All I can say is Petey, PLEASE! You have got me crying!! Do not give up or in to this "bastard of a disease" as an old friend from this forum used to say! Please Petey I will try to help you if possible.....I live in Baltimore, Md. and I know that there are patients being treated for these types of cancer right here in downtown Baltimore daily.....DO NOT GIVE UP!!!!!!!!!!Carol

Petey,
I know that you are early in recovery and maybe you are even on the "pink cloud" but you really need to do a reality check here and listen to what others have told you. Many of us had NO insurance (including yours truly) going into this yet still figured out ways to get quality care.

I am afraid that the only thing that is going to be "rolling" here is the grass over your plot and have you subject you and your family to a horrific cancer death experience AND in hospice care.

You can might make light of this and I applaud you're being able to keep a sense of humor but I have been on the boards for some years now and have seen, up close and personal, the really UGLY side of this.

This could be you: http://www.sptimes.com/News/61599/Floridian/He_wanted_you_to_know.shtml

Obviously you have been following Paul R's thread.

Get off of your pity party (thinly veiled as humor and sarcasm - we see right through this) and find a treatment center NOW. Publicly funded institutions HAVE to take a certain amount of uninsured patients - keep looking and quit complaining that dogs get better care.

Petey, There is nothing noble, humorous or admirable about giving up the fight before you start. Aside from the people here, I also know of other people without insurance that had this disease and got the treatment they needed. Call your nearest CCC--walk out on an yone who tells you you have to wait and see. You don't have time for that.

Also I see from what you posted elsewhere that you have BOT cancer and believe you will have to have your enture tongue removed as a result. That is probably NOT the case--many people here have had their BOT cancer treated with rad and chemo alone and had no surgery whatsoever. Don't make assumptions about how bad a quality of life your treatment will leave you with until you actually se an expert in the field!

Second, I am here to tell you from first hand experience that even if you are one of the rare people on this board who end up with some significant qulity of life issue, like problems swallowing or speaking, there is still a heck of a lot more life to enjoy than you will have dying from this disease without a fight!

You can cover your actions with humor and bravado and blame at the system but what I hear, probably what many of us hear when we read this, is fear. Remember we've been there and we've gotten through it and you can too. Remember too that in this case what you should be fearing more is how your life will end without treatment. There will not much quality of life there. Really.

Nelie

Petey,

Man these folks really let you have it, didn't they? Well you deserve it. There must be something we're missing here, cause several folks have told you some possible avenues to get treated even though you don't have insurance. I too had BOT cancer, received radiation and chemo with no surgery...my quality of life ain't that bad.

Try what the folks are telling you above, I've been on this board long enough to know that Gary Allsebrook know his s*** so contact him or PM him and figure this out. If you have to agree to pay the rest of your life, you can sort that out later.

I will pray that you CHOOSE LIFE if not for your sake, then your families!
Tim

Petey,

How can u do this ? You said to me once it is like we have known each other forever! I sit here in tears , I can imagine what your wife and children feel. U cant give up ! You dont know the stage you are even at yet ! Tomorrow is your appt on the 2nd and you better go ! I told you I will call and do whatever i can !!!! I made it through and I am the biggest BABY !!! You havent even begun yet ......Dont let the red tape get you down ! I cant read your post as things go down hill because you wont try and forgive me for being rude but at this point "YOU ARE BEING SELFISH !!!!!!" you dont even have enough info to make the decison on whether or not to fight ! ANd until you get that info you are being unfair !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STAND UP FOR YOURSELF.. AND ATLEAT GET THE INFO AND MAKE AN EDUCATED DECISION !


Very dissapointed
Shar

Petey, I meant to say that people do get treatment without insurance, please check into it further, I received your PM and yes I have followed your posts.
Could you do a little more checking into the treatment, or have family or friends help you with it? I am sure they do NOT want to lose you without giving it a go.....God Bless you, Carol

Petey,
So did you go the appointment on the second? Did you get your slides read? Did you get a treatment plan?

You finally give your wife and family a chance to have SOBER Petey and now you are going to throw ALL that away?

You obviously have the smarts to negociate the frustrating red tape to get the treatment. Get off your 'pink cloud', call your sponser and get on with treatment. If they tell you it can not be cured, then we will back off. However, everyday you wait the cancer is growing. Take Brians advice, don't let an $800 bill stop you from getting a treatment plan.

Please post back on this thread and let us know what you REALLY decided to do. Posting on Paul R.s
thread about his 71 year frail mother is not a good place to post.

I do hope you have come to your senses since I read your initial post.

Take care,
Eileen

Petey,

My husband has chemo today and while we are there I am going to ask questions and hopefully get answers for you.
We are not far from you, in Charleston, SC and my husband goes to the Medical University of South Carolina. They are wonderful there and because it is also a university I think there is a way to get you in whereas you would have more difficulty with a regular facility.

If all else fails, we can all, in our corners of the world, raise money for your cause...your cause is LIFE!! I know I would be willing to talk to people and put decorated cans around in the hospitals, gas stations...you name it!

There is a way...just hang in there a little longer, we can find a way to get you treatment!!

Petey,

I am Lissys husband and you can bet we will be asking questions today to see what we can do to help. You may have to come to Charleston but there is a Hope House right across the street from the hospital that you can stay in while treatment is going on for free, with food, beds, etc. I have to agree that this is not a good example to set for your children. It seems to me that you are a happy go lucky fella just judging by your post and also that you are full of life. To just give up and say thats it isnt even an option here. You just trust in God to find a way for you to get the treatment you need and it will happen my friend. Either me or Lissy will post back here as soon as we find something out.

God Bless you Petey,

Billy

Thank You Billy and Linda
This post was written 30 days ago. Everyone on the board was pushing me not to give up. Well I tried and tried. Even yesterday 5-1-07, I could not get help. I told my wife I was selling everything, have her pick out a small house we could almost pay for cash. (procedes from 3 properties) Then sell all my tools and equipment so she would be "ok" when I left. (plus life insurance) I had totally given up. The thing that hurt also was going to be trying to explain to everyone here that I had exausted all possibilities, which I had. Then I was gonna just hope for a month saying my goodbyes, and when it got to bad, go visit the new Skywalk in the Grand Canyon. Then I got the phone call from the medical director of a local hospital, and to come in today. THIS YOU WON'T BELIEVE! THERE WE 5 DOCTORS AND THE HOSPITAL CEO WAITING FOR ME. THEY WERE MY TUMOR BOARD, OR "TEAM" AS THEY PUT IT. IN 1 HOUR I HAD MY PET /CT DONE. THEN I WENT TO EACH DOCTORS OFFICE ON THE COMPLEX AND THEY ALL EXPLAINED THEIR TASK IN THE PROCEDURES. WHILE WITH MY RO- DR. DAAS, A PHONE CALL SAID CHEST X-RAY WAS CLEAR AND PET WAS GOOD, I WILL GET SURGERY NEXT WEEK (BEING SCHEDUALED) AND RADIATION STARTS 3 WEEKS AFTER. THESE DOCTORS TREATED ME LIKE I WAS ROYALTY. I'M STILL AMAZED BY WHAT TRANSPIRED IN THE LAST 24 HOURS. I HAD PREPARED MYSELF FOR DEATH, NOW I'M LOOKING TOWARD A FUTURE. THEY GAVE ME A 60% CHANCE OF RECOVERY. AND I MUST SAY IT AGAIN. THE HEALTH CARE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. IT WAS JUST "A FEW GOOD MEN" (DR's) WHO SAW ME BEGGING FOR MY LIFE ON TV.
NO HUMAN BEING SHOULD HAVE TO BE PUT THROUGH THIS! NOT IN THE UNITED STATES FOR SURE!!