God is so good to me...

I just want to take a moment and give praise to my God, for keeping me for another day, for helping me, providing for me, and taking care of all my needs.

It's only January of the new year and God has already done many things for me, I love Him for not only what He can do but who He is, the Alpha and Omega, Beginning and End, there is no one like Him!

I have been blessed with medical coverage that will help me pay for my medications 5 prescriptions that would have cost me anywhere from $300-$400 a month has been reduced to just under $20! Can someone please shout out HALLELUJAH?! My whole family was in shock to find out what I would now be paying to receive my medications. Wouldn't you be as well? :)

God has also blessed me with an increase of hours at my current job. I was working 10 hours a week and was looking for other employment, I was unhappy where I was but at the same time still grateful for those 10 hours. As a "practicing Christian" God deserves a whole bunch more than what I am currently giving Him.

I just want to say Lord, I love you so much and thank you for loving me the way you have been doing!

A great song for giving thanks to the LORD "I Just Want To Praise You" by Maurette Brown-Clark

The Fantastic Four

Every New Year's Eve, we go to church and celebrate what God has done for us and thank HIM for seeing us into a New Year. If you have a testimony you go up in front of the church to share what great thing God has done for you in the year we are about to close on.

My parents were both coming from work, so I waited for them to come to share my testimony, but by the time they arrived the time for sharing testimonies had closed. I'm sorry I waited because it was when I got home I realized I could have just told them what I had to say face to face. I'm going to share it here and now.

I am so very thankful for my church family, it was because of them that 3 years ago in April I was able to get my kidney transplant. The church had come together as one to raise money for me, paying for the surgery wasn't the problem but I needed the money to pay for very costly medicine that I was told I would stay on for the remainder of my life. The money that was raised was then handed over to the Georgia Transplant foundation that would match dollar for dollar of what I could raise, between my church and my old home church in NY we collected $5000 and received another $5000 from the foundation.

Most good things come to an end, after receiving my new kidney I had one year with Medicaid insurance and three years with the Medicare insurance, then I would be on my own financially. When that time finally arrived I was so depressed, cried over my hospital bills, and had no idea how in the world would I be able to pay for these medications. I just accepted the fact that I would lose my kidney and end up back on dialysis again since they will pay fully for dialysis treatment but not for actually keeping your kidney.

My family fought for me while I gave up, they did research in trying to find insurance that would accept me and help me be able to pay for these medications, I was so reluctant to listen to them when they were trying so hard to help find a way. It was my mother who actually initiated the phone call for me while her and my younger sister were going through my medications to find out if each one would be covered and it was my father who found the ad on the back of a Wal-Mart circular. My older sister was also helping, while I couldn't even see an exit to my problems.

I now have coverage for my medications and will not have to be spending nearly $500  month out of pocket just to get medication, I will be paying a fraction of that with my monthly deductible.

This family that I complain about and want to run away from so much is the reason I am still around. I love them so much and what family doesn't have their issues, I know I bug them as much as they do to me. I am blessed to have this special four in my life. Thank you God for all you have done for me!

Tired of the way things are.....

I've come to a point where I feel like I am so sick and tired of my family, I never threw my age out there when upset but now it's too much!!! I am twenty-freaking-seven years old!!!! I know I don't go about certain situations properly but gosh, leave me alone!!!!

Why do I have to be questioned about my every move? Who cares if I went to a friend's house? I came back home right? If I say stop treating me like a little kid, I'm going to hear stop acting like one. I just can't anymore here.....

I want to be out of this house so bad, why do I feel like this? As I am typing this I feel like crying because I mentally can't deal with these people anymore. Yes, "these people" are people who love me and care for me, this I know, but oh my gosh, please just go away.

I would love to be able to live on my own, it would be a dream come true for me, to be able to have my money right, my money issues together, a great paying job, help them from afar, and visit them when I felt like it.

Think my whole family sees me as a child, am I the youngest you may ask. No I am not. I just think so many things would be better if I was gone. You know those movies or TV shows that say "I wish I was never born?" Then take you out of yourself to see how life would be if you weren't around and you get to see how bad off people were without you. I wish I could see how life would be without me, not that I wasn't born, but that I was on my own.

This is a growing frustration for me and I feel as though it is only getting worse, my only escape is to spend a night or two at my sister's place for a bit of relief. Right now, I need more than relief I need a permanent fix, besides my bills, my family is my BIGGEST stress factor and it shouldn't even be this way.

My family should be the ones I run to, not feel like running away from, because that's how I feel in this house, like running away. I don't know how much more I can take of this and I don't want to feel like this anymore. I don't want to be here anymore...... I know as much as I am tired of them they are tired of me as well, I know that.

I'm scolded about every aspect of my life and I just can't take it anymore......

I just can't........

I don't want to be here anymore.....

Let me be away long enough to miss them and want to come back, right now I just feel like being so far away.....

Father God, I ask you to help me not feel this way because I feel like it is wrong, the #1 group of people that have been with me through my sickness and during good and bad times I can no longer stand anymore. I hate coming home, I hate being here, I jump at the chance of going out, please Lord help me before something terrible happens to me. Please God I lay these burdens with you asking for your help and guidance because I am so lost right now. In your precious Son's Jesus' name

-Amen

Leftovers

Who knows you the best? Your family, they know the good, bad, and the ugly. Some of your friends just know the good, some know the good and bad, a select few know the ugly. If we treated our friends like we did our family, would we have any friends left? Seriously, think about it, the way we yell and scream at each other, storm off when we get angry and silent treatments. Some of you may already treat some of your close friends as family so they are used to it, but imagine treating all like the way you treat your family.

Being that Thanksgiving just passed, how many turkey recipes can you come up with for those leftovers before getting tired of them? We give our friends the best of us and leave our families with the leftovers. Sometimes we jump with a “YES” to do something for a friend but in turn drag our feet at a family members request, make faces, or speak under our breath when doing so. Perhaps your family is tired of your leftovers, maybe it's time for your family to receive the first piece of you, the best piece. Don't you like being the first one to be served a meal? It's time to give your family the best of YOU.

I apologize to my family for ALWAYS leaving them with my leftovers....

(Thanks to Victory 91.5 for this message and giving me the idea of this post.)

Response from my GA Senator Saxby Chambliss

My concern was that Medicare will pay for everything a kidney dialysis patient needs. Once you get a transplant, not so much. They will fully pay your medications for 3 years or 36 months from the date of your transplant and cut you dry. Immunosuppressive drug are highly expensive and unless you are rich or continue to do fundraising you will eventually run out of funds for your medications.

The dialysis business is a billion dollar industry and yet they do not want to give just 1% of their income to help people pay for those life-saving drugs they need. It's always about money.....

Dear Ms. Romain:

 

Thank you for contacting me regarding S.  1454 , the "Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act of 20 11 ."  It is good to hear from you.

 

Organ transplant recipients must take immunosuppressive drugs daily for the life of the transplant in order to prevent rejection of the organ by the body.  The Medicare End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) program pays for dialysis, transplantation, and immunosuppressive drugs for kidney disease patients.  However, the program ends its coverage after 36 months for those who do not qualify for Medicare or Medicaid. 

 

S.  1454 was introduced on  July 29, 2011 , and was referred to the Committee on Finance.  This legislation would   provide immunosuppressive drug coverage through Medicare Part B for all ESRD transplant recipients beyond the 36 month coverage limit.  Should  this legislation  come before the full Senate , I will keep your thoughts in mind.

 

I understand the need to improve benefits under the Medicare program, and we are making efforts to guarantee the viability and vitality of the program.  As a member of the United States Senate, I will continue to work to make sure our federal health care programs provide the best possible treatment our country has to offer.

 

If you would like to receive timely email alerts regarding the latest congressional actions and my weekly e-newsletter, please sign up via my website at:  www.chambliss.senate.gov .  Please let me know whenever I may be of assistance. 

Don't cry...

I'm glad I didn't waste too many tears just then, the guy who called me called me back with GREAT news! My medication will be covered for this month and a few after that.

Medicaid would pay 20% of my medicine while Medicare covered the 80%, but Medicaid is not doing that anymore. I would have to come up with that and that would have been about $500 a month (more than my car note). He checked my account and saw that the Medicaid is paying for my Medicare premiums. One of my medications were in the $200s but the co-pay now comes down to $2.50!

I'm not out of the clear yet, this buys me some time but I have to do some research on different coverage out there that would be right for me and my case.

I have suck a headache right now, but I'm on steady ground and doesn't change the fact that after discussing with my friend (Domanie) that I need to re-connect and re-focus on who is supposed to be in that #1 position and that is God, He has done way too much for me to leave Him behind.

The End of the Road...

The phone call came in, the one I wasn't even thinking about yet. Your funds are coming to an end. What does that mean to you? It means that I will no longer have money to cover my expensive drugs to help me keep tricking my immune system into thinking the kidney in my body is really mine and belongs to me.

My normal first reaction is to cry, sob, wail, whatever you want to call it, THEN tell myself God will make a way. I really can't afford to do that this time, even though the tears will come because of the uncertainty, I will have to make some phone calls.

Getting insurance is not that easy when you have a pre-existing condition, they are quick to deny you because they see you as dollar signs and honey, you have too many dollar signs attached to your sickness.

I have to start taking action quick because I don't want to lose my kidney and go back to doing dialysis. I just want to tell you guys that I am really scared right now....

I really don't want to go back to doing this again.....

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