Help Grace pay medical debt
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Hello, my name is Grace and I would like to request your assistance today. My Husband and I cannot afford health insurance and have recently incurred thousands of dollars of debt as a result of a medical incident.
Last Month I was finishing up at work and noticed that my left breast was sore. I didn’t think too much of it, but when I got home and examined it I saw that it had swollen to double in size. I took a day off thinking it would be better with a day of rest. When it didn’t improve with several days off, I went to a clinic for a breast exam.
The clinician had no diagnosis and wanted me to get a mammogram. She set me up with another clinic that offered low cost mammograms for the uninsured. The pain was excruciating, but I didn’t know what else to do, so I went home and waited for the clinic to call and let me know if I qualified for a low cost mammogram.
Four days later, the clinic had not called me, so I called them. They were very helpful and set up an appointment for the following week. As the appointment date drew closer, the pain intensified. I considered going to the ER, but in my mind, because I have never had health insurance and have never needed medical care, I thought the ER to be used only in extreme cases of life or death. Still trying to be optimistic, I reasoned that my life was probably not in danger, I mean, what could happen? My Husband all the while did encourage me to go to the Hospital, but since I had an appointment coming up, I didn’t.
When I finally went to my appointment, 10 days after the onset, they started the mammogram on the right breast. Having never had a mammogram, I didn’t realize how painful it would be for a healthy breast. There was no way my left breast was going to be able to have a mammogram! Luckily they were able to do an ultrasound. The Doctor told me there was a massive infection and he was going to call the ER next door to let them know I was coming in.
I was admitted and placed on IV antibiotics, they wanted to keep me through the weekend, this was on a Thursday. There was a breast specialist scheduled to meet me on Monday and if the IV antibiotics weren’t able to turn things around, I would need surgery.
The specialist saw me Monday and immediately started talking surgery. She said that it was up to me, I could stay longer and continue IV antibiotics and have more of the infection removed by syringe, but in her opinion surgery would be more effective and that I could leave right after, if everything went well. I opted for the surgery and I was able to leave that night!
After two follow up visits with the surgeon and another week and a half of recovery, I was finally back to work! I am fairly resolved that the infection will not return but the blood analysis revealed another issue that I was completely unaware of; I have an extremely low blood count and hyper anemia.
All of the Doctors recommended I do follow up care for this condition, and that I need to secure health insurance if at all possible. My Husband and I are working on this right now but the cost of the Hospital stay and a Month of missing wages are expenses that will not be helped by acquiring health insurance, of course.
I thank you for reading my story and deeply appreciate any amount of help you are able put forth to help settle my debt with the Hospital.
Last Month I was finishing up at work and noticed that my left breast was sore. I didn’t think too much of it, but when I got home and examined it I saw that it had swollen to double in size. I took a day off thinking it would be better with a day of rest. When it didn’t improve with several days off, I went to a clinic for a breast exam.
The clinician had no diagnosis and wanted me to get a mammogram. She set me up with another clinic that offered low cost mammograms for the uninsured. The pain was excruciating, but I didn’t know what else to do, so I went home and waited for the clinic to call and let me know if I qualified for a low cost mammogram.
Four days later, the clinic had not called me, so I called them. They were very helpful and set up an appointment for the following week. As the appointment date drew closer, the pain intensified. I considered going to the ER, but in my mind, because I have never had health insurance and have never needed medical care, I thought the ER to be used only in extreme cases of life or death. Still trying to be optimistic, I reasoned that my life was probably not in danger, I mean, what could happen? My Husband all the while did encourage me to go to the Hospital, but since I had an appointment coming up, I didn’t.
When I finally went to my appointment, 10 days after the onset, they started the mammogram on the right breast. Having never had a mammogram, I didn’t realize how painful it would be for a healthy breast. There was no way my left breast was going to be able to have a mammogram! Luckily they were able to do an ultrasound. The Doctor told me there was a massive infection and he was going to call the ER next door to let them know I was coming in.
I was admitted and placed on IV antibiotics, they wanted to keep me through the weekend, this was on a Thursday. There was a breast specialist scheduled to meet me on Monday and if the IV antibiotics weren’t able to turn things around, I would need surgery.
The specialist saw me Monday and immediately started talking surgery. She said that it was up to me, I could stay longer and continue IV antibiotics and have more of the infection removed by syringe, but in her opinion surgery would be more effective and that I could leave right after, if everything went well. I opted for the surgery and I was able to leave that night!
After two follow up visits with the surgeon and another week and a half of recovery, I was finally back to work! I am fairly resolved that the infection will not return but the blood analysis revealed another issue that I was completely unaware of; I have an extremely low blood count and hyper anemia.
All of the Doctors recommended I do follow up care for this condition, and that I need to secure health insurance if at all possible. My Husband and I are working on this right now but the cost of the Hospital stay and a Month of missing wages are expenses that will not be helped by acquiring health insurance, of course.
I thank you for reading my story and deeply appreciate any amount of help you are able put forth to help settle my debt with the Hospital.
Organizer
Grace Kerr
Organizer
Portland, OR
