Asking for a Friend

@Cerridwyn Thanks for bumping.

@ChompyGator Thanks.

@carl669 I grateful for your help. Thank you.

@AZnatural1 Yikes! I hope your heel was able to be completely fixed and you are able to rock climb again. I used to rock climb and fortunately never had anything bad happen even though I, in the stupidity that comes with youth and a not completely developed frontal lobe, did some stupid things that could have ended badly but didn’t (I used to work in outdoor adventure).

It is amazing what strangers can sometimes do. I try to pay that kind of stuff forward too, although I can’t with money right now. Instead I volunteer and if I see someone struggling with something go help, try to fix problems…

@Kidsandliz sadly, no more: rock climbing, hiking, running, walking on uneven surfaces, walking on my bare feet, and no more cute high heels. I can however… Mountain bike! Love it.

@AZnatural1 I am glad you have something left you can do to get you back out in the backcountry. That’s a big loss not to be able to do many of those things again.

You might want to try canoeing in areas where you don’t have portages (or pack a folding bike to ride them while the other person carries the canoe; kayaking, while fun, would mean someone would have to make 2 trips to carry your kayak for you on some trips). I used to lead canoe trips at one of the places I worked with folks with mobility issues (in wheel chairs, using crutches, canes, amputees with prosthetics, etc.) and when the route is chosen well it very possible. We had to haul some stuff you’d normally not have to haul because of people’s limits, but we did multiday trips and people had a blast.

The Boundary waters, Quetico (Canadian side) and up further north where I also worked (Black Sturgeon Lake, Lake Nipigon and areas west of that) are lovely (although can have some nasty headwinds which wears out the arms). Also there is some very fine white water in a number of states in the USA although knowing how to swim (despite wearing a life jacket) is likely a primary skill needed too.

@Kidsandliz I canoed the Green River 45 miles oldest person in our extended family was 83 and youngest was 3 and it was a grand ol time.

@AZnatural1 That is one of the nice things about canoeing (well unless in major rapids) - as long as someone can get in and out of a canoe almost anyone can go canoeing.

Which state’s Green River? I’ve been on the Green River in Vermont back when I was 18 and a camp counselor. For reasons I no longer remember we raided the costume closet and dressed up like ladies from the previous century for that trip. I am sure others who saw us thought we were nuts. We thought it was hysterical.

@Kidsandliz Speaking for myself and SWMBO, we both empathize, and are as happy to help in whatever way we can, as we are sad and angry that anyone, but especially someone as nice as you, has ended up in this position.
If there is anything else I/we might be able to help you with, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Hang in there!

@PhysAssist Thanks! Unfortunately my story, as I am sure you well know, is relatively common due to how health care is paid for in this country. I am just lucky that MD Anderson Cancer Center hasn’t cut me off as often as they technically could have. That I finally got caught up on my legacy bills probably helped - at least for a while anyway as likely they saw I wasn’t an actual deadbeat. I was just behind and trying to catch up when I could. I sometimes joke that it is too bad that Canada doesn’t accept medical refugees. (grin).

@Kidsandliz @PhysAssist Insert most other countries especially European ones for Canada. We’re stuck in shit cycle of healthcare nightmares thanks to capitalism because money is more important than people. Our healthcare system sucks. Our politicians are bought by big healthcare lobby; we have to stand up and make change happen. Use your votes.

@Gypsigirl213 @PhysAssist I have used the health care systems in Canada, UK, Germany, and The Netherlands (worked in those countries and some others but hadn’t used their care) and in each case care was every bit as good as in the USA and I had no bills (of course I was paying into the system working there). There are some limits in some countries though. For example in some countries it is run more like ACA/medicaid care here with respect to geographic limits to care (but everyone in that geographic limit is “in network”, unlike ACA, medicaid and medicare here) and you have to petition to get “regular” care (not emergency care) out of the province you live in for something major if you live somewhere that doesn’t have “good” specialists.

@tharri1 Thanks. I am just lucky that I have managed to get good care even though it has wiped me out financially (I also live in a state that didn’t expand medicaid so that didn’t help). And my elderly kitty is a sweetie. I bottle fed her from 10 days old. She is healthy other than hyperthyroid and still plays, jumps up on the cat tree, tries to convince me that she needs the food on my plate and not cat food… Her meds need adjusted and the vet won’t this time unless blood work is done. I will miss her when she finally dies of old age.

@c00leen The bulk of what is needed is for past due human medical bills (am currently cut off from care due to some in collection - so goal #1 is pay off those and enough more of them that they rescind the no care - I have cycled through that a couple of times over the last 7 years so I know I don’t have to get completely caught up although it would be nice if I was) and human meds as I can’t afford most of the meds I am supposed to take so am not taking them. But my otherwise healthy older cat is losing weight again (hyperthyroid) and the vet won’t adjust my cat’s thyroid meds unless she runs blood tests (last time - over a year ago - she was willing to up the meds based on symptoms and that solved the problem, this time she isn’t willing to do that).

@c00leen @Kidsandliz
spend my donation on the cat, problems solved

@Cerridwyn Thanks. My kitty will be a happy camper not to be suffering the side effects of under treated hyperthyroid.

@Kidsandliz With your degrees you ned to apply at Navy Federal Credit Union in Pensacola, FL. Great employer with a strong HR that will protect you with your health issues. Fantastic Medical insurance. And multiple hospitals with large oncology depts. in town. Low cost of living Online apps but it’s easy to post your resume. Paid training too. Google both NFCU and Pensacola.

@Kidsandliz @Mehrocco_Mole Maybe you could go work for MD Anderson! I’m betting their medical coverage is pretty good as well.

@ybmuG I keep checking their job site.

@Mehrocco_Mole Thanks for the suggestion.

@juststephen Yes the medical system and how we pay for things is problematic. So many people are one major health crisis away from financial disaster. Had I never gotten 3 major cancers I never would have been in this mess to begin with.

I appreciate the thoughts. We each have our own unique situation and so many of us are on here because we are broke and stuff is cheap. For a number of years now all the extended family christmas presents (we seriously need to cut back: all siblings, their spouses, their kids and in one case their kids’ kids, plus my mom, not to mention my own family) have added up to way too many people. Last year someone gave each person a scratch off lottery card. She won the prize for cheapest presents last year (). I may well go that route that once we actually have a lottery in this state. It would have been ironic if the 3 year old or baby had won, but hey a few folks won $1 or a free ticket. Me - I won a free trip to the wastebasket. Until then much of what I give comes from meh. It was fidget spinners at around 50 cents each the other year. That was a good year.

@juststephen @Kidsandliz
what someone i know’s family did was they put out stockings for every adult (defined then as over 21), some years it was paper bags. everyone brought something that was less than 2 bucks and put into the stockings / bags.
you got lottery tickets, nail clippers, silly stuff, but it was fun. My family is not large enough for this, but with 6 grown kids and their families it worked wonders.
The parents usually gave the kids each a gift in private, something personal. and the kids got gifts, but it saved a ton

@Cerridwyn That sounds like a good idea. I am going to suggest that.

@RiotDemon This is not the first time care has been cut off due to falling too far behind in my bills. Their “usual” rule is that you set up a payment plan and if you are making payments per the plan then they let you back in - as long as you keep up with the payments. Payments, in my case, are far more a month than I can afford. This has been the case (except the 9 mo I had a temp visiting position where I managed to get the legacy bills paid off as I was paying more than the minimum) since I lost my job over having the 2 cancers in one year (up until that time I was making the payments).

In the past what has worked is make the biggest payment I can, explain the situation to the director of billing, and she’d waive the rules. At this point though I don’t have to re-explain as I have contacted her so many times (and occasionally show up with food bribery as a thank you - although I didn’t realize technically I was sneaking into a building I wasn’t allowed in - I guess exploding brownies or blueberries were a risk LOL).

There have a been a ton of insurance problems that have been their fault as well which might also be part of why if I pay something then she makes an exception. With those first I’d try to get their billing office to solve the problems. When they didn’t (usual case) I figure out what went wrong (usually their fault although once I had to involve the state’s insurance commission to solve them and they said they never wanted to deal with my insurance company ever gain - no shit Sherlock, neither did I), send her an email that says, literally, in the subject line “rinse and repeat”, tell her the problem, she then gives the problem to the same person she finally assigned to my case (so once that happened I’d email that person - brought thank you food too - and copy the director) who would then “fix it”. So far, knock on wood, the director has been willing bend the rules as long as she sees evidence I am paying. I’ve been very lucky in that regards.

“list” meaning from the forum here