In which there’s another riveting post about my damned uterus! (Can I generate content, or can I generate content!) (Wait. Don’t answer that; I’ll probably cry.)
I had to call the clinic this morning to get my biopsy results, even though they promised they’d call me by Tuesday afternoon. The biopsy shows I have a benign prolapsed fibroid tumor, which is exactly what we were expecting the biopsy to show. (In other words, I don’t have uterine cancer. Yay!)
My uterus monster sucks. I want the fucker out, and I want it out before my next period because this month SUCKED SO BAD. OMFG. I couldn’t make it through my shift Monday and had to go home and sleep for 14 hours. I lost at a pint of blood in four hours that day; heavy bleeding is common with fibroids and believe you me when I report that IT SUCKS. I won’t even talk about the pain or how scary it is to bleed like that, nor about the general exhaustion and despair that accompany the whole process.
I’ve applied for Medicaid (thanks for the suggestion, amped!) and should hear back on that in the next day or two. Since I have no assets whatsoever, I may be eligible for some kind of coverage. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
I have no idea what the surgery will cost – maybe around six grand? – so it’s hard to prepare financially. No doubt I’ll be making payments for the next few years whether I’m eligible for any kind of benefits or not. I’d hoped to get new glasses and have my teeth cleaned and buy another car, and then maybe splurge on some clothes without holes in them, but I guess I’ll pay for surgery instead. (I am so sick of having my check spent before I earn it. Gah. Poverty may be spiritually enriching, sure, but a girl can bitch, can’t she?)
I’m waiting to hear from Medicaid before scheduling surgery. The nurse I spoke with today was all weird and vague and useless, so I’m not even really clear on what my next step is supposed to be, but I think it involves scheduling a follow-up appointment and getting referred to the hospital.
During my appointment last week, the doctor was all, “You have to have this out within the next month, and if you start running a temperature you’ll need to get in here right away.” But today, the nurse made it sound as if her interest in helping me was tied directly to my insurance, which of course I don’t have. I’m not certain but I think she may have been trying to tell me, in code, that I need to call a lot and complain a lot so that her office can report to Medicaid that the problem is, in fact, an emergency. Hard to tell, but I have called three times in just as many days to complain about pain and bleeding, so they have records of that.
The whole thing sucks, and ruminating upon it gives me anxiety attacks.
In other news, living with Gramma rocks, and in the near future I shall write a post about exactly how excellent she is. And today I rode the bus to work and it was all amusing and shit because [A] I haven’t lived in a town with public transportation for over a decade, and [B] there was a cute boy, who got on and off at the same stops I did, eyeballing me in that style specially reserved for public buses and trains. I’ve been losing weight since I got here because I’m not eating like a pig, and that plus getting ogled makes me feel double plus good awesome!
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Bleh, good luck. Medicaid sucks ass, but it’s better than nothing at all. I hope they get that monster out soon, and with minimal pain. But, HOORAY, no cancer!
Also, hooray for cute guys on public transportation!
Hooray for Carrie! *smooch* -m
That’s better content than I’m generating lately. 😉
You’re generating PEOPLE, though. That counts!
I bet, when all this is past, that your iron levels will soar and you’ll have boundless energy, no matter the time of the month. Yeah, because that makes sense.
Hoping the Medicaid works out for you!
Me too!!!
Also, I’ll see what I can find on the cost of a benign fibroid tumor removal procedure – doing performance & clinical analysis for a health insurance company has its benefits. 😉
Ooh. You rock! GEEK! -m
Keep calling, keep bitching. Get that tumor out ASAP!
I will, I will! I WILL! -m
Know any Canadians, Brits, or Frenchmen who’d consider marrying you in a heartbeat? You only need one. (It seems sisterly solidarity has pushed me beyond lurking, Mush. I really hope you can get this handled right away.) p
I wish I did, but I don’t. *sigh* But thank you for delurking! Do you have a blog I can add to my list? -m
i am so glad it’s benign! that is great news. so so good.
i so hope you get some medicaid help, afterall that is why they are there! they should be helpful, right?
i wish you so the best and i hope you feel so good after this is all taken care of.
love you!
Love YOU! -m
keep riding that bus!
hubba hubba.
The boy wasn’t on the bus today. *sigh* Oh well. It’s not like I’ll be putting out in the very near future anyway. Hah! -m
Damn. I mean, yeah, at least it’s not cancer, but still. I wish there was something I could do.
Have you updated your Amazon wishlist to your new address yet?
Thanks for the lurve, C. *smooch* And yes, my Amazon address is current! -m
I’ve always thought you were double-plus good awesome. Just so you know.
I freakin’ *heart* you so much. -m
Bodily fluids are usually funny except when they don’t understand that they need to stop and bring their buddy pain along. Keeping you in my thoughts.
It’s true, they usually are funny. Except when they’re torrents of blood. Ugh. -m
Your damn site just trashed my comment that I spent 20 minutes composing.
I’m sorry about that, but my site didn’t eat it. Your damn browser ate it. 😉 -m
Out with Tim! Out with Tim!!
Damn monsters are so expensive.
You’re tellin’ me. *rolleyes* -m
OK, your site wouldn’t take my second attempt at a comment either, and no error message, so I sent it as an email.
I’ll check my email. *smooch* -m
I am jealous of your cute bus guy (Originally, I said bus-boy, but that connoted the wrong thing). My bus ride has no such individuals.
I am not all jealous of your pain or surgery issues. That sucks! Call and pester until you get it done.
Cute bus guys (and bus-boys) are awesome. I hope you find one of your own! And yeah, surgery isn’t teh funneh, not really. -m
No, Mush, I don’t have a personal blog. I do have a website related to some human rights work that I do, though, resistersbook.org.
Gaining any medical ground on that fibroid?
Warm regards to you, Gramma, and Bindu.
Still working on getting the surgery scheduled. -m
Here’s what I found:
Should be less than $3500 for the procedure (this was the very highmost of the range), and most likely under $2K.
…caveats: that’s just for the procedure, no room/board/extras included. (I have no idea how facilities bill for those.)
Sending you some happy thoughts!
Thanks for the research, you. *smooch* Hopefully it’ll be outpatient and on the lower side of the price range. {fingers crossed} -m
The trick is to call everybody involved and ask for an estimate so you can budget. My guess is $9500. That’s for one night in the hospital, surgeon, gas doctor, visits before and after with your regular doctor, pre and post op meds.
$20 says I’m within $1,000.
If I had $20 to gamble with, I’d take that bet. See, I’m not getting cut into, so it shouldn’t be as expensive as you’re predicting. They’ll be going in through the existing ingress, as it were, and barring complications fibroid tumor removal is out-patient surgery: no overnight stay. They use IV Valium: no anesthesiologist. Pre-op I’ll need standard blood work, and post-op I’ll be on generic antibiotics. I hope amped!’s estimate is closer than yours, because I an’t got no ten grand, and without kids I’m not eligible for Medicaid. -m
🙂
I’ll do some more poking around to find out if that’s an inpatient or outpatient thing – if it’s outpatient (which I think it is – LOTS of procs are day surgeries now that didn’t used to be), you’ll be able to skip the majority of added-on expenses.
Also also, lots of hospital costs are “bundled” into the cost of a procedure, so pain meds administered by the hosp staff (not an anesthesiologist) would be included in the procedure cost. (That is to say, they aren’t going to bill you for a few ibuprofin or band-aids or gauze or bed sheets or anything like that.) The “extras” I mentioned above I was referring to anesthesiologists, lab work, follow-up visits. That kind of thing.
I have a consultation Monday with the doctor; I should have a better idea then what he wants to do, but I think you’re right and it’s out-patient surgery. -m
[…] or eight grand… or maybe less. [You almost win, dad. (Thank God I didn’t take you up on your bet.)] I have applications – from both the doctor’s office and the hospital – that may give me a […]
I am so so SO glad it’s benign.