A breakthrough!

So one thing that I don't think I've mentioned so far is my struggle to obtain medicaid coverage to pay for all of these treatments.  I knew something not good was going on late last fall, and wanted to get some sort of coverage in place before I actually went to the hospital.  There was an opening in Michigan's Adult Benefit Waiver program, which is a medicaid assistance program for the unemployed.  I also found out about a grant that the University of Michigan offers called "M-Support", which will cover costs at the hospital for the uninsured.  I applied for both and waited to hear back.

I heard back from M-Support first, and since my medicaid application was pending, they were held up on a decision until that came back as denied.  Medicaid, however, has been giving me the run around the whole time. HB and I decided in December that we couldn't wait any longer, and if Medicaid didn't come through, M-Support should, and really, my health is way too important to mess around with it any longer.

While we were in the hospital, I re-applied for medicaid through a company that the hospital contracts to help out with medicaid.  The company, Independent Medical Network, will determine if you seem to be a good candidate for medicaid, and will take care of the filing and any necessary paperwork needed afterwards.  They will also help you fight for an appeal in case you get denied the first time.  I went into the hospital on December 11th, and it was probably the 14th or 15th when I met with my worker from IMN.  Skip ahead the next 3 months to last week and me still calling waiting for an update.  My medicaid application has been pending for a month or so.  This has been a constant weight.  U of M has been really great about everything, not demanding any money before I can be seen in their clinics again, which is extremely generous on their part.

The other half of this equation is drug costs.  Most of the drugs I'm on are $4 generics, so it's relatively inexpensive, but not working, and having to drive 4 hours round trip every week adds up really fast.  However, the problem comes with the actual cancer drug.  Sutent is $8500 per month.  Luckily the hospital pharmacy filled my first prescription with the understanding that this was a one time deal, and if something didn't come through to pick it up, it would be added to the bill, and I wouldn't be able to receive more medicine until something came through.  We're in the process of filling out forms from the drug manufacturer to pay or at least defer some of the cost, but nothing involving paperwork is ever fast.  I actually took my last dose of Sutent today.  I have to take 2 weeks off to let my body recover, but 2 weeks is rarely enough time for paperwork to get pushed through anywhere, let alone a large drug conglomerate like Pfizer.  Panic was definitely starting to kick in.

I finally got a call back from my DHS worker today.  I have been approved for ongoing Medicaid, retroacted back to October 1st!  That means all of my hospital bills should be covered, and I shouldn't have to worry about any future treatments, and hopefully they cover the Sutent bill as well.  She told me this on the phone, and I just started crying.  I can't describe how much of a weight off from my shoulders this is.  I told her that she had just made my year.  I still get choked up recalling the story.  Jimmy Valvano was right, you need to do three things every day to really live.  You need to laugh, you need to think, and you need to let your emotions overtake you.  I posted the video a little while back, if you skipped over it, make sure you watch it. That's it for today, I think.  Have a happy St. Patrick's day, and drink some green beer for me to celebrate my good news, since I can't drink anymore.