The Hornet's Nest in my Bonnet

 I'm pretty mad right now and I'm just going to vent right here. 

If you're looking for something enriching and spiritual, this isn't going to be it, I'm sure.


It's our healthcare system.

It sucks. Something is terribly wrong in our country. It is an absolute mess.


My Mom is suffering - physically incapable of walking a few steps, standing from sitting, with pneumonia, with tumors, with small cell lung cancer...among other things. And our healthcare system keeps failing her. Time after time.


She went into a rehab facility to strengthen her legs to walk. After 2 weeks, the health insurance notified us that they no longer approve of her being there. After an appeal, which they denied, the letter came explaining why. 'Based on the fact that she can walk unassisted for 60 feet it is determined that she no longer needs to be in the facility.' All of this is total bogus; there is no evidence she can even take 2 steps unassisted! But in the midst of this mess, there's no energy, time or wherewithal to fight it. The insurance company (heartless and almost evil) wins because we have to advocate for her for other things. No energy to fight them on this. Someone could make a pretty convincing case and sue them if they wanted to. But we're not the suing type. We've got other fish to fry.


I get her out of the facility, against my better judgement. Then she falls. Within an hour. Thankfully I broke the fall and no lasting injury. But this is directly because of the insurance that denied her care.


She gets her pet-scan. Doctor says to start chemo right away, don't lose any time. By this time everything has been slowed down already for a couple weeks because of getting some kind of pre-approval for the pet scan. Which should have happened a week before.


We get her to Arkansas. She's in hospital for a few days and they say, 'You can't do chemo while in hospital.' Why? Just some kind of procedural thing. We get her into a nursing facility. Insurance won't cover both nursing facility and chemo. Why? Just some kind of procedural thing. We get her to her first chemo treatment. They say, 'We didn't get pre-approval from your insurance. We'll have to schedule it for next week.' We're already a week behind schedule. Now we're set back another week. But before we schedule the chemo, you have to have an in-office visit with the oncologist (the one where he saw her in hospital doesn't count.) Why? Some kind of procedural thing. So then she can't schedule her first chemo until all these other hoops are jumped through. All the while, in her body the cancer grows. And her life is on the line.


Here's the spiritual part: God is not surprised by all this. He knows. Maybe His merciful providence is at work.


At the same time: WHAT GIVES?!?!! WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH THIS COUNTRY?? WHY CAN'T WE TAKE CARE OF THOSE WHO NEED CARE? WHY DON'T WE FIX THIS SOMEHOW?!?!


I'm not really into politics. I don't get politics. It seems like a lot of fighting and anger and vitriol and I generally try to steer clear. This is not a Republican or Democrat thing. This system is totally broken and lives are being lost because of it.


I'm ranting, I know. I've got a hornet's nest in my bonnet, a single bee won't cut it this time. 


I'd yell at someone if I could. But there isn't a person that is 'Humana'. There isn't a person that is, 'Medicare's policies.' There isn't a person that is 'Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arkansas.' Who do I yell at? The politicians? The policy-makers?


Why is it that we can't get my mom to a single chemo appointment without all the red-tape bureaucracy?


WHY?! 


I'm pretty ticked off and if I used colorful language it would be appropriate right here.


Sorry to let you, my sweet readers, down. I don't have anything happy or glorious to say just now.


Maybe just pray for us. 


And figure out some way to help our country shift.

I mean, if we're pro-life (and I am), certainly we want to protect life. The life of the vulnerable (like the disabled), like those who can't walk. Like those who can't advocate for themselves. Pro-life isn't just about babies. Babies are more cute and more inspiring I suppose. But what about all of life? What about end of life? What about a cancer patient? Do we even care about the healthcare system? It is absolutely a pro-life issue. If you desperately plead for the lives of the unborn in prayer, please include the lives of the elderly. If you passionately march for life with pictures of pre-born babies, passionately engage in voting for healthcare reform. If you are passionate about the loss of life of those lives never realized, be passionate about the end of life for those that have.


Please, be MORE pro-life. And if you're a lawyer, go after the insurance companies that put obstacles in people's way. Obstacles to life. It is hands-down criminal what's happening. And we're the victims, but we have no voice other than this piddly-little blog and a  few facebook posts. I'm not about to go after an insurance company. It's not for me. But someone ought to.





Comments

  1. Sharon Enright2 February 2022 at 09:32

    Sarah, my Mom died in 2010, not from the heart related issues she had been dealing with for years, but from two antibiotic resistant infections she contracted in the hospital/rehab facilities she ended up in after many hospital stays. It was a hard death and she fought to the end. She didn't have to have suffered the way she did. I saw the beginning of the attitude against the aged..."this one's old, let her go. Next!" Part of the fatigue of caring for the aged is advocacy against a heartless "health" system in their behalf. Remember this: God sees and he fights for both of you. I saw Him in the most unexpected places...a nurse here, her attending physician and his chief RN, a tech, a transporter on the way to her room. He will love you and your Mom to the Gate, and He has already warned us about the "Prince of the Air" that rules the secular system. Prolifers must never forget to fight for ALL vulnerable life, including those who faithfully passed on God's redeeming love to us and are now at the mercy of a youth obsessed culture. My prayers are with you as you fight the good fight, warrior woman!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sarah2 February 2022 at 23:38

      Wow...what a story! I didn't know you went through this with your Mom. You're right - I see the nurses and tech assistants and they are incredible people. I marvel at their hard work and care. I know not all are perfect, but I can't imagine anyone signs up for this training and work who doesn't have some calling to serve in this way. I really like how you put it at the end - reminding us of those who 'faithfully passed on God's redeeming love to us...' That is powerful. I'm going to have to think on that a while, to milk it for all it's worth! Thank you for your encouragement here.

      Delete
  2. Chuck K2 February 2022 at 11:14

    Three years ago, our handicapped son Joey went into Edwards Hospital in Naperville for a simple gall bladder surgery. While there, they gave him an abdominal infection by cutting into his colon. Then they externalized his shunt (a tube from the brain to the abdomen). Then the "hospitalist" (a person who apparently guards the hospital from "unnecessary" expenses) came into the room and announced to us that all the hospital could do was to give him "palliative care." This means keeping him comfortable and letting him die. We got him out of there. He ended up at Northwestern in Chicago, where, after a surgery, he was released and has completely recovered. Our son is alive and healthy and joyful, and he is a blessing from God to this world.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sarah2 February 2022 at 23:40

      I remember that time and praying for Joey. I believe your example of dedicated, steadfast love and advocacy for Joey made a great impression on me at the time. I have watched you over the past 12 years I've known you pour out your lives in service, care, prayer, support, and love for Joey. You don't know how the way you live, faithfully living out your calling as his parents has such an impact on those witnessing your lives. I'm so grateful for your example, for your dedication, and for your friendship. God's blessings on you, abundantly, may He bless you.

      Delete
  3. radiostudy19 February 2022 at 13:35

    Oh Sarah, we are indeed strangers in a stranger land... one not our own. You're right to cry out against injustice, lack of mercy, love and grace, prime concern with profits, etc.
    But OH! Your mom is favored, beloved, faithful, the apple of God's eye.... To see this happening grieves me and should grieve all of us.
    Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy upon us....

    ReplyDelete

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