Random Bits

  After spending about $1,200.00 on medical bills, I decided to indulge myself a little. First up, on 4/15/16, I placed an order with The Cabil for the latest editions of Hol and Buttery Wholesomeness. I'm still waiting for them to arrive and my email inquiries regarding the status of my order have gone unanswered. If something doesn't happen soon, I'm going to inform PayPal about this order and see if they can get a response. Second up, I've ordered a ballhood on eBay. Since it's a custom order, it will take a while to get here but it will be worth the wait. Now I realize that this wasn't the smartest move. Why order something like this when I have no sex life? It seems pointless and wasteful. Still I want to see what it's like to wear one and I had some extra money.

  A second CT scan has revealed that the lymph node has gotten bigger. This is both good and bad news. It's bad because it means whatever caused it to enlarge is still present. It's good because the doctor feels that they can retry the ultrasound technique that failed last time they tried to biopsy it. I'll be undergoing said procedure on 5/31/16. My biggest fear is that the biopsy will reveal that I have another form of cancer and I'll have to undergo more chemotherapy.
  Plans for this year's GenCon are progressing. The hotel room has been reserved and event tickets purchased. Despite my planning, things didn't work out as I'd hoped they would. I had to wait almost 4 hours before I could make my hotel reservation. As a result, I'm several miles outside the convention area and I'll have to drive to it everyday and pay for parking. It's either that or find a bus or shuttle service to and from the area. When it came time to register for events, I logged onto my account before registration went live, picked 7 events that I wanted to play and put them on my wish list. The second registration went live, I submitted my wish list for processing. The problem was I ended up 5,744th in line for processing. 5 of the 7 events filled up before my list was processed. I couldn't add any replacement events until my list was processed and then I had to get back in line. When all was said and done, I ended up with 4 events, Wraith, Doctor Who, The One Ring and Luchador. I've been paying on my credit card bill and I want to eventually shift some money to my Serve and Simple card accounts so I'll have some spending money for the convention.

More Health News

  The Jan.19th biopsy attempt was a failure. There were too many organs and blood vessels in the way for them to use a needle to obtain a sample via my throat. I have a consultation with Dr. Needle, who performed my colectomy, on Feb. 9th to determine the next course of action.
  I had a consultation today with Dr. Matkov, a urologist, regarding the ultrasound of my scrotum. The end result is I'm having a right radical orchiectomy on Feb. 12th. In layman's terms, my right testicle is being removed because it's enlarged, unusually firm and covered with nodules. Once it's gone, I'll hopefully find out how it wound up that way. I don't believe I have testicular cancer but it's in the realm of possibility.
  All this, of course, could lead to more medical bills. I already have another $1,300.00 added from the PET and CT scans. Despite this setback, I still believe that I can put enough money aside for Gen Con.

The NHGHs of Life Part 4: Addendum

  After calling both Aurora and the insurance people, the picture isn't looking very good. Aurora is going to send Anthem an itemized list for the procedures done at the end of last year but they informed me that I may have reached my benefit limit for the period. If that's the case, I'll be stuck with the entire bill. To top things off, Aurora informed me that one other bill wasn't paid because I was apparently not covered at the time. I had to cancel my dentist appointment. They expect the entire bill to be paid in full either immediately before or after the procedure. That's $600.00 I simply don't have. It seems very likely right now that I'll have to cancel my plans to go to Gen Con this year. With all the debt I'm buried in, it'll take years for me to dig myself out.

The NHGHs of Life Part 4: The Financial Report

  I can't seem to get ahead. I spent about 4 years getting rid of my MasterCard and Discover debt. Four years. And when I finally pull this off, my health takes a turn for the worse and I'm right back in debt. I didn't get any time to build up my savings and checking account. None. To make matters worse, Aurora has billed me $12,889.80 for the time I spent in the hospital when my creatinine level went up to 6.91. So far, my insurance hasn't covered any of it. I contacted them and they said that they needed an itemized list of everything done so they can work matters out. They asked Aurora for the list on Jan. 19th but never heard back from them. I called Aurora and asked them to send the list. I'm hoping this works out. If I get stuck with the entire $12,880.89, I'm well and truly fucked. I'll be spending another shitload of years digging myself out. Hell, I may never get out from under this.

End of the Year Thoughts

  As 2014 comes to an end, I find myself back at the hospital. I've been here since this past Monday. It seems that my creatinine level jumped up to 6.94 when it should be closer to 1.0. This blows chunks. For yet another year, I'm missing out on spending New Year's Eve with my friends. I've also missed more work. Fortunately, I have New Year's Eve and Day off and I should be back at work Friday. That's all for now.
  Mike