I wasn’t going to talk about this yet, but with all that is going on in Washington I feel like I have to.
Two years ago, because my mother was diagnosed with a very aggressive and rare type of skin cancer. I made an appointment with a dermatologist for a baseline examination. I figured – “Let’s see what my skin looks like now so that we can compare it to the future.”
All was well but because of my mother’s cancer I was put on a yearly schedule for checks.
This year, what I had thought was simply a mole on my face (that had been there for years but only recently started to look suspicious) was biopsied and it turned out to be cancerous.
Good news is that it’s basal cell cancer, bad news is that it’s a rare type of basal cell that acts like it’s malignant.
We have insurance. No problem right? Then let’s just go ahead take it out.
Except that because of the location (on the side of my nose) and because of the type of cancer, the Dermatologist surgeon told me that they will need to take a nickel-sized piece of full thickness skin out of my face. (Go ahead and hold a nickel up to the side of your nose and see what that will look like. I did, it’s not pretty.)
Because the hole will be so large, a plastic surgeon also needs to be involved.
Due to scheduling conflicts with the docs and changing of insurance, they are now saying that it looks like I’ll be having the surgery in March. Five months after the cancer was diagnosed.
And that’s with a good solid insurance plan and going to good doctors.
Because I’ll be going to two surgeons in two different facilities, this is going to cost us thousands of dollars out-of-pocket even with our insurance.
I’m fortunate. We can cover this.
If we didn’t have insurance, there would be no way (other than selling the house or taking the kids out of college – something I would never do) that we could afford the bills for two surgeons.
And who knows what is going to happen down the line? Once you have cancer, you tend to get it again.
Cancer is a pretty big pre-existing condition
If the current administration has its way, pre-existing conditions won’t be covered. People will have the option of going broke or living.
I am one of those people.
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Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at [email protected]
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