Today,
I woke up still reeling from the news yesterday that my last chance
at assistance to save my home has vaporized. While growing up, we
were always taught that if you do the right thing, good things will
come.
You see, as most of you who knew me in July of 2013,
while working my usual schedule balancing two jobs and still
volunteering I had an unfortunate heart issue brought on by a number
of factors, but mostly due to working outside in extreme heat [100+
degrees]; while carrying heavy camera equipment and hoofing it
between multiple music stages to review and photograph
performances.
Two ambulance rides and eight plus hours of
surgery later, I found myself in ICU and cardiac care for six days.
Then I was sent home with orders to do nothing until I was sent to
cardiac rehab. This amounted to six months of suddenly stopping my
hectic schedule. It put me in the position of locating and making
sure my clients were taken care of.
Of course without working,
I had to live on my savings. We were always taught that you should
save at least six months of income; to be prepared for setbacks like
this, losing a job, etc. Well, I’m here to tell you it isn’t
enough. I ate through that six months of savings and then my camera
fund [ I replace my equipment every five years or so] .Here
is the reason why. Just a few months after I was released to work, I
was diagnosed with Bladder cancer. The big "C", but they
said it was treatable and I easily recovered from. Right about that
time my insurance policy was changed to comply with the “Affordable
Care Act (Obama Care”.)
As most of you know, when you
are self-employed, you mostly have no choice but to deal with this. I
had two surgeries for the bladder cancer in 2014 and the recovery
after each surgery put me down for four-to-six weeks. I again was not
working and had no income.
Bladder cancer seems to be the gift
that keeps on giving, as in 2016 it reoccurred and I again had two
more surgeries and then immunotherapy/chemo. I had another health
check and more “chemo” that was scheduled the next month.
I
can not describe how this affects you unless you live it yourself. I
went from working two jobs that I love and also volunteering to being
forced into my recliner just waiting to heal and research methods to
assist in the fight. While I have learned a lot, sitting in front of
a computer doing research and trying different holistic treatments
does not pay the bills. It does however cost money as the alternate
treatments are not covered by insurance such that it is.
