The Cost of My Care

I could turn this post into a lengthy rant about our healthcare system (since that's the current favorite topic on the news and talk shows right now), but I won't. Instead, I'll share some information with you about my treatment: On the day after each session of chemo (for the first four sessions) I will be receiving a shot that will tell my bone marrow to make more white blood cells. This shot is meant to keep my immune system from weakening. That is one talented type of medication - and for it's price, it had better darn be! I almost fell out of my seat today when the pharmacy person I was speaking to told me that the shot costs $3,000! Three thousand dollars! For one shot. Yeah.

So where am I going with this? Well, just that I am one lucky lady to have health insurance. I'm one lucky lady to work at an organization that chooses to provide its employees with the best health insurance it can afford (yes, that's right, I'm plugging my office). I'm one lucky lady to be in a location where I can get the best treatment around - and that I don't have to move or temporarily relocate in order to get it. I'm one lucky diva. And I don't say that tongue in cheek. I mean it. The cost of my care - just looking at what the insurance company is covering - is enormous. So I feel truly blessed that I don't have to worry about it. Others, however, are not so fortunate.

Back home in the Philippines, my Mom volunteers for the local hospice organization - the Madre de Amor Foundation. For years now she has served cancer patients who have no means to afford their care. One patient's story stands out for me - a young woman named Evangeline Clemente. She had breast cancer too. When she found out, she was only a stage I. Stage I is super early. But she had no money; no insurance; no way to cover the cost of her care. So she went about her life, living with the cancer growing inside her. By the time she became a hospice patient, under my Mom's care, she was stage IV and didn't have long to live. When I first heard about Evangeline, I was heartbroken. No one, and I repeat no one should die from breast cancer when diagnosed at stage I. 

So what do I take away from Evangeline's story? She helps me put things in perspective. She helps me realize that here I am - one very lucky cancer-fighting-take-no-prisoners-diva: I have all that I need to fight back and succeed. I have NO EXCUSE to feel defeated, to lose hope, to lose faith. I do have EVERY EXCUSE to fight, to have faith, to have hope, to live. The cost of my care isn't just what the insurance company covers. The cost of my care is the investment of every single family member, friend and countless brave survivors in ME. You have all put your love, hope, and faith in me. I cannot fail. I will not fail. For you, for Dennis, for Alyssa, for my Mom, and for Evangeline and other women like her - I will succeed. I promise.