How was patient care for you or love one?

When I started all this, I had medical insurance, but when I received diagnosis not only was I unemployed but had lost insurance. I had to go to the state hospital LSU Medical Center. They were amazing. I had always heard how slow getting services was, but my surgery went so smoothly. I had to have a complete hysterectomy, and it was done with laser surgery. I never bled, and three days afterwards, I was off the pain meds. They gave me 6 weeks to recover then I started radiation.

Medicaid approved me, so I didnt have to pay for the costs. I was lucky. Had I been employed with out insurance, I may be in debt over my head.

Its been 4 months and I am due to go back and be tested again at the end of the month. I'm a bit nervous about it, I dont want to have to go thru treaments like that again, ever. But I feel pretty good and have been working out to rebuild my strength.

Like I said, I was amazed at the technolgy used at a state run hospital. I feel really lucky I went there. And if I get the opportunity to go back to work, and have insurance, I will probably go back there, even though I would have the option to go to a private hospital.

I have a completely different experience when it came to affording medical care. My parents own a small restaurant ( petty-bourgeois ) and make a decent income from it. Even though I was 25, I was insured under their insurance. So money wasn't a problem for me, and often I wonder how the un-insured can go through it all.

As soon as I was diagnosed I was sent to the local CBCC ( comprehensive blood and cancer center ) where a portacath was surgically placed above my right breast ( no, I'm not a woman, just couldn't think of a better term! ) because the chemo I was to be treated with was harsh and would have damaged my veins.

Anyway, I spent 6 months recieving chemo-therapy, had to stay out of work for the whole time and collected a sorry state check every two-weeks, it was only $200 each check. My fiance who I live with worked extra and even worked my shifts where I work, my parents restaurant, so she kept a steady income coming.

CBCC is a great place full of caring workers. I recieved a chemo-session once every two weeks for six hours. Needless to say it was quite exhausting, but I survived.

I've been done with that for almost a year and my next challenge is to get my tonsils taken out because my cancer doc says hodgkins disease likes to spread in the tonsils, so without tonsils, they will not spread there!

So, that will be my next journey, the hard part is over though. Hopefully it does not decide to return. Wish me luck.

my mother had breast cancer and reacted badly to the chemo making her very sick and often she had to vomit in the days after every chemo.

fortunately i was unemployed and living at home so i could still make sure she ate and drank enough even though it was hard to keep down.

we even brought down a bed into the living room so she could lay down and rest/sleep whenever she got tired.

i never actually went to the hospital with her because my dad always came along with her and sometimes one of my sisters so she had more then enough companions with her there so i just made sure that everything was ready for when she would come home.

now she is in the pill phase of the treatment (hormone treatment) and she is as active as she always was but she does say she tires more easily but i can not really notice it.

she is even considering to start working again but at other times she says she is not ready yet and i agree with her on that.

my mother had breast cancer and reacted badly to the chemo making her very sick and often she had to vomit in the days after every chemo.

fortunately i was unemployed and living at home so i could still make sure she ate and drank enough even though it was hard to keep down.

we even brought down a bed into the living room so she could lay down and rest/sleep whenever she got tired.

i never actually went to the hospital with her because my dad always came along with her and sometimes one of my sisters so she had more then enough companions with her there so i just made sure that everything was ready for when she would come home.

now she is in the pill phase of the treatment (hormone treatment) and she is as active as she always was but she does say she tires more easily but i can not really notice it.

she is even considering to start working again but at other times she says she is not ready yet and i agree with her on that.

I can totally relate to how your mom feels.

In fact, remember our PM exchanges comparing our experiences? I am pushing myself by my new obssession, working out. And as hard as it was for me to pull myself out of bed during my treatments, I would walk my Rott 30 minutes a day, most the time, twice a day for those 30 minutes. That and going to visit RS2K. He was the reason to get out of bed. I would go for radiation, then hurry over to see him right awards because if I waited I was down until the next day.

I knwo I do get tired easily. My son is letting me work at his tattoo shop 2 days a week, and the third day I usually dont get out of bed.

Winter: how long did it take you to regain strength after finishing your treatments?

Winter: how long did it take you to regain strength after finishing your treatments?

A couple of months. I came very close to throwing up several times, but fortunately I never did. I had to remember to drink a lot of fluid and eat regularly.

I know that cancer is only a portion of my story, but I want to share it anyways.

When I was a sophomore in high school, my mom told me that she had Hepatis B. Earlier in the year, she had been diagnosed with Diabetes. Long before that, she had developed skin cancer and she suffered from that throughout her life.

Around November of 2006, her health started to deteriorate. During this time, my father (Jim) continued his abuse of her, yelling at her that she was lazy when she could barely move. She eventually had to be hospitalized due to breathing problems arising from a virus. Her lungs had been weakened due to life-long smoking.

While in hospital, she developed MERSA. Her lungs evantually collapsed, and Jim signed a Do Not Resuscitate order. When she passed away, Jim almost immediately revealed that he had a girlfriend. 6 months later, the man who abused me, my mom and my brother (Joffe) throughout our childhoods attacked Joffe. I defended him, and 2 days later Jim called the police. We ended up in county jail for a night, my fiance's parents bailed me out.

Jim has never given my mom the burial at sea she requested. He received a 100,000 life insurance policy, when he immediately bought a new tractor and a new Dodge Charger. My uncle died in February, and he has never received a memorial because Jim was in charge of it. I had to quit college and get a job, and Joffe and I are now barely getting by.

The way I see it, cigarettes were the primary health problem here, in addition to low Hospital standards.


It's good to hear such positive stories from other comrades; I'm sorry mine is so negative.

In late 2006 my paternal grandfather, who was 76 at the time and someone I thought was pretty healthy for his age, was diagnosed with stomach cancer and given six months to live. Although it came as a shock, the way he dealt with his illness really helped when he died. He had one session of chemotherapy and decided against it (he was given just three months without chemotherapy, the six months was if he did have it) and he stayed at my aunt and uncles (my aunt is his daughter) home on the Cumbrian coast, about 90 miles north of where I'm from. We visited him a few times and he seemed to accept his illness and the fact that he had months to live. He managed to live for seven months after diagnosis.

The health services did a lot of good work for him, and it was thanks to them, my aunt and uncle and himself that he was able to spend his last few months with family rather than in an hospital or hospice.

Wow Dean I'm sorry to hear you've been through so much with your mom. My heart goes out to her as well as you. Do you still have contact with Jim? I dont know him, and already dont like him for taking advantage of your mom like that.

RedAnarchist, your grand dad sounds like a great guy. Its easy to get railroaded by some professionals to stay in the system. I say the same thing he did. I wont go through another round either. It really comes down to quality vs quantity of life.

CL, you just amaze me with your alibity to get through some harrowing experiences and such a great attitude and sense of humour.