Friday, September 10, 2010

To Live Or To Die

  Several months ago my cousin found out she had cervical cancer. She is in her mid forties and was uninsured. The University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center found a way for her to get medicaid to pay for the treatments. They consisted of about six weeks of direct radiation by inserting an irradiated rod into her uterus to kill the cancer cells. It was tough on her but she seemed to recover and was told by the doctors at UAB that she was cancer free. The medicaid payed for her stay and all drugs the oncologist used. Life was good.
  Then about three weeks ago she noticed her right leg begin to swell. Medicaid continued to pay for her blood thinner medicines, along with pain medication. Her leg kept growing much larger, day by day. She developed very large blood blisters on her leg and began having numbness in the affected leg. My wife called her an ambulance and she was transported to Gadsden Regional Medical Center to be seen by a vascular surgeon. After getting her history and physical the doctor was afraid that the cancer had returned and ordered a CAT scan and MRI. His fears were true. The test showed many tumors growing in her cervix and lymphatic system. A large tumor had pressed against the large leg vein not allowing the blood that was pumped via an artery to her leg and the blood could not go back to the heart/lungs for re oxygenation, therefore, her leg became one huge blood blister. She had been placed on blood thinners and would have to wait before she could have surgery for her blood to thicken. Here is where things started changing rapidly. One minute she was to have surgery and two days later they tell her that she was awarded social security disability, therefore, made too much money to be eligible for medicaid.. She would have a two year wait for medicare, the federally funded insurance. She was discharged with orders to take a certain medication that would keep her alive. The only problem; the medication was $4,000 dollars. She cleaned out her bank account and with $600 dollars bought less than a weeks worth of medicine. This is America, not a third world nation. She should have some way to get the medication to stay alive. Do you agree? I am going to send this letter to President Obama. I want to start up a fund for her to get the treatment that she needs. Her name is Patricia Wisinger Spaulding and she is family and needs our help. Please send donations in her name to Regions Bank in Glencoe, AL. 35905   You may also find her and talk with her on facebook.com/patriciaspaulding   Please talk with her and share your story and if you are in government, please do not let her die. Thank you, theblogmeister

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