3/9/07 Had major reaction. Even …
3/9/07 Had major reaction. Even with procrit my blood count became dangerously low. I could hardly walk across the …
Join Now
It's been a tough week across the globe. Share your thoughts in our new 2008 Financial Crisis support group.
I am feeling very discouraged right now. I am on week nine of my treatment and have developed "severe" side effects. I seem to have all of them. Went through the rash for the first two weeks but it went away. (Cetaphil cream is great for rashes by the way! Or just the severly dry skin you get from this treatment!) Inside of my sinus's are raw, sores in my mouth, severe headaches (tie in with sinus, I think). Major muscle aches and pains. My red blood cell count dropped to low so I have been on Procrit now for 3 weeks so far but red cell count isn't rising, just stabilized (which is good in it's own way!). My white cell count is already dangerously low and dropping, plus I have developed an upper respiratory infection. So my doc is lowering my pagasys to try and get my white cell count up. She is going to try and double my Procrit but does not believe the insurance will approve it. My work is not supportive at all. In fact she tried to drop my insurance and blame it on the insurance company. But I let her know that I know it wouldn't be legal for the insurance to drop me for missing time for a chronic illness, so she quit talking about that for now.
I can't take family leave because the company I work for is too small to have to honor it. She won't even let me cut back on my hours at all.
My Doc tells me I am lucky that I have genotype 2 and only have to be on treatment for 24 weeks instead of 48 (and I can see her point) but I don't FEEL lucky! She tells me that although my symptoms are severe at least I don't have long to go. But from where I am sitting it seems like forever! Every day is a battle to drag my butt to work and get my work done without falling asleep or passing out!
Comments
You might also like ...
Not feeling so great today. Yesterday …
Not feeling so great today. Yesterday either. Very tired. I went for a blood test today and my red …
Got the ol computer fixed, and …
Got the ol computer fixed, and the seat belt in the Jeep fixed and got a new washer and dryer on 12 mo as good as …
Get the State Disability Insurance forms online and fill out your part and then take them to your doctor. Tell him you can not work due to fatigue and side effects. If you are on Epogen (Procrit) which is a chemo drug they can not deny you. It is your choice any way and the state will not deny you. Your Insurance will drop you after only two weeks of missed work. Contact them and see about paying the full amount with the help of money from SDI when it becomes available. If they try to get out of doing this for you the Labor Board and COBRA will not let them. This process can be extremely frustrating and do not let it get to you. You will need help from your doctors medical staff because in the end they will be the ones processing your vital information to everyone who will need it. Like Medical Insurance Co, Medical Group, Doctors and Pharmacies. They also by law have to make all your records and test results available to you upon request. I am telling you this because your treatments and health are more important than anything else. My job fired me, my med insurance dropped me, my doctors refused to help me. Long story short I fired my doctors, I went after my work with the help of the Labor Board and with luck COBRA had already reacted to my situation and had set up a payment plan for me with my Medical Insurance Provider. I have completed my 48 week treatments of Interferon, Ribavirin, Epogen and Neupogen for Hep-C geno type 1a. But this was after going 11 weeks and then being stopped because my red blood cell count got to low and when they went to get the Epogen approved so I could continue my Treatments my Med Insurance had dropped me and I had no medical insurance. It took two months with me fighting with the Insurance Co and also in court with my Employer who had fired me and the State who had approved my disability but not from the date I stopped working and I am not the kind of person you can do that to. I had done nothing wrong but yet I was being punished by a system that did not care. I would hate to see this ever happen to any one else like it happened to me... Oh yah I won everything and because everybody took so long that my SDI had ran out The judge in my court case had pulled me aside and told me to start my SSD Social Security Disability paper work. Since this takes a minimum of six months of disability before you can file and then two to three months depending on your ability to get them the information they request before it will kick in. It is retro so no matter what they will automaticaly back pay for any missed time. This is not true of State Disability so try and get that right with your doctor as soon as you decide you can no longer work. My problem was my first doctors refused and I fired them not knowing it was not their choice. But I am glad I did there was absolutely no support there. The doctor I have now is so much more supportive and is a member of the hospital board of my medical group...
Morpheus
I really appreciate the help Morpheus, I really do. But I have already checked into all of these things. I work for a small company (less than 20 employees) in arizona. MFLA and COBRA do not apply to me. And arizona has no temporary disability program!! I guess they figure if you are going to be sick for less than a year then you should be able to handle it!
ArleneG