We're moving all of our posts to our Daughter's site HERE.
Find articles about Finding Clinical Trials, Surviving Financial Costs of a Rare Cancer, Laser Surgery for Lung Metastases in Germany with Dr Rolle, and more.
Feel free to ask questions in the forum or privately through the contact form.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread...
I've been reading my way through C.S. Lewis' collected letters, and I enjoyed reading this letter of consolation and encouragement to a friend:
"I am sorry to hear that your (temporal) news is so grim. Your spiritual news is perhaps better than you think. You seem to have been dealing with the dryness (or 'the wall' as you well name it) in the right way. Everone has experienced it or will...It is v. important to remember that Our Lord experienced it to the full, twice-- in Gethsemane when He sweated blood, and the next day when he said 'Why hast thou forsaken me? We are not asked to go anywhere where he has not gone before us. The shining quality may come back when we least expect it, and in circumstances which wd. seem to an outside observer (or to ourselves) to make it most impossible..."
"What is most re-assuring to me, and most moving, is your sane and charitable recognition that others have as great, or worse, trials: one of those things wh. no one else can decently say to the sufferer but wh. are invaluable when he says them to himself...You are quite right when you say I needn't 'work up' sympathy with you! No, I needn't. I have had enough experiences of the crises of family life, the terrors, despondencies, hopes deferred, and weariness. The trouble is that things go on so long, isn't it and one gets so tired of trying! No doubt it will all seem short when looked at from eternity...Keep on. Take it hour by hour, don't add the past & the future to the present load more than you can help. God bless you all."
"I am sorry to hear that your (temporal) news is so grim. Your spiritual news is perhaps better than you think. You seem to have been dealing with the dryness (or 'the wall' as you well name it) in the right way. Everone has experienced it or will...It is v. important to remember that Our Lord experienced it to the full, twice-- in Gethsemane when He sweated blood, and the next day when he said 'Why hast thou forsaken me? We are not asked to go anywhere where he has not gone before us. The shining quality may come back when we least expect it, and in circumstances which wd. seem to an outside observer (or to ourselves) to make it most impossible..."
"What is most re-assuring to me, and most moving, is your sane and charitable recognition that others have as great, or worse, trials: one of those things wh. no one else can decently say to the sufferer but wh. are invaluable when he says them to himself...You are quite right when you say I needn't 'work up' sympathy with you! No, I needn't. I have had enough experiences of the crises of family life, the terrors, despondencies, hopes deferred, and weariness. The trouble is that things go on so long, isn't it and one gets so tired of trying! No doubt it will all seem short when looked at from eternity...Keep on. Take it hour by hour, don't add the past & the future to the present load more than you can help. God bless you all."
"Be Strong and Courageous..."
Our daughter was baptized when she was eight years old and she chose her Scripture passage: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." - (Joshua 1: 9)
How often we have thought of this passage since her diagnosis and as we have started her medical journey. May the Peace of the Lord be with you and your child wherever you go.
Joshua 1
How often we have thought of this passage since her diagnosis and as we have started her medical journey. May the Peace of the Lord be with you and your child wherever you go.
Joshua 1
Monday, September 3, 2007
Practical Matters - Keeping Records, Paying Bills, Tax Deductions, and Cancer
The financial aspects of a serious illness like cancer may be overwhelming. Some tips we've learned so far:
1. Don't pay until you get the EOB (This is like don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes): The EOB is the Explanation of Benefits. Some hospitals and doctors will bill immediately before medical insurance has determined their part.
2. Organize your medical records. Keeping Financial Records and Childhood Cancer.
3. Get to know your insurance plan. Was something denied? Was that a mistake? Insurance Plans at the American Cancer Society site, Seeking Financial Help
4. Know your eligible tax deductions. Download and read Federal Publication 502. You can deduct your copays, money spent for medications, 18 cents per mile for travel to the hospital, clinic, etc., parking at the hospital or clinics, up to $100 per night for lodging when parents are traveling with a sick child, as well as a myriad of other expenses.
5. Participation in a Drug Study? Some patients have had major financial burdens lifted when they were able to enroll in a drug study with a promising medication. They may be able to obtain the medication completely free. The main downsides to this may be that the study may require specific limitations in administration or dosing (depending on the study), and your child might have to have more studies checked because of the needs of the research.
6. Appeal an insurance decision? Don't be surprised if your insurance decides to decline some of your doctors treatment recommendations. You may need to appeal this with doctors notes, a phone call from the doctor, and more documentation. This is often worth the trouble. We successfully appealed our initial decline of an expensive cancer chemo drug (Sutent - price $5800 per month!).
1. Don't pay until you get the EOB (This is like don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes): The EOB is the Explanation of Benefits. Some hospitals and doctors will bill immediately before medical insurance has determined their part.
2. Organize your medical records. Keeping Financial Records and Childhood Cancer.
3. Get to know your insurance plan. Was something denied? Was that a mistake? Insurance Plans at the American Cancer Society site, Seeking Financial Help
4. Know your eligible tax deductions. Download and read Federal Publication 502. You can deduct your copays, money spent for medications, 18 cents per mile for travel to the hospital, clinic, etc., parking at the hospital or clinics, up to $100 per night for lodging when parents are traveling with a sick child, as well as a myriad of other expenses.
5. Participation in a Drug Study? Some patients have had major financial burdens lifted when they were able to enroll in a drug study with a promising medication. They may be able to obtain the medication completely free. The main downsides to this may be that the study may require specific limitations in administration or dosing (depending on the study), and your child might have to have more studies checked because of the needs of the research.
6. Appeal an insurance decision? Don't be surprised if your insurance decides to decline some of your doctors treatment recommendations. You may need to appeal this with doctors notes, a phone call from the doctor, and more documentation. This is often worth the trouble. We successfully appealed our initial decline of an expensive cancer chemo drug (Sutent - price $5800 per month!).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)