Oh No | Health insurance issue

kdiamond

I convinced myself that the bump on my neck was nothing. It didn’t hurt, so it was fine. My boyfriend said it was fine, my younger sister said it was fine, I thought it was fine. I was young, active, healthy, fine. I cancelled care with the clinic enraged by the bill for a visit where I filled out paperwork, and declared I would just go to my sister’s doctor in my hometown, who she said was sweet and not intrusive. I mentioned the bump to this new doctor, and she didn’t seem worried like the pushy doctor did. She said an ultrasound would be a good idea just in case, but not to worry. I felt relieved and to avoid bills, I put off the ultrasound. It wasn’t until December when my mom said she was taking me off her health insurance to save money that I mentioned the bump to my mom for the first time. She was concerned and told me to have it done before the end of the year. I squeezed in an ultrasound appointment on December 26 when I was home for winter break. On January 2nd I got a call from the new doctor. She sounded stern, completely different from when I first met her. She said I needed to do a biopsy immediately. I told her I was now uninsured, she said it didn’t matter because it the results were serious. . I hung up the phone and cried. I went to the hospital a few days later and forked up all my savings for the biopsy, and set up a payment plan for the rest of the bill. I was called into the new doctors office a few days later where she told me I had thyroid cancer. Fortunately, miraculously, my mom was able to update her insurance plan and get me back on before my thyroidectomy 2 weeks later.