #10! But there's just too strong a chance that I'm going to end up in surgery sometime next month and I don't think I'm going to be able to flex creative muscle while straining over medical prep.
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Post by Solana on Oct 28, 2020 7:01:25 GMT -5
(Hug) That is so damn unfair. F*ck cancer.
Anything we can do, or send to you for get well presents?
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