Communication

Day 3:


Now I will admit, relationships are not the easiest thing around. I have had my fair share of bad relationships. Just recently my relationship didn't look very promising. It was sitting at that stage where we would either break up, or stay together. From this whole thing I have learnt that communication is key. One of the fundamentals within a relationship is being able to speak openly and honestly. Being able to communicate , and have an open mind to what your partner has to say, you know, taking criticism and using it to help change situations, brings you closer together in the end. Being able to tell your partner what irritates you about them or what is bugging you, is something worth doing. For instance, "Honey, we need to carry tick tacks for those days were our breath is not its freshest. haha".

This got me thinking, yet again, about my, and many other CF's situations with Medical aids. You need to have an open relationship with your medical aid. However, the biggest problem for me at the moment is trying to find a medical aid who will support my existing condition. Firstly the biggest speed bump with 99% of medical aids is that with a preexisting condition like Cystic fibrosis is that you cannot claim anything for the first year. Which is all good and well, EXCEPT, the hospitals IMMEDIATELY list you as a Private patient and will no longer treat you , or give you your medication as a state patient. Which in turn means that for a year, my parents will have to fork out R50 000 EVERY MONTH, for medications, and even more if I have an infection and need to have treatment.Please tell me, who on Earth has that kind of money lying around?

I remember at the beginning of the year, when I had been so so ill and my parents thought my time had come, my doctors first approached me, and told that it is now time to start looking into the possibility of a double lung transplant, they said to me that I will have to start going to Jo'burg General when my medical aid kicks in because they somehow are able to help out in that first year of not claiming. My mom immediately saw a giant red light.. " jo'burg is an hour and a bit drive from where we live, what happens if I suddenly get sick and need immediate treatment, how will my parents be able to visit me everyday like they can when I am at Steve Biko.

The one Doctor then turns around and says to my mom and I , "well why don't you just move to Jo'burg?" .. MOVE TO JO"BURG!!! haha are you kidding me? Um hello, we are not just going to uproot our lives in Pretoria to go live in the city. Firstly we are farmers, where and what would we do with our animals? Secondly my dad will go crazy as he cannot stand the city life. My dad is a farm boy through and through. Then thirdly, having that extra financial burden of having to already pay a bond, a medical aid, plus the rent for wherever we are now staying in Jo'burg. Oh, and lastly, has anybody every actually thought about how bad the air is in JHB? It is a death sentence. All the pollution would just make me sicker.

So anyways after this whole story, Professor Green scheduled an appointment with this Doctor at Milnpark in JHB, to do an assessment so they can see if I am a good candidate for the transplant.. (Milnpark is similar to mediclinic, just a lot bigger and better.) Mom, dad and myself were siting in the waiting room, waiting for the doctor to see us. Mind you our appointment was for 2pm, we only went into see him at 4 almost 5pm odd, We did the whole assessment and Doctor said that I am a very good candidate, I have come at the right time. Now inevitably he asked how we plan on paying for the transplant. We said that we are looking into medical aids, but we were also thinking of doing fund raising. Now everyone we spoke agreed with us that it was a brilliant idea. No only would it  be fulfilling I could raise my own funds, but it would also be making people aware of what Cystic fibrosis is.  The Doctor immediately put his foot down, so to say , and told us flat out NO! Do not do fund raising. That did confuse us a bit, I mean who is this person telling us not to do fund raising for my lung transplant.

To this day, we are still looking into medical aids. It is most defiantly not the easiest thing to do. There is alot of paperwork involved, and most of them don't cover everything. So at the end of the day, you land up paying for most of the treatment and medication out of your own pockets.

I know this post is probably all over the place, and it might not make any sense, but it is late , so you will have to forgive me this time. :-)

Sweet dreams everybody. If you have any thoughts or ideas on the fund raising or Medical aids, please feel free to comment.

This is me, Fabulous and Fighting. :-D