Sunday, February 19, 2012

Hospital, Cobra, Appendix

When I quit my job to move to Portland, one thing my family members kept pressing was health insurance.  My new job starts March 12, so from the end of February until I begin my new job, I would not have health insurance.  Regardless of the EXTREMELY steep monthly premium, I elected to utilize Cobra health insurance to continue having the coverage.

And thank goodness I did.

This past week was not expected.  I began having a weird stomach pain, in which everyone told me it was probably "gas."  But then the next day the same sharp gas pain was in the same spot.  And the next day.  And the next day. 

I finally decided to go to ER.  What better way to get to know a new city than to visit their hospital, right?

Appendicitis


While most appendectomies can have you in-and-out of the hospital within 1-2 days, I remained for 5 days.  I have 4 battle wounds (incisions)!  And although this was just 7 days ago, I am still recovering and my battle wounds are still healing.

I received flowers from several people - and THANK YOU ALL! 

The staff at Providence Medical Center was amazing, and really ensured that I was never in any pain.   What a way to start living in a new city.  For now, I just can't wait to be 100% again.

3 comments

  1. Fortunately Cobra isn't all that hard to get. My mom's insurance dropped my coverage October 1st 2010 because I stopped going to school and the ObamaCare didn't begin open enrollment until January 2011, so I only had to go three months without getting sick or anything more serious. October 2nd I got a UTI and by October 5th a 2:00am I was in ER with a kidney infection. I couldn't go to the doctor to get any antibiotics, so I ended up getting a kidney infection. Thousands of dollars later my mom was able to sign me up for Cobra that backdated to when I was dropped from my original insurance. It only saved us about $300 in the long run. Ironically, I hadn't been in the hospital since middle school and then 5 days after I no longer had health insurance, that is exactly where I ended up.

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    1. Right!? It's insane how expensive it is! Mine is about $580 per month, but after being in the hospital for a week my bill would have been $50,000+ so $580 per month seems like nothing. Good thing you were able to get it and save your precious kidney- I remember when that happened (and if I remember correctly I was one of the people urging you to go to the Doctor!). Miss you! Thanks for reading my bloggy- you need to post again!

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