Financial Burdens

As some of you know, I was denied employment insurance for my illness because of some misunderstandings when I was coming off my parental E.I. I disagreed with the decision and filed an appeal. Today I got a phone call from a Service Canada employee saying that they reconsidered my claim and it was finally APPROVED!!!! Yay! This is a big relief and I big load off my mind. I will have to wait a few more weeks for a payment but at least I know it is coming.

I have been getting an injection in my stomach every 28 days to shut down my ovaries so they won't release eggs during my chemo treatments. This has caused my body to go into temporary menopause with all the exspected side effects. I don't get a period and I get many hot flashes a day. It gets uncomfortable when I am wearing my wig on a warm day. But I'm doing this in hopes of preserving my fertility, so I just think of how this isn't nearly as uncomfortable as the future pregnancy and childbirth that I hope to be able to experience in a few years. By the way, this injection would cost $420 a treatment (x8 treatments = $3360) if it weren't for the Ontario Drug plan. My personal cost: $2 per treatment.

Another expensive drug that I am going to require is Neulasta. I will need to get 1 dose of Neulasta after each of my last 4 chemo treatments. Neulasta helps my bone marrow produce more white blood cells which will then help protect my body from infections. Each dose of Neulasta costs $3000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I need 4. That's a total of $12,000!!!!!!! Thank God Kevin has medical insurance which will cover 80% of the cost. I have been approved for a subsidy that will cover the other 20%.

I've never been more appreciative of our health care system here in Canada. If Kevin and I lived somewhere without universal health care then we would be completely wiped out financially. Things are very difficult still...but not nearly as bad as they could have been.

That's it for now. Just one last big THANK YOU to my wonderful husband who has been fantastic. He has taken on so much responsibility as well as all of the financial burden and I don't tell him enough how much I love him and appreciate everything he does for his family. I love you Kevin!