Paul's Heart

Life As A Dad, And A Survivor

Archive for the category “Cancer”

05 Mar 2014

Sharing Your Excitement


I rememember when I was first diagnosed back in 1988. All I wanted to hear was that I could beat my cancer. I had never heard of a success story, let alone my particular cancer, Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. I wanted to meet anyone, ANYONE who had taken this beast on and meet them. Unfortunately I did not have the internet, or Facebook, or any other digital media. I had heard only of a long lost friend of one of my uncles, and a New York Giants football player, named Carl Nelson. While I was encouraged by my uncle’s friend’s longevity, twenty years, it was unlikely that I would ever get to meet him. Nelson on the other hand, was not far from me, just up the New Jersey turnpike. I wrote to him to see if he could offer me any kind of encouragement. I never heard anything back.

Many months later, after I completed my treatments, I made a promise to myself that I would do whatever I could to get the message out, one person at a time if I had to, that cancer could be beat. That there was life after cancer. All I needed was a medium to communicate it. I started counseling cancer patients through the American Cancer Society and a peer-to-peer program called “Cansurmount” which matched up patients by their cancers. Unfortunately, volunteers were short to come by and doctors were put off by their concerns that as survivors, we might offer medical advice, which I never have and never will, delaying or even cancelling treatments by other patients.

Of course a few years later, the internet came along, for me anyway (I did not buy the original Nintendo until the Xbox came out either). And here I am now, in 2014, my second year of writing “Paul’s Heart”.

Please, feel free to share your stories with me. I have a large number of followers growing every day. If you have been inspired by my story of survival, share yours as well. You can either post it hear on this blog, or on the “Paul’s Heart” Facebook page. But take this chance to inspire others, give hope, that someday, cancer will be beat.

Posted in Cancer, Family and Friends, Inspired By..., Side Effects, The Heart | Leave a comment
04 Mar 2014

Copays


Up until the Affordable Care Act became law (and it is the law), we were lucky if we heard the word “copay”, as in, your portion of the bill to pay for seeing your doctor. And for a good many of us, our copay, what we pay before the insurance picks up the rest of the tab, or at least the majority of the bill, the copay is fairly reasonable considering the service rendered, usually ranging between $10 and $35 for a simple primary care visit, perhaps a little more for a specialist.

For the average working citizen, this copay may be a bit trivial in the amount. $10 can buy a movie ticket, a super-sized value meal at a fast food restaurant, or two lottery scratch tickets. But for the patient on a fixed income, the copay amount is not trivial at all. Sometimes it is the difference of being able to be seen by a doctor, or delaying the visit.

For either patient though, and for the sake of this post, I am not arguing against the copay itself, but rather when it is implemented. Sure, I will not argue that a copay should be paid for an initial office visit with the doctor (most copays are often only paid when you see an actual doctor, not a nurse or practitioner). But what about the repeat or follow up visits, required by the doctor, for the same ailment?

Example one. You have a severe sinus infection which requires antibiotics. You go into to see your doctor, get charged a co-pay. The doctor prescribes you some medicine and wants to see you again in a couple of weeks to see how you are feeling. Of course, when the two weeks comes around, you are feeling fine. Should you just call the doctor and say that you are feeling fine? Should you go ahead and follow up with the doctor, which of course means you will most likely have to pay another co-pay even though it was the doctor that requested your presence, not the other way around.

Example two. A patient is diagnosed with cancer after paying the copay. A couple more appointments with the doctor, required by the doctor, also including a couple more copays, and treatment begins. There are some follow-ups to be seen by the doctor during the treatment regimen. Even though the patient is followed up by bloodwork and possibly other tests, the doctor wants to see the patient, but that also means collecting another copay.

There are plenty of other examples where a patient is required to return back to a doctor, by the doctor, and have to pay another copay. I do not know, but if you pay the copay once, the entire service should be covered regardless of the number of times that you are seen for that one illness. For a working person, this may not seem like that big a deal, but for someone on a fixed income, such as someone who is retired or on disability, a thirty-five dollar copay to see the oncologist for one particular patient cost the patient close to two hundred dollars before the first chemotherapy drug went into his veins just in consultation visits.

Posted in Cancer, Side Effects, The Heart | Leave a comment
04 Mar 2014
2 Comments

A Most Sincere Thank You


First, I want to thank everyone who “liked”, “commented”, and “shared” my photo and story. I am really overwhelmed by the outpouring response. Never in my wildest dreams as much as I want to help people deal with cancer and surviving it, did I think it would have this big of an impact.

To those who are just entering the world of cancer or going through treatment, you can get through this. I have met hundreds of other patients who have come after me. The treatments are better, safer. And some day I hope you enjoy the longevity that I have.

And for those that have approached my longevity and gone well beyond, I am inspired by you. I never had the opportunity to know anyone who had even beaten cancer let alone long term. After seeing your responses it is clear I will have a lot more time to come.

In closing, an expressions I like to say at the end of many of my posts, “as I cruise down the road of remission, I will keep looking in my rear view mirror to make sure that you are still following me. And if you aren’t on that highway, hurry up, I’ll wait for you.”

Paul

Posted in Cancer, Family and Friends, Inspired By..., Side Effects, The Heart

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