Monte's Medical Status

MORE THAN A WOMAN

     I heard the Tavares version of "More Than A Woman" and it almost brought a tear to my eye.
     While I was performing my daily ritual of visiting the Sutherlin McDonalds' to get an unsweetened iced tea for me and a black coffee for my Mother, I heard that song play over the restaurant's sound system.
     The music took me back to the spring of 2011, when I was enrolled in "Race And The Musical," an upper-level English course at the University of Oregon. One of the movies that we viewed in class was Saturday Night Fever, which contained a variety of disco-era music, including two different versions of "More Than A Woman." Fortunately, McDonalds' sound system didn't play the mouse-screeching version performed by the Bee Gees. (shudder)
     Hearing the song today made me sad, because it brought back nostalgic memories, not only from the 1970s, but from my days spent in Graduate School in 2010-2012, preparing to enter the teaching profession. I would love to teach a high school version of that college-level course that I took at the UO, but my ongoing battle with cancer makes that seem more and more unlikely.

  JUNE HAS BEEN THE TOUGHEST MONTH FOR ME

     Aside from my numerous surgeries in the hospital the past three years, my toughest time out of the hospital has been this past month, for several reasons:
PAIN: For the first time, I'm experiencing constant ongoing pain in my lower abdominal region, about a level four on a scale of one-ten. I don't know the cause. I had a CT scan performed several days ago. And, I have appointments on Monday with my medical oncologist in Roseburg and on Wednesday with my surgeon in Eugene. Hopefully, some type of diagnoses for the pain will be uncovered this coming week.
MEDICAL SUPPLIES IMPEDING MOBILITY: My urostomy has been a nightmare from hell. Despite two trips to Seattle and ongoing weekly visits to the wound and ostomy clinic at Riverbend hospital in Springfield, I can't get a handle on the problem. The problem originates from my surgical incision site which has a "leak." It's so close to the urostomy site, that fluid from the leak goes under the wafer on my urostomy pouch. So, instead of the pouch forming a tight seal and lasting several days to a week, I am sometimes lucky if I can wear a single pouch for 24 hours before having to change it again.
INCREASING MEDICAL EXPENSES: After Medicare pays their portion of the pouches, I am still stuck with about a $3.00 bill out-of-pocket for each pouch, in addition to the cost of gas for driving up to Riverbend hospital each week. This can quickly add up if I am forced to change the pouch each day.
     I am not going to be able to continue the status quo for much longer if I can't get a handle on the leakage problem. I don't have anything frivolous to cut from my budget, so I am now looking at what to cut next: internet service, cell phone, Register-Guard subscription, feed for the animals (nominal expense).

DAILY LIFE

     The highlight of my day is no longer driving over to McDonalds' to sip on tea and read the newspaper. The pain in my abdomen has changed that. Sadly, the highlight of my day is now going to bed at 8:00 each night. That's when I take a couple of oxycodone tablets, and while I'm waiting for them to kick in, I contemplate all of the goals that I have in life and think about all of the fun things that I have left to do.
     Meanwhile, while I'm in bed, my Mother will be watching The Andy Griffith Show on ME TV in the next room, and I will listen to the hour-long guffaws from Barney Fife. I actually enjoy listening to the show while lying down in bed, even though I can't see the screen. I've begun to realize the show was well-written. The dialogue speaks for itself. With few exceptions, I can understand the plot just by listening to it.
     My oxycodone is left over from my May 6th surgery at the University of Washington Medical Center. I don't know yet if I am going to try and get a more permanent prescription for the drug. While the drug may help me to sleep, despite my pain, during the night, I'm not sure that I'm ready yet to use it during the day. I'm already fatigued enough that I stay is bed about 12 hours (8:00-8:00) on some days. The last thing that I want is for me to be conked out during the day from pain-killers, so that I don't know what's going on around me.
     Sometimes, I wish that I would just go to sleep when the Andy Griffith Show is over and not wake up. But then there would be no one around to take care of my Mother. I guess I still do have a purpose for being here after all! Despite my current doldrum daily life of not doing much more than driving to McDonalds'.
     "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you." [Exodus 20:12.]

U.S. Supreme Court Ruling On Affordable Health Care Act

 In response to the U.S. Supreme Court's 6-3 ruling 

in favor of the Affordable Health Care Act....

      I have mostly sat quietly on the sidelines during the past couple years, as Obamacare was implemented across the country. As a Republican who favors small government, less taxes, and fewer mandates into people's personal lives, I have questioned the practicality of forcing people to buy health care coverage, and subsidizing those who don't have it.
      At the same time, it seems incongruous to me that we had (have) a broken health care system. If we lived in a truly capitalist society, we wouldn't have Medicare and Medicaid to subsidize the elderly and the disabled.
     Unfortunately, both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have refused to fix our broken system in recent years, which is presumably why Obamacare came into existence.
      As someone who has been disabled with cancer since August, 2012....but not "officially" declared disabled by Social Security until two years later in January, 2015....I have personally experienced the discrepancies that have existed in our health care system.
      Because I worked for decades, I always thought that I paid into a system that would take care of me, in case I became terminally ill. Boy, was I wrong. I still have a $25,000 debt for chemotherapy that accrued in 2012, before a revamped Oregon Health Plan (due to Obama's Affordable Health Care Act) kicked in January, 2013. I shudder to think what would have happened between January, 2013, and January, 2015 (when I FINALLY became "disabled" and eligible for Social Security Disability), if Obamacare hadn't been around.
      How long would my doctors and chemotherapy clinics continued to treat me during those two years, had I not been covered by the Affordable Health Care Act during those two years? How costly would my medical treatment have become during those two years, considering that my medical bills had climbed to $25,000 in just four months in 2012?
      The system is still broken. Even with Medicare coverage, now that I no longer am eligible for the Oregon Health Plan (Medicaid), I have to pay 20 percent of my medical supplies out of pocket. For my urostomy supplies alone, that can amount to $3.00 per day out of pocket.
      Do I believe that people should be forced to buy health insurance? No. But do I believe that people who pay into a system should have their medical bills reimbursed, if they become terminally ill? Yes.
      Unfortunately, I don't see the system improving any time soon. As a bigger percentage of the population becomes inflicted with cancer at younger ages, the rest of the working population is not going to be able to support them all.
      RAPTURE, I hope you come soon!