| Joined: Sep 2013 Posts: 6 Member | OP Member Joined: Sep 2013 Posts: 6 | You would wait a month if you had no cash, no credit, and no insurance. I dont give a shit who you are. You would wait a month, or two. | | | | Joined: Mar 2013 Posts: 421 Likes: 1 Platinum Member (300+ posts) | Platinum Member (300+ posts) Joined: Mar 2013 Posts: 421 Likes: 1 | Ripley,
When I had my first heart attack, I had no cash, no credit and no insurance. The hospital took care of me. Yes, I went in way over my head and had to take measures to dispel the debt but I'm alive. This is your life. Just saying.
"T"
57 Cardiac bypass 11/07 Cardiac stents 10/2012 Dx'd 11/30/2012 Tx N2b MO Stage IV HPV+ Palatine Tonsillectomy/Biopsies 12-21-12 Selective Neck Dissection/Lingual Tonsillectomy/biopsies TORS 2/7/13 Emergency Surgery/Bleeding 2/18/13 3/13/2013 30rads/6chemo Finished Tx 4/24/13 NED Since
| | | | Joined: Dec 2010 Posts: 5,264 Likes: 5 "OCF Canuck" Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | "OCF Canuck" Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) Joined: Dec 2010 Posts: 5,264 Likes: 5 | Ripely sorry don't be offended, a month can be the difference between living or dying with this cancer. Think I'm being a drama queen ? I'm not - I had a clear scan on the 21 of December indicating that the cancer hadn't spread and was only In my tongue - by dec the 27 I felt a lymph node pop up in my neck - under my chin, by the time the dr removed it a month later it was 1.6 cm and the cancer had leaked outside the node into the surrounding tissue and my cancer was well to moderately differentiated - in other words it was at the most moderately aggressive (poorly differentiated is highly aggressive) I was blessed in that my surgeon is top in his field, and got it all - but because of that month (lymph node) I had to do radiation and chemo - There are two things to note here - this cancer can be highly aggressive and spread quickly, and in younger people it tends to be very aggressive. Seeing an ENT and getting a dx is of the utmost importance. When it comes to expense, its far more expensive to have to have surgery and rads and chemo, than just a biopsy or even surgery - so even if it costs 5000 dollars to see a specialist, I think your life is worth that. Im blessed to live in canada and we have social medicine, but if i didn't I and i had no insurance, a job or money, I would still get my butt into the drs. as soon as possible if I thought for a moment I had cancer.
Cheryl : Irritation - 2004 BX: 6/2008 : Inflam. BX: 12/10, DX: 12/10 : SCC - LS tongue well dif. T2N1M0. 2/11 hemigloss + recon. : PND - 40 nodes - 39 clear. 3/11 - 5/11 IMRT 33 + cis x2, PEG 3/28/11 - 5/19/11 3 head, 2 chest scans - clear(fingers crossed) HPV-, No smoke, drink, or drugs, Vegan
| | | | Joined: Nov 2006 Posts: 2,671 Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) | Patient Advocate (old timer, 2000 posts) Joined: Nov 2006 Posts: 2,671 | Ripley - I am so sorry you are in this horrible situation. But you have to believe it when the people who care about you tell you NOT to wait a month. No matter what the circumstances. There is ALWAYS something you can do, someone you can talk to or get someone to help you make phone calls to get an earlier appointment and cry, scream, yell. My son waited until the cancer got to a Stage 2. He had no insurance, no job, recently divorced and was in therapy for suicidal depression. He had no cash no credit and had sold everything he had. Hospitals do take care of you. Even if 10 people tell you NO, they can't help, the next person could say Yes. You do what you have to do to make a difference in your health. You can worry about the rest, later. My son ended up going bankrupt, but he is enjoying life, cancer-free 7 years later. There are and have been plenty of people in your same circumstances, and they would not, and did not, wait a month to get the biopsy. Please, do it NOW. (BTW-Cheryld is NO drama queen.)
Anne-Marie CG to son, Paul (age 33, non-smoker) SCC Stage 2, Surgery 9/21/06, 1/6 tongue Rt.side removed, +48 lymph nodes neck. IMRTx28 completed 12/19/06. CT scan 7/8/10 Cancer-free! ("spot" on lung from scar tissue related to Pneumonia.)
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