EVERYONE Deserves the Health Care Dick Cheney & I Have.

..."Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."
Emma Lazarus

Based on the cheers I heard about letting the uninsured die during the Tea Party Debate, I wonder if they would have led a protest against Emma Lazarus' poem.

I mention Dick Cheney, because I saw that he was wearing his heart in his blazer due to the failure of his own heart. I have never liked the man. Yes, we have met. He wouldn't remember. It was briefly while I was in the Navy. It's no secret I'm not fond of him, but I would never wish his or anyone's death.

I also mention him because many die of heart failure every year. How many are given an opportunity to have a portable, external pump 24/7? We'll get back to that.

Let's talk about my health care. In 1996, I had to fight for Veteran's health benefits and won. I started in 1994 and I am one of the lucky ones. I wrote to my Representative in Washington and magically, I was 100% service connection disabled. (Thank you Representative of La Crosse, WI in 1996. I apologize for not remembering your name) When awarded my Veteran's benefits, I called the VA and asked if the TV show, 20/20 would be knocking at my door to do an expose or something. After the government shut down of 1995, it was crazy times. To explain my benefits, here's my latest post on Google Plus and Facebook.

"EVERYONE deserves the medical care I get. I will be at Rheumatolgy at the VA today to pick up my records for my Rheumatologist in LA. I remember every day how lucky I am. May everyone soon have socialized healthcare like me. I'm able to see the best specialists at UCLA because of Medicare. My specialists make recommendations to the VA, who actually sent me to UCLA because they didn't know what to do with me. At the VA all my medications are covered. I am one of the lucky ones. Because of The VA and Medicare, my diseases are stabilized after 16 years, I have a good prognosis. EVERYONE should have access to such great care. EVERYONE. I served so I could go to college and get out of "Dodge". The truth is, not everyone can serve, and their contributions are important. My uninsured friends are priceless. They deserve great care just as much as I do."

So, why do Dick Cheney and I have health care, when so many others don't? I feel as though we are the "storied pomp", in Emma Lazarus' poem, but we are not. Everyone deserves the health care we get. I am confident that if I have heart failure, I would fight my ass off to get a portable unit. Not because I can afford that, but because VA Hospitals are teaching hospitals. You get fresh minds mixed with the brilliant experience and knowledge of the residents. I have seen many cases and experienced first hand care where money is not a factor. I would be careless to not mention they do have a medication formulary, but I have found ways around that to get what I need- and I'm happy to share how if anyone needs it.

So why does Dick Cheney get a heart pump and I get infusions without having to try two other medications and have them fail before I get my beloved Remicade?

I could speculate and make jokes, but I honestly have no idea. I have felt massive amounts of guilt watching friends and family try to make it without insurance. We are Americans- we're supposed to be the good guys. I grew up believing we stand for and with others who can't do it on their own. If I were Karen, the manicurist, I would've died in child birth because I wouldn't have had my magic letter. That's right, a magic letter.

When I was pregnant in 2003-04, the VA did and still does not deliver babies. I received a letter in the mail that stated something like, "The VA will pay for all medical care related to the health of this veteran regarding her current condition." When my blood pressure had become so high that I began to see orange spots, my OB/GYN sent me to Mary Birch Hospital in San Diego. Seventy two hours later, after shots of steroids and my organs began to fail, my son was delivered by C-section.

There is too much to that story to include all the details in this entry, but two things stick out.

1. I shared a semi private room with a woman my age in the same condition. Both of us were given steroid injections. After my 1st painful injection, I asked the nurse to put it in my IV. The next round of shots came and it was done. No question asked. I told my roommate to ask for the same. She did. They told her her insurance wouldn't allow it. (record scratch stop) Yes, a woman who needed to be kept calm because her blood pressure was dangerously high, had to be put through frequent painful injections. Imagine sitting in comfort while listening to someone cry because they are in so much pain- that could have been avoided. Did I deserve better treatment? No. I had the equivalent of a blank check. What Karen needed, Karen got. Meanwhile, my equal in the room next to me had to suffer because some asshole paper pusher decided she didn't need to feel comfortable. She could endure that pain. Both of us had HELLP Syndrome.

2. Three years later, I was in an emergency room at a public hospital, not a VA hospital because my ex-husband and I had a business. I was in charge of picking insurance for our family and employees. I heard more than one doctor call it "Golden Insurance". It's what got me in the door at UCLA and medicare makes it possible for me to keep going back to UCLA.

In the ER, the nurse assigned to me, shared her own experience with HELLP Syndrome. She had the exact symptoms I had, without the happy ending. Her insurance required her husband to drive her an extra hour after going completely blind because of her blood pressure while she was pregnant. The ER they were assigned was not equipped to handle her condition. She lost her baby. She continues to work as a nurse to keep her family insured. She has to, to stay alive. She needs heart medication and frequent treatment by a cardiologist. I couldn't say it, but all I could think was how unfair it was. Life is not supposed to be fair, but no one should be denied the care they need because of money. NO ONE. She lost her baby at 32 weeks and was in the ground, while my son- also born at 32 weeks, was at home getting ready to go camping.

So, I ask again, are Dick Cheney and I of more value than those two women above? Are we worth more than my friend Chelle? Are we worth more than Steph and Jennifer, Chelle mentions in the video below? No. But if I were Karen; the manicurist and he Dick; the retired electrician we would be both be dead.

Make time to watch Chelle's video.
Thank you.

A Thing or Two About High Risk Pregnancy

Nebraska- Forget about prenatal care and the born, because we only want to protect the fetus. Once the fetus is out though, you're on your own.-

If you're going to stop women from having an abortion (a legitimate medical procedure that is always a last resort), you can't say you are Pro-Life if you cut prenatal care. That doesn't sound very Pro-Life to me. For individuals who want less government, they appear a little too excited about the government interfering with a personal family matter.

One problem with this is the reason they stopped the prenatal care bill was because it would cover illegal immigrants. They are here illegally, but they are human beings. If you are Pro-Life, isn't that supposed to be Pro-Human? Most Pro-Life advocates call themselves Christians, but there is nothing Christian about turning down medical care to ANYONE. What would Jesus do? I think he would be pissed. It appears to me to be another example of a group who wishes to push an agenda by cherry picking facts when in truth they are using Christianity to justify their bigotry. I don't belive this applies to all Christians. Just those who say they are Pro-Life because of their Christianity but want to cut off health care to other humans.

What does this have to do with Scleroderma, Sarcoidosis and Box Wine you ask? Anyone who has had a high risk pregnancy knows things can go very wrong. Sometimes the choice is, there is no choice. The only example I can give is my own personal experience.

I have a healthy six year old son with ADHD who is a little short for his age group. He runs on the small side because he was born 8 weeks early. Because of my Scleroderma, I was considered a high risk pregnancy. I went twice a week for fetal monitoring and once a week for ultra sounds. In my 28th week, my blood pressure skyrocketed. I was in and out of the hospital for the next two weeks. The last time I was discharged from a hospital before my son was born, I got home and realized I forgot to mention to my doctor I was seeing orange spots. I called my doctor at 11:00pm and he ordered me back to the hospital. The next morning I could not see out of my right eye. I felt fine, except for being blind in one eye. That was my only symptom. My doctor was puzzled and sent me to two different optomologists. During my visit with the second optamologist, I over heard him talking to my OB on the phone, "We may not be able to let her go. She may be pre eclamptic. This hospital is not equipped for that."
When he got off the phone he wrote out directions to Mary Birch Hospital. When I got there I was checked in immediately. My son was born two days later. They took him by c-section after pumping me full of steroids as long as they could. My organs were failing and they could wait no longer.

My son spent 28 days in the NICU. The doctors and staff were amazing. It was awful to leave the hospital without him, but the parenting training the nurses gave me and my ex-husband was priceless. I left the hospital after 9 days. My sight had returned, my blood pressure was stable.

I met with my doctor a week later. He told me and my ex-husband to never forget how close I came to dying that day. Never forget that fear. Because if i were to get pregnant again, their was a 35% chance the same thing would happen sooner in my pregnancy and faster. Most likely resulting in my death and the death of my unborn baby, if I was lucky. My doctor told us I had what is called HELLP Syndrome. Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes, Low blood Platelets. In short, first your liver goes, then you go into a coma you will never wake up from as your organs shut down resulting in death. The only cure is to stop the pregnancy. Do the math.

Because of the increased risk of blood clots and high blood pressure, I cannot use any form of oral birth control. My ex decided he did not want a vasectomy because well, he didn't feel like it. To his credit we are getting a divorce and his girlfriend is a great candidate to procreate with. She's really great- I don't know what she's doing with him, but I really like her. Anyway, my next option for birth control would be an iud, but I'm allergic to copper so that's out. The plastic one has a hormone and that's out so my only option is sterilization. Right now my doctors are considering tying my tubes but because of their lack of experience with Scleroderma and the complications surgery brings, they keep researching while I wait. Condoms are great, but they can break. The morning after pill does the job, but nothing is 100%. So if I get pregnant after all I do to prevent it, I fall into that category of making a choice. That choice for me is: Do I risk orphaning the child I have to carry another child that most likely will not make it to term? If pregnant I would probably wait until symptoms come up, but 35% is very high for risks. To put some perspective on risk, the risk of side effects from most prescription drugs is .02%.

So there it is. Do the math.

Tomlearn about Scleroderma, for to scleroderma.org
or
sfcure.org

To learn about Sarcoidosis, check out clevelandclinic.com