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Help with Breast Cancer medical expenses

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I am a mother of three grown sons, daughter to an amazing mother, aunt to quite a few special humans.  A nurse currently with Carolina's Rehabilitation with some amazing nurses and CNA/NAs. Basically your average every day woman living an ordinary life. Until August 21, 2019. In May 2019 I had a 3D mammogram, something I have had done every year since I was 35 years old (47 now). The results were the same- dense tissue no signs of malignancy. In July I found a hard pea sized lump in my left areola during a self exam.  After seeing my primary care doctor things happened rather quickly. Ultrasound and another mammogram, the lump was not visible on the new exam either.  Ultrasound guided core tissue biopsy came back positive for left breast invasive ductal carcinoma.  I was commended for finding it because it was so small and considered early in development.  This tiny little lump has turned my life upside down.  I now have had two surgeries,  4 cycles of chemotherapy,  and once I recover will begin 30 rounds of radiation.   I am extremely fortunate for a very loving and supportive family, friends, and coworkers.  I am also fortunate that I caught it early and got checked quickly.  All the health care providers and support staff at Atrium Health have been wonderful. In so many ways I have been so very blessed. Unfortunately I have exhausted my savings on medical bills and haven't made a dent in the totals. Which is sad because after my first surgery I met the 5600 total out of pocket and my insurance began covering things at 100%.  I thought I was good because  originally I was told I just needed 6 weeks of radiation. That was well within the year so everything should have been covered. After my lesion and lymph nodes were sent to pathology the first node had tumor cells present. The margins were clear the lymph node was removed intact no outside invasion. All good news right? They did a mammaprint to determine the risk of recurrence in the next 5 years and I was labeled high risk. That put chemotherapy in the treatment plan.  Talk about a game changer. I was not happy about it, but the odds were significantly different it needed to happen.  Having some experience as a nurse with inpatient oncology I was less than thrilled. I knew what was coming which made it harder to continue but you do what you have to do to get rid of cancer.  Since the new year everything restarts with insurance and I will now have to pay around 5600 to get back full coverage. I still owe about 2500 on last years expenses.  This year I spent five days in the hospital after my 3rd cycle of chemotherapy for shortness of breath and tachycardia. Five days, three CT scans, more labs than I can remember,  two specialists, cardiac monitoring, and the trip through the ER covered meeting the out of pocket.  My first bill hit yesterday for just the hospital it was 36,000. It is mind blowing how expensive things are that you never considered before you are sick and the bills start rolling in.  After my 4th and final chemo I relapsed with the same breathing and heart rate symptoms.  My doctor ordered a home nebulizer and solution, and steroids. Gave me shots of phenergan (liquid lava) and solu-medrol and allowed me to go back to my mom's instead of the hospital.  One of the labs he drew is suppose to indicate blood clots in your lungs (d-dimer) so of course just having chemo he wanted yet another CTA scan. It was clear. Good news.  The next morning I woke up and my left breast was red, warm, tender, and firm. Not a good thing, now I have cellulitis most likely got the infection while in the hospital. So strong antibiotics and a lot of hope the infection clears by next week. I am suppose to start radiation January 30th so I can make my deadline of returning to work March 19th. Living on short term disability and 60% of your pay with final notices rolling in everyday has broken my pride down enough to seek help. I have applied for a dozen assistance programs only one has approved me for one reason or another the others have not. Go Jen Go is giving me 300 dollars a month to help with expenses which is wonderful but not nearly enough.  Wow, I wrote a book and could say more. In a nutshell if you are still reading any help is help and will be greatly appreciated. I have never done this before so if I need to be more detailed or less someone let me know please.
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Donations 

  • Wayne Howard
    • $100 
    • 4 yrs
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Organiser

Kim Baynard Gross
Organiser
Clover, SC

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