Hi Suzette! I understand a lot of your feelings. I have been finished with chemo just about one month now. My radiation treatments ended about 2 months ago. My insurance policy ended before it started. I had enrolled with a new company and had procrastinated much too long. My COBRA policy had expired about 2 years earlier. I just hadn't gotten around to getting the paperwork done with the new company. When I did, though, the new company cashed my checks (1st 2 months premiums). Meanwhile, I noticed a lump in my groin area. The policy should have been in effect for about 6 weeks before I had a clue there was a problem. For the next 2 weeks, the docs and I all thought I had a simple infection. Then, the insurance company told me a few weeks later that I was never approved. Just like that and a good 3 months after the policy had been submitted.
So, as if these slaps in the face aren't enough...we try to save our asses and get through this the best we can. I had to quit my job. I can't imagine working again. My biggest problems (physically today) are joint pain which some people tell me is a side effect of chemo. It's like debilitating arthritis. I haven't slept through the night since before my diagnosis, and my g.i. system has gone to hell.
It's one month before I get scanned to see if any of this worked. If it did, I'll be incredibly grateful.
I've gotten approved for disability, but still am trying to find a way to pay my medical bills. My daughter found a program that wiped out my hospital bills, thank God. If I have to have surgery after the PET scan, I really don't know what I'll do, because I can't pay for it.
I hope you can sue the living daylights out of your employer for firing you. If you can't, there really is no justice. About the other things, there is a ton of good info on the internet. There's one site that will help you get your drugs free or for a fraction of the cost.
Don't be so discouraged. There are thousands and thousands of cancer survivors. Attitude has so much to do with it. Try to find small things to be grateful for and things to make you smile. This is my second cancer. I had 9 years clear with the first, and then this (supposedly unrelated cancer) popped up. I'll do pretty much anything I can to survive it. Even more than the fact that I want to live is the fact that I hate the thoughts of hurting the people I love by leaving them. Not without a hell of a fight.
Stay tough!!!!
Angela