Sandi Update Tonight

Sandi remains about the same. Near as we can tell there have been no changes on anything that we can see. The oxygen machine continues to help her around here as do the portable canisters we lug with us when she goes to the doctor. It is pretty obvious when she is off of it for a few minutes to shower, go to the bathroom, etc. that things remain very much the same. Her next appointment for blood work and a doctor visit is Friday morning.

Yesterday, as required by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission folks, we mailed off a six inch stack of paperwork to their office in Midland, Texas  documenting our medical bills and her insurance premiums back to the first of the year. As part of that, since we were sending so much anyway, I included the cease and desist letters to the collection agencies Medical City Dallas, Texas Radiology, and others had hired despite our best efforts at payments under agreed installment payment plans. In each case, we were current on the payments and they filed on us anyway breaking their contracts. Whether the Texas HHSC folks will actually help us on this matter or refer this stuff to another state agency I don't know, but the caseworker that talked to Sandi last week was horrified they had done this to a terminal cancer patient and her family and wanted to see all the paperwork.

This is so Texas HHSC can review what we pay for medical costs and verify that we are paying more than the state allowance of $100 a month. We are struggling to honor commits that more than quadruple that so proving that we are doing it should not be a problem. If we prove we are doing so, we may qualify for the new support level of half what we got before. Otherwise they will cut our food stamps to less than what the state allowance for medical costs of $100 a month.

By the way, Texas Medicaid will not help with the medical bills despite everything we are dealing with with me and her. This is because we do not have a child under the age of eighteen. Because Scott is 19, Sandi is not eligible for Texas Medicaid. The fact that she has cancer, is considered terminal, is oxygen dependent with a long history of heart attacks and strokes, means nothing in the system.

While we were making copies of all that going back to the first of the year as required, we made a second set for the Leukemia & Lymphoma society. They're were one of several groups we contacted back in January on the advice of the financial assistance coordinator at Texas Oncology who said they might be able to help considering Sandi's health status and obvious financial need. They did approve us for a small grant to help pay her insurance premiums and medical costs differently related to her cancer.

What was supposed to happen was that they would reimburse Sandi for her insurance premiums so that she could keep her insurance going. At $200 a month to cover her insurance such a reimbursement would certainly help a lot.

With medical bills they were supposed to pay directly to medical providers for her well documented treatment costs related to the cancer.While those costs have escalated into the thousands of dollars thanks to insurance deductibles and various coverage loopholes, any payment would certainly have helped the situation with the various providers.



However, to date, when we have sent in the paperwork before seeking reimbursement, we have received instead weeks later unsigned routine form letter denials claiming we didn't send in everything needed for reimbursement. If that wasn't the problem they would deny and say they needed a further explanation from Wal-Mart (Sandi's employer) regarding her unpaid medical leave status (she has been on that since November 9) how her insurance premiums were determined, etc. Copying pages from the insurance plan handbook and her employment handbook were not good enough because then she would get a rejection letter saying she had to resubmit what they had previously received and unsigned form letter denied.

Long distance calls to them were an utter disaster as they had no idea who had done what on anything, who was assigned to her case, or even what paperwork they had gotten from her.Sandi spent a lot of time while at Mayo being very sick trying to get somebody at the Society to assist her and was unable to get help of any type.

In short, they have been giving us the royal run around since their original letter months ago promising help. So, while we copied everything again for the state, we copied everything again for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and crammed the six inch stack into one envelope and sent it. Hopefully this time, roughly five months after their initial commitment to provide much needed help, they will follow through.

So, that is where we stand tonight....

Update

Sandi is doing about the same in all aspects. Late this afternoon new oxygen tanks arrived that should last

longer---- we hope. We know the cylinder on the right, which is the biggest she has had to this point, lasts about an hour and a half on her rate of 5 liters of air per minute. Hopefully the new bigger cylinder on the left lasts longer as just getting to the hospital and the doctor's office takes about 45 minutes one way.

By the way--the caution tape you see tied to Sandi's rocker behind the table is because they are in the process of fixing a hole at the base of the wall between our porch and next door. After leaking for over a year the porch was collapsing in that area due to wood rot so they have been working on it this week.

Sandi has been on steroids about two weeks now. Whether that is why she suddenly has started growing hair or not we have no idea, but earlier today we discovered she has hair growing on the sides of her head. She still has nothing on the top of her head, but it is definitely coming in on the sides and especially on the back of her head. It is coming in jet black and is very short at this point. Sandi was thrilled to see the hair start coming back as there was strong possibility that it wouldn't come back again.

Early this morning we got a call from the doctor's office and they want her down there Friday morning for a little blood work. They need to check her cumindin levels going into the weekend to make sure the dosage is right as everything has been jiggled this way and that with the recent hospital stay and everything else. We are still on schedule for Monday regarding major blood work and a doctor's visit.

I spent a large part of today working on letters to collection agencies thanks to Medical City Hospital Dallas and Texas Radiology ignoring the installment agreements we have with them and filing claims. In the case of Texas Radiology they told the collection agency Sandi owes over a grand in unpaid claims. Interestingly enough, they have only billed us for slightly more than $20 bucks and that was back the first week of June. How the alleged balance got to be over a grand with no other bills coming our way I have no idea.

I also don't know why, when they know about our situation and have the full details on it, anyone anywhere who has two brain cells to rub together thinks that reporting us to a collection agency is going to do anything at all to create money for them. Our credit is shot and we don't care. It does not matter. It is not like we are going to buy a house, apply for credit, etc. We don't have money to pay what matters--the rent, utilities, Sandi's insurance, her drugs that are not covered, etc. Reporting us to a collection agency is a waste of time and does nothing to magically create money for us to pay bills with or do anything. In the case of both the hospital and Texas Radiology as well as a couple of other medical providers that have done this, all the billing stuff is handled far away in Delaware, Ohio, and elsewhere. So, the local folks who start things can't or won't do anything to assist or fix the problems their external billing staff create.

I did manage to work on a couple of reviews today as this blog is becoming way to much medical news all the time. One of those reviews appears tomorrow......

Saturday Evening Update

Things are pretty much the same here. Sandi is making continuous heavy use of the oxygen concentrator and we see her numbers drop rapidly when she is off of it to go to the bathroom. The little $35 oxygen sensor I bought at the store was proven to be very accurate in the doctor's office so we have been checking her  a lot to see where she is at. She has a little more energy today, thanks to the powerful steroids she is now on, so she has been sitting with her computer in her lap and doing e-mail.

Sad to say she discovered she has had zero sales again this month despite her "Christmas In July" sale announced on her blog before she went into the hospital. Since she is virtually giving away stuff she thought she would get a couple of sales and instead got nada. Even the daily drive by looks she gets at her store at iOffer have dropped considerably. Maybe it is because everybody is doing some sale somewhere, I don't know. But, it is pretty discouraging.

We still don't know what her status is regarding social security disability and the rest of it. Supposedly, having a stem cell transplant is an automatic qualifier as well as the cancer she had and her hideous prognosis. No word yet.


I mentioned last week how we just got the paperwork to renew our food stamps. We filled that out this morning and mailed it today and again asked for Medicaid assistance along with the food stamps. Hopefully, something is in the system we don't know about and her approval is in the pipeline. Considering the food stamp renewal letter was dated July 3, 2013 and we just got it last week, it seems to me like there could have been a decision one way or the other and we just don't know it yet.

In the meantime, things continue to be very grim from a money standpoint. So, if you can, please make a donation via the handy dandy widget over to the left. Any amount helps. The monies raised go to the rent, utilities, food, gas for the car, parking at the hospital, medical bill payments (despite an installment plan both TEXAS RADIOLOGY and MEDICAL CITY DALLAS HOSPITAL --among others-- have turned some of the mountain of debt over to collection agencies--as if that changes our situation at all), Sandi's biweekly insurance premium of $95, her drugs, etc. The monies are not wasted and are very much appreciated.

I hate asking and I wouldn't if things were not desperate.  Feel free to share the news of our situation through social media or other venues if you would care to do so as we truly do need the help.

Kevin