10-22-2012, 05:14 PM
I have always been curious to try and find a way to understand what my father would have gone through, had he lived in Canada instead of the United States regarding his health care.
In 1999, he was involved in a car accident. He was uninjured, but in the resulting CT's, and MRI's, they found 2 Cranial AVM's. They believed the largest of the two to be about the size of an orange if Smashed flat and shoved between the two hemispheres of your brain, and the smaller to be about Golf Ball Size, and located in the frontal Lobe of his brain, just above / behind his eyes.
This, was sort of a "Miracle" my father had been experiencing problems for as long as I could remember, but the doctors could never figure out what was causing it. They ran through so many "Ideas" that they had exhausted what it could be. By 1999, imaging technology, and understanding had moved to a point where they could pinpoint it.
So, they started the arduous process of embolization, and preparing for surgery. They told my father, that based on his history, and the condition of the AVM's, he was looking at just a few years of life left if untreated. The large AVM was showing signs of rapid deterioration.
With the embolization complete, surgery was scheduled, and proceeded with. After opening him up, they realized that the AVM located in the middle of his brain (near the hemispheres) was about 60% larger than they expected, and surrounded by far too much healthy tissue to consider removal.
So they closed him up, and told him that he probably had somewhere between 12 and 28 months to live. Radio Surgery for the front AVM (near the eyes) was ruled out because they were unsure what it would do to the larger AVM.
At this point, my parents were financially devastated. Even with treatment my dad began having more symptoms related to the AVM's. Work was out of the question. Disability took years to get sorted out, and my father was not medically cleared to go back to work. Even after Medicare (from the disability) and my father's dr not charging my parents over what medicare paid him, the price for everything up until this point was horrendous. It drained his retirement, and their savings, and they even took a second mortgage on the house to make it all work.
about 3 years later, my father (who I must add is the type of guy who never lets you know when he is in pain. I watched him break his hand once, and he never uttered a word) woke up in the early morning screaming in pain. He was screaming so loud that he could be heard several houses down the street (I could hear him from my porch as I was heading to my parents house, I live 2 houses away, on the street "behind" them). when they got him to the hospital, they found that he had developed an Aneurysm on the large AVM, which had ruptured. 18 hours of surgery later, he was in a coma, as stable as one could be in that situation.
Several days later, he woke up, was conscious, and ended up being in the hospital 64 days. 46 of them in ICU. Cue Financial Destruction Round 2.
The Doctor gave my father the grim news that they did all they could for the Aneurysm and AVM, during surgery, but it was looking bad. How my dad had now survived 7 and a half years since the original diagnosis, was a mystery.
And now, here we are, 13 years since they found the AVM's. Close to 6 years after the "best case" scenario of time left has expired. My dad has a host of health problems. He can't find a family doctor that will take him because of his condition (he still sees the same specialist), and because he is on medicare. So he is forced to see the only doctor that will see him, a neurosurgeon, for everything. Honestly, had my dad not been his first patient when he moved to the area, I don't know if he would see him under the circumstances.
I live, knowing that at any point during my day, the phone call I get from my mom, or my sister, could be that something has happened, and that my dad is dead. Even now, my parents are still whittling away at the doctor bills, and I'm left to wonder, what would be different if he lived in Canada? Would they still be financially ruined? Would he have survived the Aneurysm rupture? Would Disability have been such a terribly hard fight?
I don't know. I don't live in Canada, I've never spent an extended amount of time in Canada.
In 1999, he was involved in a car accident. He was uninjured, but in the resulting CT's, and MRI's, they found 2 Cranial AVM's. They believed the largest of the two to be about the size of an orange if Smashed flat and shoved between the two hemispheres of your brain, and the smaller to be about Golf Ball Size, and located in the frontal Lobe of his brain, just above / behind his eyes.
This, was sort of a "Miracle" my father had been experiencing problems for as long as I could remember, but the doctors could never figure out what was causing it. They ran through so many "Ideas" that they had exhausted what it could be. By 1999, imaging technology, and understanding had moved to a point where they could pinpoint it.
So, they started the arduous process of embolization, and preparing for surgery. They told my father, that based on his history, and the condition of the AVM's, he was looking at just a few years of life left if untreated. The large AVM was showing signs of rapid deterioration.
With the embolization complete, surgery was scheduled, and proceeded with. After opening him up, they realized that the AVM located in the middle of his brain (near the hemispheres) was about 60% larger than they expected, and surrounded by far too much healthy tissue to consider removal.
So they closed him up, and told him that he probably had somewhere between 12 and 28 months to live. Radio Surgery for the front AVM (near the eyes) was ruled out because they were unsure what it would do to the larger AVM.
At this point, my parents were financially devastated. Even with treatment my dad began having more symptoms related to the AVM's. Work was out of the question. Disability took years to get sorted out, and my father was not medically cleared to go back to work. Even after Medicare (from the disability) and my father's dr not charging my parents over what medicare paid him, the price for everything up until this point was horrendous. It drained his retirement, and their savings, and they even took a second mortgage on the house to make it all work.
about 3 years later, my father (who I must add is the type of guy who never lets you know when he is in pain. I watched him break his hand once, and he never uttered a word) woke up in the early morning screaming in pain. He was screaming so loud that he could be heard several houses down the street (I could hear him from my porch as I was heading to my parents house, I live 2 houses away, on the street "behind" them). when they got him to the hospital, they found that he had developed an Aneurysm on the large AVM, which had ruptured. 18 hours of surgery later, he was in a coma, as stable as one could be in that situation.
Several days later, he woke up, was conscious, and ended up being in the hospital 64 days. 46 of them in ICU. Cue Financial Destruction Round 2.
The Doctor gave my father the grim news that they did all they could for the Aneurysm and AVM, during surgery, but it was looking bad. How my dad had now survived 7 and a half years since the original diagnosis, was a mystery.
And now, here we are, 13 years since they found the AVM's. Close to 6 years after the "best case" scenario of time left has expired. My dad has a host of health problems. He can't find a family doctor that will take him because of his condition (he still sees the same specialist), and because he is on medicare. So he is forced to see the only doctor that will see him, a neurosurgeon, for everything. Honestly, had my dad not been his first patient when he moved to the area, I don't know if he would see him under the circumstances.
I live, knowing that at any point during my day, the phone call I get from my mom, or my sister, could be that something has happened, and that my dad is dead. Even now, my parents are still whittling away at the doctor bills, and I'm left to wonder, what would be different if he lived in Canada? Would they still be financially ruined? Would he have survived the Aneurysm rupture? Would Disability have been such a terribly hard fight?
I don't know. I don't live in Canada, I've never spent an extended amount of time in Canada.
nobody ever slaughtered an entire school with a smart phone and a twitter account – they have, however, toppled governments. - Jim Wright