Hi, I am about to tell you a story about my hero, my father, the warrior who is battling an evil-bastard disease that is almost impossible to defeat.
Little about my father:
My father who is 53 years old, recently (back in early April, 2008) was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. Before April 2008 my father had no symptoms what so ever and all-in-all felt pretty healthy physically. Also, being a carpenter for most of his life has kept him in pretty well shape, so he rarely got sick.
First Red Flag - first battle:
Late March 2008, my father turned slightly yellow - Jaundice (both skin and the white area in his eyes) and by early April, 2008 his skin color totally turned noticeably yellow.
Because he did not have health insurance he went to the Free Hospital located at Downtown, Los Angeles called “General Hospital”.
Once he got there he registered and was asked to be seated by the Admin Clerk until further notice. After 24 hours of waiting on an uncomfortable metal based chair (with no sleep or with no one to help him), my father decided to go up to the clerk and demand to see a doctor. Shortly after they called him in to check his vital signs and other related areas. The check up took about 6 hours and then my father was asked to be seated again until further notice. Twenty-four hours passed by on an uncomfortable metal chair with no update. By this time, my father was getting weaker by the hour with no medical help.
Image of the metal chair:
The 3rd day of this ordeal while he is still waiting for help at the General Hospital, I learned from my brother that my father has not been home and has been at the General Hospital trying to get help with no luck. So I called my father up and said what was going on (keep in mind I had no idea why he was there) and so he told me about the yellowness of his skin color and the fact that no one wants to help him due to lack of health insurance (this is when I first learn about him not having health insurance). After hearing his story, I immediately told him to leave General Hospital and to go and check in at his local Hospital—which he did.
Checking in to the local Hospital was the best thing that happened to him. Once he checked in he got helped immediately.
Shortly I get the unthinkable call from his Dr. and it went something like this:
Phone Ringing…
Me: Hello?
Dr.: Hi, may I speak to…
Me: yes, this is him…
Dr. Alright, here is what we diagnosed so far but we still need to do biopsy – your father has been diagnosed with what seems to be stage 4 pancreatic cancer – which has spread to his liver.
His life expectancy is 3 to 6 months even with chemo treatment.
Me: What?!?! 3 to 6 months?!?! You mean to tell me my father is dying?
Dr.: (Silence)
Me: (speechless, head spinning, I am about to pass out)
Dr.: The other problem is that he has no health insurance – with health insurance we cannot treat him. The only help he can get is at the General Hospital.
Me (Whisper-crying): Okay Dr., I will see what I can do. (hang up the phone).
This is more or less the conversation I had with my father's Dr. After the phone conversation with the Dr. I was a mess, broke down with tears and was both mentally and physically gone, couldn’t even drive home, they had to pick me up.
Lack of Health Insurance - second battle:
Alright, this is where I join him in this no-health-insurance battle… First thing I did is contact the social services center to see if he would quality for medi-cal health care. I was told to fill out an application and wait 3 months for approval. I thinking to myself, 3 months for approval? This means my father will die waiting for medi-cal to help him. So I did the paper work and was told that since his condition is bad, they will expedite his application (which was a good thing). A week passes by and we get a letter saying that my father does not qualify for medi-cal and that they could not help him. This got me furious and I started calling everyone at the medi-cal office begging them to reconsider their denial and to approve him so he can get medical treatment he needs to fight off this sickness. This process took 2 weeks, 4 denials and 4 appeals. During this fight, I was able to get my father presumptive health care – thank God.
I was hitting dead-ends left and right, I did not know what to do and did not have the money either to help to get the treatment he needs. Finally, we called the main medi-cal office with 2 other social workers (to speak to the supervisor) on my side who supported the fact that my father qualifies for medi-cal benefits with his current condition. The call went okay and we were told to wait one more week. Amazingly, about 2 hours later I got a call from the medi-cal office stating that my father was approved and will get medical coverage/benefits.
WOW, I Finally felt that the Goda heard my prayers. I called his Dr. and told him the great news. The Dr. was happy and said that my father can now get the chemo treatment he really needs.
Now, my father was ready for chemo in what they called “Out Patient” treatment. I really like his Dr. because he has been very informative and is highly regarded by the folks/Dr. that work at City of Hope Cancer Center. As I write this he is getting is 4th cycle of chemo and has to wait few weeks before the CAT scan to see if the evil-bastards are shrinking. Our family has fingers crossed and preys to God everyday to see him healthy again.
My father has lost significant amount of weight and has hard time walking, eating, going to the bathroom and other related issues. Chemo has made him a much smaller, weaker, older looking man than he used to be. With all this he still manages to drive his car, talk on the phone with family and joke.
It kills me to see him like this, so young, such a great person that has a great family supporting him. I know his going to make it, he has his family, grandchildren to grow with – it is too soon for him to go.
He is a true warrior; I have not met any man that has so much determination and the mental power to keep cool when everything else around him is falling-a-part
Personal note to the readers: I now know how fragile life is and that unfortunately most people will go through something similar to what my father and family did – this is the way of life, cannot be changed. I thank the mighty Gods for giving my father and our family the strength to fight this horrible sickness. For those who are going through the same, keep your head up everything will be okay if you believe it in your heart. Gods are watching and hear your prayers, don’t be afraid to battle it out.
As a son, I had many dreams, one of them is to financially secure my parents in the upcomming years so that they can retire and travel without financial worry. Althought I have been working hard to accomplish this goal since I was 12 years old, I wasn't able to accomplish it.
Until next time, may God give all the sick people the strength to win the battle and become heatlhy again – thanks for reading I will post an update later.
If you have any questions, please let me know - I will do my best to help with any resource that might be valuable to you.
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