The cost of being ill; Cut's, cut's and more cut's!

It's becoming more difficult by the day to have any hope at all for a future that will be filled with lack of care or benefits for those with illnesses. It seems that all businesses and governments want to do is cut benefits related to heath care.

Everyday, you hear about another cut, or budget that reduces the allowances for health care. It is very obvious that those involved in making those decisions do not have illnesses or family members with illnesses. Because if they did, they surely would not be voting in favor of these cuts.

All they are doing is passing on this burden to future governments or CEO' s to deal with. When that happens, the costs will be so astronomical that either you will be taxed to death or left to your death. I am honestly beginning to think that, that is exactly what they want for people with chronic or life threatening illness, death, it's cheaper for them if your dead than it is to care for you, and they make that more obvious by the day.

I personally am affected by these cuts and will surely be affected in the future as well. Being in either an injured or ill state for the past seven years or so has taken it's toll on us and on our finances as well. It was determined for me three years ago that I would no longer be able to work, and with a disability plan that deducts household earnings or income dollar for dollar, Brenda going back to work would have zero effect on our income until this benefit runs out.

That time is coming near where I am going to lose my disability income that I had through my employer. You see, we once had a Long Term Disability plan that we, the employees. paid 100% of the premium and that when needed, paid you either till you went back to work, age 65, or you died.

Over the past two collective bargaining agreements my union failed to properly inform the employees and therefore allowed them to collectively vote away the terms we had in place, by recommending ratification of those agreements.

The first agreement, back in 2008, changed those terms. The time payable to employees on Long Term Disability went from return to work, age 65 or death, to return to work, death or 5 years which ever came first. This is where it affected me, and I am at the point where the 5 years is up. That changed again in our current contract and that maximum is now return to work, death, 3 years or length of seniority of less than three years!!

What I'll never understand is how the union allowed this to even happen, as we the employees pay 100% of that premium for long term disability!! We the employees should be dictating the terms of that, not the employer!

Also, I have been affected by cuts to my other benefits as well, which includes my Green Shield coverage which covers my drug plan, dental, and other health related benefits. That same contract which cut the length of my long term disability coverage also cut my Green Shield benefits. Prior to this contract we paid a $3.00 co-pay on all drugs covered under the plan, so that meant I paid $3.00 for each prescription I had. That covered your spouse as well as any children as well.

That coverage went from a $3.00 co-pay to a  20% co-pay with no cap. At that particular time I was having to inject myself at home every 3 weeks with a drug call Neupogen which was to boost my white blood cell count which was being severely affected by the chemo treatments I was undergoing at the time. The actual cost of that drug was $2,700.00 and change, for which I paid $3.00.

With this new co-pay of 20% this drugs was now going to cost me $540.00 out of pocket every three weeks! I told them (the union and fellow employee's) at the time they were in effect signing my death warrant if they ratified that deal. I even brought all my receipts to show and explain to them what was going to happen to me if they signed that deal.

Well, they signed the deal, I could not believe they did that, I told them at the time, I hoped they or any of their family members never got ill, because this is what they would have to look forward to. That did not seem to phase anyone at all. I even wrote a letter to the union telling them they just bargained with my life and that of others, should they fall ill with a life threatening illness.No response, not that I expected one.

Fortunately I have a cancer center that cares about it's patients, and through them anonymous funding was found to pay that $540.00 co-pay I was now faced with. Either that or I would have been spending a lot of time in the hospital fighting infections which could have been life threatening.

Now, I am once again faced with a financial predicament due to cuts in benefits. That is the 5 year LTD term which is up. Now that I am faced with the fact, my income will decrease by more than 1k, and what I'm left with will not pay my rent and bills.

When I say bills, I am only speaking of things such as phone (cell and home), Internet & cable, car and life insurance. You see I have no credit debt, that was cleared when we were forced to declare personal bankruptcy just over 7 years ago, due to my reduced income as I was on reduced hours for a year while I waited for a surgery date due to a work related injury which blew out my knee.

So thankfully I don't have that debt now, or I'd be forced into that situation anyway, and that's one less stress I need right now. Stress, that's another issue right now that I'm dealing with in the face of all this other stuff going on. Stress is not something I need right now, but will have to face and get through with the help of my social worker at the cancer center. Thank goodness that is covered!!

What are we going to do? Well, that is still not 100% clear yet, but in the meantime Brenda will go back into the workforce after not having to work for the past 17 yrs. Not easy, and not something I am happy about, but what else are we to do. So it's suck it up like everyone else has to.

Being ill and faced with a life threatening illness not only takes it's toll on you the patient, but your spouses and caregivers as well.

So do I sound bitter about the cuts that go on, your damn right I do, and when I fight for things, it's not just for me but for others in the same situation. These things will still be going on after I'm gone, I'm sure. But know this, I will do everything I can to voice the concerns of those in this situation!!

To business and Government. STOP THE CUTS to health care and disability pensions!! Future generations and Governments are going to be faced with caring for a whole lot of sick people with no where to go and no private insurances to help them along the way. Yes, you may think they are better off dead it will indeed cost you less, but you will be paying for all the funerals, as no one will have the capability of paying for them!!

What will happen to me? That remains to be seen, however, if nothing develops soon cell phones will be cancelled, then internet, and so on. This is were I have to stop now. I could go on for hours, but then some would accuse me of just being a bigger whiner than I am now in their eyes!

Please write your Federal, Provincial and Municipal politicians today, stop the cuts to health and long term care now!



Provincial Members of Parliament

Members of Canadian Parliament









City of Windsor Elected Officials







City of Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis' Office

Windsor City Councilors Offices

An Update, Five Year Cancerversary & Stable

Been some time since my last blog, however having these last two appointments with my Oncologists and the Ultrasound, I thought I'd wait so I could bring you all fully up to date. As well there are all the other goings on since that last blog.

First up, we had a great holiday season with family and friends, Christmas Eve was spent at my mother's house along with my brother, and my son and his family as well. Christmas Eve at mom's is an annual tradition we've been doing for some time now. Christmas eve I also started having a sore throat, but more of that to come.

Brenda with her Mom & Brother and the
blanket she made her mom, Christmas Day

Christmas day was spent at our apartment with Brenda's mom and Brother as well as friends of ours Michelle and Jerry whom we've known for some time now. Food was aplenty! a turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, vegetable, and all the other trimmings! Brenda's mom and brother had come earlier in the day and we did our gift exchange then. I was all I could do to contain myself when I unwrapped the Pink Floyd Discovery Edition box set, which has all 14 of their albums and digitally remastered and a collectors book included as well. This is something I've wanted for a long time and getting the newest box set was the icing on the cake! Everyone scored well, Brenda got the car seat and steering wheel covers she wanted so now our vehicle has been pinkified with black covers, covered in pink hearts.Thirty years ago I'd have never lived down driving a car with pink heart seat covers!

Brenda working on Christmas Dinner

Later in the afternoon when everyone was here we sat and had fun conversation, dinner, and more conversation, a great day and evening overall. Boxing day, I started feeling a bit worse, but did not let that get in the way, as the day was spent with my son Travis his wife Bonnie and my three grandchildren Emily, Andre and Megan. Also my brother Jamie was here as well. We spent the day opening gifts again, watching the kids play, Megan slept most of the time, and let me tell you just watching the kids wears me out let alone running around with them! Again a great dinner of mostly left overs from the night before.

My son Travis & wife Bonnie,
he's wearing the beard had Brenda
made him for Christmas! 

Our granddaughter Emily with a
couple of her gifts

My brother Jamie our Grandson Andre & I
Christmas day after he wore us out!

Our newest grandchild Megan,
not happy about the ears!

After all the excitement of Christmas and time with family and friend's it was time to relax and recoup. That was until the wee hours of Dec. 29th when I got up at 3am coughing up blood! I woke up Brenda to tell her what had just happened and we were off to the hospital. Upon arrival we were told there would be a mega wait time, even though the waiting room didn't seem that crowded. I asked the triage nurse if the wait would be mega enough that I should send Brenda back home to bed while I waited. She said "yes", so I sent Brenda back home to bed, told her I'd be fine. I then asked to be put in a "quiet" room due to my compromised immune system and a waiting room with sick people in it.

As the normal quiet room was already occupied, they put me in the pediatric waiting room which was empty. Actually with the way it was set up in there with vinyl covered bench seating I was able to get a sheet from the nurse to curl it up into a pillow, turn out the lights, close the door, and slept off and on until finally around 8am the nurse came in and got me go to a room to see the doctor.

After going over everything with the doctor, (by the way, by this time I was no longer coughing up blood) he took blood work and sent me for a chest x-ray. After about an hour or so he came back in the room, said everything looked OK and that I most likely had a bronchial infection and gave me antibiotics to take. I called  Brenda to come and pick me up around 11am. It was back home and back to bed for me after a stop at the drug store on the way home.

By Jan.2/12 the infection seemed to be getting worse and I also was losing my voice, so rather than a long wait at the hospital again, I just went to a local walk in clinic. The waiting room their was full with people hacking and coughing. Luckily the nurse said it would be a long wait and that I probably would not see the doctor until 3:15pm, it was noon when I checked in. She also told me it would be fine if I left and came back at 3:15 and that I would not lose my spot.

When Brenda dropped me off, she left to go get gas and stop at the grocery store. So I wandered across the street to Tim Horton's for a coffee while waiting, called her and told her where I was. She stopped in and joined me and had a tea. I ended up just staying there at Tim Horton's till my appointment at the clinic.

Finally at 3pm I wandered across the street and seen the doctor. I showed him what the doctor at the hospital had given me, and he had me stop taking those antibiotics and gave me new ones along with an inhaler and Hycodan for the cough at night so I could get a good nights sleep. That infection lasted about three weeks!

Going into the New Year I had an ultrasound done on my abdomen January 16th, this had been ordered by my medical oncologist at my last visit with her, and was done to follow up on the abdominal pain/discomfort I've been having on the right side. I would not know the results of this until I seen my radiation oncologist on January 20th.

Seeing my radiation oncologist on the 20th was a milestone event for me as well. My very first cancer treatment, which was radiation on my throat for the squamous cell carcinoma was January 23 2007, which made this the five year mark since that treatment, which by the way has worked to this day!

The doctor and I discussed that milestone and it's importance. In the cancer world doctor's really don't like to use the words "cancer free" until the five year mark. I asked him to do a scope of my throat during this visit, he replied, "are you sure you want me to do that? You really don't need one! I replied that I did indeed want a scope just so I could say there was no evidence of disease and then I could scratch one of three cancers of the list of the ones I've had.

He also went over the results of the ultrasound with me and checked out my abdomen. He also told me before I left that he would be going over my last few scans and tests with the radiologist just to have another look and make sure they were not missing anything going on in the abdomen that would be causing the pain/discomfort. He said he would try to have the results of that available for when I see my medical oncologist on February 1st. Brenda also took a photo of my radiation oncologist Dr. Schneider and I to mark the event. I also seen my Dietitian Donna Danelon at this visit and snapped a photo of her too!

My Dietitian Donna Danelon

Dr. Schneider & I at my
5yr follow-up exam.

Moving on to February, I seen my medical oncologist on the 1st and we went over my current status. She felt I was doing well and that the disease is "stable". There has been very minimal growth in the affected lympnodes and she went over the one on my left jaw/chin area and felt it hadn't changed much since my last visit. She was also happy that I had lost a few pounds and wants me to take better care of myself. She is also going to order some further tests from my blood draw that day to be sure there is nothing related to the abdominal pain/discomfort.

As things are holding stable, she has decided for now to decrease the frequency of our visits so I will see her again sometime in September of 2012. In between now and then I will be seeing my radiation oncologist again  in May, and if anything "pops" up between now and then I can always call either of them and they would see me a.s.a.p.

CTV's Arms Bumanlag

Also I failed to mention earlier, I did a live t.v. appearance along with Renata Sznajkart who is the new Events and Fundraising Coordinator at the Windsor & Essex County Cancer Centre Foundation. We were on CTV Windsor during the 6pm weather segment January 27thwith Arms Bumanlag our local weather specialist to promote the Foundations 16th Annual Bowl-a-thon, which is taking place February 11 2012. This is a fun event and this year we are raising funds for the Men's Comprehensive Health Program at the Cancer Centre, so if you in the Windsor area come on out and have a fun afternoon of bowling and support a great cause at the same time. Lot's of prizes to be won as well! Sponsorship Opportunities are still available!

Till next time.....xxx

p.s. I am currently entered into a contest to win the use of a luxury suite for a Windsor Spitfires Hockey game, and have some serious competition, so if you'd like to help, just go to the following link and "like" my photo, it's the 1st one, and be sure to hit the like button under the photo, and I thank you! Will keep you posted how it goes.