marylloyd

Jeff,
I hope you get your pain under control. It must be really hard to deal with. Hopefully the radiation will do the trick! You are a tough guy!! Take care of yourself and keep enjoying those pizzas! Mary

My husband has to avoid all dairy products. He had his stent removed but he still has problems if he eats too much. I think dairy causes a buildup of mucous which clogs the stent. He also avoids fried foods and does not eat much meat. Lots of fruits and vegetables are best. Best wishes, Mary

Hi Carrie Ann,
I am glad things are getting straightened out. I tried to e-mail you personally but it won’t go through. E-mail me if you need any help I can give. She will automatically qualify for Medicare if she is given permanent disability but there is over a 2 year wait. My husband is just going to be eligible Dec 1 and he was given permanent disability status July of ’06. SO you will have to continue Medicaid until then. Keep up the supplements and everything you can to help her immune sysyem. You can read about some of the things my husband takes. Will they do chemo or radiation? I would definitely get second or even third opinions. Take care and I hope things continue to improve! Mary

My husband was overweight too when he first got sick. In fact that was why he couldn’t get an indiviual health insurance policy or add’l life insurance. He was overweight and had high blood pressure. He lost 70 pounds initially but has put about 35 back on.He needs to lose about 10 again to be at an ideal weight for his body frame. The crazy thing is now except for the cancer his weight and BP would be acceptable to the insurance companies. Anyway I was glad he had the extra weight because it helped sustain him through a lot of days and even weeks of not being able to eat. He really burned it off to the point of being skin and bones! It was terrible.I can’t imagine what he would have looked like if he hadn’t had those extra pounds. Thats my excuse now. You never know when those extra pounds may come in handy! HA! Mary

Good luck, Jeff. I’m sure your body is telling you the right thing. You need a break!! Keep up the good fight and keep those positive thoughts flowing. We will too and send them your way!! Mary

You have to qualify financially for Medicaid. My husband was unemployed, we just had our farming business so we were able to qualify because neither one of us had a “real” job. We had to cash out all of our assets except our home and one vehicle and basically limit our income. I would stay on Cobra until your Medicaid is approved. Mary

Hi CarrieAnn,
I don’t understand why they would tell you to not talk to the social service people at the hospital. They were the ones that got my husband’s problems taken care of almost immediately. They got the Drs. to sign the paperwork for him to be given disability, they told me everything I needed to do to qualify him for the ABD medicaid and went through everything step by step. Your Drs have to initiate the paperwork and then you have to call Social Security to set up a telephone interview. They were very helpful and sympathetic and with this disease your mother will be accepted right away. They will then get your mother on SSDI or SSI and she will receive a monthly check. By being given disabilty status she will qualify for Medicaid for the Disabled. In 2 + years she will then be able to be on Medicare. Medicaid will exempt her house and 1 vehicle. They do drastically limit your cash assets so everything such as savings, IRAs etc. must be cashed out.You really must pursue this as quickly as possible as her advocate before the bills pile up. Medicaid will go back three months and pay those bills if she would have qualified financially at that time.We only had one week that they wouldn’t cover because I was able to get all the paperwork together and everything cashed out and in order. It took a lot of phone calls and stress but at least we were able to get things covered quickly. I was able to work with the hospital for the one uncovered week because it was a doozy! Almost $40,000 !! One thing you have to understand is that there is a lot of misinformation out there. You need to get the Social workers and Drs together immediately to send the paperwork in and get the process started and call your local Soc. Sec office to step up a telephone interview. You should also contact Job and Family Services because they are the ones that will handle Medicaid. As soon as your mother’s disability is approved she will qualify for coverage as long as her income is low or non-existent. Good luck and let me know if I can help in any way. I feel like I know more about this then some so called “experts “because I’ve been through so much and for over 2 years now! Best wishes! Mary