Surgeries for Smitty

My name is Jaime Hitchcock (known in some online circles as "Smitty"), I'm a cartoonist, and while I'm usually a little ray of sunshine for everyone else, I have to ask for help this time and I hate it. This story has more than a couple of layers. Stick with me please, and read on.

 

On Tuesday, August 31, 2021, I ended up in the ER with what turned out to be a severe gallbladder attack. The only thing that kept them from admitting me that night was the COVID risk; however, the next day, I met with the surgeon and he confirmed that this thing needs to come out ASAP.

 

Unfortunately, this was the worst time to find out that the insurance I've been paying for through COBRA since being laid off in 2020 (again, due to COVID) was not going to cover the surgery. They will only cover $200 - $500 for a single medical procedure per day. What the insurance would be billed for this is estimated at over $23,000. Insurance would pay $200 - $500 of that, leaving me with the rest.

 

The self-pay option is...slightly better at just over $12,000, with a 30% ($3,700) deposit due the day I'm admitted for the procedure. If I'm able to do "prompt pay," meaning paying the whole thing off by the first billing, there's a discount that brings it to roughly $11,000.

 

 

 

 

It doesn't stop there. The next layer of this adventure?

 

The CT scan and ultrasound done in the ER revealed that there are two masses inside my body that do not belong there. I have a cyst on my left kidney and a mass on my right adrenal gland. The surgeon said not to panic, that usually 98% of the time, these things are benign, though they still cause trouble. This explains a lot about why my health has gone haywire over the past several years.

 

In order to get a better look at these masses, I will need an MRI. I was able to get a self-pay quote for that and wow, imagine thinking that $709 is a "bargain."

 

 

 

I'm looking at either two or three surgeries total (hopefully) to resolve these issues and I'm doing my best to figure out a blind estimate for the cyst and tumor removal and follow-up treatment, plus what I know about the gallbladder removal. I will update the GFM to reflect what it should be once I get the medical codes and prices. I still don't know what my ER visit will cost since my insurance is kind of a nebulous, horrible mystery. What I would like is to be able to get the MRI out of the way, then get the gallbladder out ASAP and recover, then discuss with the surgeon what the MRI scans reveal about the two masses.

 

I'm selling shirts on Threadless to help: https://smitshappens.threadless.com/

 

And I am open to discuss commissions, small sketches, or whatever. Please message me!

 

If you've made it this far, thank you. I appreciate you. Please know that in all honesty, I'm scared and worried because I've only had my wisdom teeth out and a knee fixed and now I'm looking at an entire organ being extracted and two mystery masses being removed, about which I will NOT entertain any possibility that they're anything but stupid, harmless fatty lumps. (Please let them be stupid, harmless fatty lumps.)

 

Right now, every bit helps and sharing helps, too. If you want to donate anonymously, that's fine, but please email me or message me on Instagram (@smits76) or Facebook and let me know so I can thank you privately. It's only polite.