Dear kili, I'm sure no one meant to imply you're not doing anything. The
point is that it's so wrong that you should *have* to be fighting like
that to get what should come automatically. Still sending lots of purrs
and hugs. Feeling so helpless that there's nothing else I can do.

Dear, dear Kili.

I don't think anyone here thinks you aren't doing everything you can. I
think everyone is appalled that you are being placed in the position where
you need medical treatment and can't get it. It's a shocking state of
affairs and intensely unfair that you are in this position. You should be
able to concentrate on fighting your illness and becoming well, not on
fighting to get treatment. It's not fair that you are in this position.

gentle *hugs* helen s

I do not think anyone here thinks you are not trying, kili. We just wish
there was a hospital that would take you immediately.
We are purring really hard and sending lots and lots of best wishes for
the surgeon to recommend you to the hospital that will take you.
Lots and lots of hugs,
Polonca and Soncek

Christy, I really hope you didn't take offense at my post about PayPal.  I
meant *NO* disrespect or suspicion towards you.  It's just that people will
be more willing to send donations to a doctor or hospital (as we do to vet's
offices) than to a PayPal account.  No matter how well you know and love
someone, it's just too easy to commit identity theft and internet fraud
now-a-days, so people are rightfully careful.

We are all very upset about what you are going through and are throwing out
suggestions as fast as we can think of them - I just have to believe that
there is some help for your problem that doesn't require you to be a lawyer
or advocate in order to get it.  You *shouldn't have to* be working so hard
right now just to find medical help, you should be spending all your
energies towards getting well!

I don't think anyone here thinks you're not trying. It's appaling that you
have to fight to get treatment for a life threatening illness. Lots of purrs
for you to get treated successfully and to serve your furry owners for many
years to come.

I'm so sorry that we've given that impression. That is not at all our
perception.

I know this is a national problem, and that problems like this affect
shamefully huge numbers of people. I remember quite well how it affected
all of us when my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. The emotional
shock was overwhelming, even though she had excellent health insurance
that has been handing her care quite well. I can't imagine how it would
feel to go through this without insurance.

My motivation for making the calls I have is simply that fighting this
deplorable lack of health care is more than a single-person job. There are
so very many people and agencies to talk to, I can't imagine you having
the time or energy to talk to all of them.

We know that. And a very unfortunate one. We all care about you, and want
to see you get the care you need.

Our furred masters are wonderfully empathetic, aren't they?

Dan

Mega power purrs Kili. I know that you would be  on the phone looking
for resources. We saw how hard you worked to find Pua care. You are in
a very tough position and I swear if I had money I'd get  you into
someone NOW. It truly is a raw deal and our medical system is not
right. I'm sorry if I offend people saying that but I have heard MORE
than enough times situations like this and YES it is a problem. Kili I
hope they are wrong about the stage and I hope that the new surgeon is
more helpful. There has to be something out there.

Just for the record.  We care about you and worry.

I'm pretty sure darn near everyone knows it isn't just you.  And it sounds
like you are doing better at trying than most would or could in the
situation.

And a bad person?  I think not.  Don't ask me, ask your cats.  They know and
love you.

Purrs will be ongoing.  And I've got a special candle that will be lit this
evening.

It's Tweed's candle.  And my very favorite reminder to pray and listen for
purrs and to send everything positive.

Jo

Kili sweety, nobody with half a brain in their heads is saying you're
falling down on the job. It's just WRONG that you should have to be
struggling like this to try and find some place that will help you!
It's times like this that they should be helping you FIRST and
worrying about the thrice-damned bottom line LATER... I'd like to take
all the insurance companies and the drug companies and the medical
'industry' and bang all their heads together till they come to their
senses and realise what they were supposed to be there for - to help
people!

Kili,

I'm sorry if any of my posts upset you. I read the original post that
said you were in tears and the surgery is now off, the cancer is
spreading, and does anyone know of any doctor anywhere that can help. I
thought you might be ready to throw up your hands.

I'm glad you're out there fighting and calling everyone possible. It's
not just you, the whole country is in a health care crisis.

My sig. other has had major complications after a life-saving surgery
and we have been trying to negotiate the system for over a year. Even
though he has insurance, this whole process is a mess. You practically
need a written, engraved invitation to see any doctor that's above a GP.
I feel like we have to be our own doctors. I've been to book stores,
looked up medical info, and we've been the ones to decide for the most
part what type of doctor to try next. There have been many times I've
been in tears trying to find help, so your plight hit home. I just
wanted to encourage you to fight and be persistent because it's easy to
butt heads with the system and feel like you want to give up.

If I can help with anything, making phone calls, emails, etc., let me
know. I'm rooting for you.

Rhonda

My four are revving up the purrs for your health, worry and
frustration.  Like everyone else has said, you shouldn't have to be
going through this.  Please hang in there!

Agreed. Believe me, it is a challenge when you have specialized expertise.

You've given me a little more information with the staging.  One of the
problems in digging out treatment resources is understanding terminology
that sometimes is very nuanced. In the early seventies, I went through this
with my own mother, who was a medical social worker and not starting from
scratch.  She called me, in anger and hysterics, insisting her surgeon had
lied after an initial mastectomy. She was saying this because she unsealed
and read the pathology report she was taking to a different hospital, for
radiation therapy.

I was rather puzzled, because I had spoken to the surgeon.  When he
recognized I understood the details, he was very specific, and, for the
time, the picture wasn't completely bleak.  It turned out that my mother did
not know that lymphatics and lymph nodes are two different things, and she
did not have spread to lymph nodes -- the significant type for that
situation.

Unfortunately, she was a few months too early for the publication of the
first major chemotherapy breakthrough, the CMF regimen, long obsolete but
that would have been a real benefit then.  Again, some key wording. CMF was
termed a "palliative" treatment, and too many people interpret "palliative"
to mean last-rites sort of thing. Yes, it can mean that, but it also can
mean simply that there is no relevant surgical treatment that clearly would
be curative. For quite a few people with a wide range of diseases, a
"palliative" drug approach can add years of life.

So, if you see "palliative" on a trial, it may be something that has major
effects on disease.

When the situation is such that there is no obvious disease-modifying
procedure, you still can find clinical trials for "supportive care".  Such
trials can manage discomfort and improve quality of life.   Now, I have seen
situations where the only realistic goal is comfort. Nevertheless, the rate
of progress in breast cancer treatment is that supportive care just might
prolong quality of life until a relevant palliative trial becomes available.

Purrs, again.

All the purrs my two can muster are heading your way.  It does seem
criminal that you're having such a hassle getting care.  Prayers that a
positive solution will emerge very soon.

{{{{{kili}}}}}}}

I'm sure you're doing everything you possibly can.  It's the system
that is blocking you.  I seriously don't think anyone here thinks you
aren't doing everything possible.  I think we're just all trying to
think of everything, in case somehow there is something that would
work.

I hope the new surgeon can get you into that hospital.

Meanwhile, major, loud, purrs from me and 9 cats are on their way.

Ginger-lyn

Home Pages:
 http://www.moonsummer.com
 http://www.angelfire.com/folk/glsummer (homepage & cats)
 http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~summer/index.htm (genealogy)
 http://www.movieanimals.bravehost.com/ (The Violence Against
                        Animals in Movies Website)

Keeping up the purring for you.  And keep us informed.

Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh

Make Levees, Not War