Posts tagged nerve block
The Cost of Normalcy pt.1
0The cost of my medications is high, despite the fact I have insurance. I’ll total it up for you later, but it’s a couple hundred dollars a month for the “essentials”. Occasionally a drug company will see me post something about the cost of a medication and will tell me to contact them for help. Then I’m told that because I currently have insurance there isn’t anything they can do. I’m starting to wonder if it would be better for me to NOT have insurance and sign up for assistance programs. (Unfortunately) It seems I’ll be finding out sooner, rather than later. My COBRA is about to run out.
If I cannot afford my medications I will be unable to work. No work means no money. No money means no medications and… well we’re back to the beginning of what becomes a vicious cycle.
And, as it turns out, I make too much money to receive food stamps in Illinois. They count only my car payment, rent and utilities as my necessary expenses. Great. Except it is necessary for me to have my medications. What am I supposed to do now? I did the math before, about how much of my income every year is considered …gone, for lack of a better word, by the government. It was over $5000. I even tried itemizing my taxes, but despite being more than the percentage needed to claim medical expenses it wasn’t more than the standard. It adds up to tens of thousands of dollars lost to medical expenses over the years and there’s nothing I can do about it. That’s money I would have if I were a “healthy” (again, for lack of a better word) person. Them’s the brakes, apparently. And I’m still in constant pain from my lung. I need a $10,000 procedure, and that only lasts 6 months. Even with insurance it would cost me over $1000, which I don’t have.
It’s just the cost of normalcy in my world.
To block or not to block
2I was going to try to wait as long as possible for my injection(s), but the pain is catching up to me faster than I anticipated. This last nerve block never took as well as my previous ones, so that might be why the pain seems to be coming back so fast.
I need to ask if they think this is because of the meds used in the last one. I was in a study that used different meds to put me “out”. I use the quotes since the block is intercostal (around my lungs) so I have to be awake, though I generally don’t remember much of it. There is the possibility I am just better off getting it done at Rush in Oak Park, rather than Rush in Chicago as Oak Park supposedly has better equipment. A year ago I had a block done in Chicago and that was fine, so who knows.
Most importantly I have to see if I can get Dr. Amin or a resident on the phone to discuss this. At least it’s not necessary for me to go to the office before scheduling the block. Specialist visits are costing me $50 each this year. Considering I almost ONLY see specialists that puts even more of a strain on my already strained pocketbook.
Then comes the trouble of finding someone to take me. I still have to wait at least a month, so I guess we’ll see how this shapes up.