Fighting Cancer is Expensive

Now that 2022 is behind us I was able to tally up all the medical bills for the year. 

$131,976.07

Holy cow! Thank god for insurance. There is absolutely no way we could have paid for this out of pocket without going bankrupt.   After insurance and the amazing folks who donated to our GoFundMe our main focus could be treatment.  That’s HUGE!!

All in all, going through cancer hasn’t been horrible.  Don’t get me wrong, I dealt with a lot of infection & pain but there are so many things that went right.  

1.  We got all major treatment completed within 1 year, which allowed us to finish before deductibles and max out of pocket reset.
2. Lymph nodes were not infected.
3. Chemo infusions were cut in half, because of #2.
4. My doctors & staff at St Vincent’s  have been amazing, and grateful for them all. From surgeons to receptionists. 
5. My employer couldn’t have been more understanding and accommodating. Working from home for 5 months. Covid prepared us properly for remote working.
6. I beat cancer within 6 months!!!!!

I’d like to acknowledge the fact that many of these positives were possible purely because of early detection.  Don’t wait for those pesky annual exams.  They seem like a waste of time until it’s not. I promise you the 1 hour it takes is WAY less of a time commitment.