To add yet another wrinkle to this saga, last week my husband was laid off from his job. We got our health insurance through his company. Not only does this make me incredibly mad – John had worked for this company for 11 ½ years, was a dedicated and gifted engineer – it also makes me sad that the bottom line always takes precedence over lives in this country.
Anyway – I guess for the next 30 days we are covered, and after that we are assured by “cobra” that if we pay for it ourselves, we can continue the coverage for another 6 months. I am expecting that the cost will be more than $1000 per month. Gee. We’ve already lost John’s income, so I’m not sure exactly how we are going to manage. I don’t know what happens after 6 months.
Universal Healthcare sure would be nice.
On Thursday I should get the results of the Oncotype DX assay test and know whether or not I am high risk for cancer recurrence. Supposedly 50% of the women who are in my category - early stage cancer, estrogen responsive, and clean lymph nodes – are in the low risk range and do not need chemotherapy. Another 25% are in the high risk range, and the other 25 % are somewhere in the middle.
I guess this means that my odds are good. Last week Dr. Rimmer said that he "would be very surprised if I needed chemo." I keep remembering the day I saw the MRI of my cancer on a computer screen. It looked shiny and bright, like a small diamond.
