The 411 - What you need to know...
In support of
Katie Sturm
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Katie Sturm
Hello beloveds!
In this first entry, I'll explain the medical necessity. If you don't like talk about female bits, feel free to skip this one....
Ok...
keep going...
***
12 years ago, I delivered a healthy, delightful human being. After about 2 years, we realized that we were done having kids. We love our kiddo and realized that we didn't need anything else in our lives to make our family complete.
A year later, I received a diagnosis of distorting uterine fibroids and polyps. I had a corrective surgery at this time, but despite requests for permanent birth control at this time, I was told (at age 39) "you might want more kids" so they would not do this. It took quite a while to recover, and my cycles were never really the same. Heavy bleeding, low iron levels, fatigue, hormonal disregulation.
What no one ever thought to look into was the fact that I was entering menopause, which was disrupting everything. This led to trying a million different things: hormone therapy, thyroid therapy, copper IUD, hormone IUD. None of them resolved any issues. I've had severe inflammation in my reproductive system since my teen years, and it just continued to get worse.
Last summer, just before losing health insurance, I tried another hormonal IUD, and my body literally ejected it, mimicking a miscarriage. Without insurance, I would up in medical debt for an ultrasound and had to depend on the free health care offered by Planned Parenthood. They took good care of me, but discovered numerous fibroids in my uterus once again - and had to refer me to an OB/GYN.
Because of changes to funding in the current administration, despite having income below $3100/mo while paying $2850/mo in rent, I did not qualify for state health care like I have in the past. I could not book an appointment with an OB/GYN until I was back on health care. I took work wherever I could find it in the school district to get back on my insurance.
Then, it took six months for me to get in for an initial intake with an OB/GYN. Wait lists were long and finding an OB/GYN who wouldn't continue seeing my uterus as exclusively a baby-making organic was challenging. Finding a doctor who could actually hear and see what was going on at a deeper level and understanding my sexual trauma was even harder.
In April, I was finally able to get into a new PCP, who began addressing the root issues and began getting diagnostic panels done to collaborate with the appt scheduled for the OB/GYN on June 19. Yes, from January, the earliest appt I could find was June 19. I cried and prayed and cried and prayed again. Finally, a last minute cancellation opened, and I was able to finally get a clear diagnostic of the fibroid that has caused me to eject my IUD.
The largest fibroid at the time of imaging 9 months prior was the size of a 12-14 week fetus. Its placement mimicked an ectopic pregnancy, spanning both the inner lining of my uterus and the outer wall of it. Basically, I have one fibroid sitting at the top of my uterus, growing and spreading, and about the size of a lime. Yes, I've experienced phantom 1st trimester symptoms like nausea, sleep disruption, bloating, abdominal discomfort, and more.
My new OB/GYN described all of my options, but by this point, my PCP and I had discussed hysterectomy as a medical necessity, and honestly the thought of these symptoms decreasing even minimally brought me to tears. My pain has been at a 2-4 on a daily basis and a 7-9 during my menstrual cycle. Just for reference, labor and delivery never hit more than a 6/7 on my pain scale. So needless to say, this has been incredibly painful and frustrating.
My surgery gives me the opportunity to heal, to restore, and to get back some of my life.
Needs: While low risk, it's still a significant surgery. I need help with meals, with some house help, and with finances. The insurance I am so grateful for will cover about $207,000 of the $209,000 surgery. This still leaves me with about $2500 in out of pocket expenses to pay. This does not include anaesthesia. I'm also going to lose about 4 weeks of paid work. This would have supplemented my 0.5 income with about $6000. I'm hoping to recover enough of that to cover one month of rent so that I don't have to stress about rent in August.
I'll send another update next week.
In this first entry, I'll explain the medical necessity. If you don't like talk about female bits, feel free to skip this one....
Ok...
keep going...
***
12 years ago, I delivered a healthy, delightful human being. After about 2 years, we realized that we were done having kids. We love our kiddo and realized that we didn't need anything else in our lives to make our family complete.
A year later, I received a diagnosis of distorting uterine fibroids and polyps. I had a corrective surgery at this time, but despite requests for permanent birth control at this time, I was told (at age 39) "you might want more kids" so they would not do this. It took quite a while to recover, and my cycles were never really the same. Heavy bleeding, low iron levels, fatigue, hormonal disregulation.
What no one ever thought to look into was the fact that I was entering menopause, which was disrupting everything. This led to trying a million different things: hormone therapy, thyroid therapy, copper IUD, hormone IUD. None of them resolved any issues. I've had severe inflammation in my reproductive system since my teen years, and it just continued to get worse.
Last summer, just before losing health insurance, I tried another hormonal IUD, and my body literally ejected it, mimicking a miscarriage. Without insurance, I would up in medical debt for an ultrasound and had to depend on the free health care offered by Planned Parenthood. They took good care of me, but discovered numerous fibroids in my uterus once again - and had to refer me to an OB/GYN.
Because of changes to funding in the current administration, despite having income below $3100/mo while paying $2850/mo in rent, I did not qualify for state health care like I have in the past. I could not book an appointment with an OB/GYN until I was back on health care. I took work wherever I could find it in the school district to get back on my insurance.
Then, it took six months for me to get in for an initial intake with an OB/GYN. Wait lists were long and finding an OB/GYN who wouldn't continue seeing my uterus as exclusively a baby-making organic was challenging. Finding a doctor who could actually hear and see what was going on at a deeper level and understanding my sexual trauma was even harder.
In April, I was finally able to get into a new PCP, who began addressing the root issues and began getting diagnostic panels done to collaborate with the appt scheduled for the OB/GYN on June 19. Yes, from January, the earliest appt I could find was June 19. I cried and prayed and cried and prayed again. Finally, a last minute cancellation opened, and I was able to finally get a clear diagnostic of the fibroid that has caused me to eject my IUD.
The largest fibroid at the time of imaging 9 months prior was the size of a 12-14 week fetus. Its placement mimicked an ectopic pregnancy, spanning both the inner lining of my uterus and the outer wall of it. Basically, I have one fibroid sitting at the top of my uterus, growing and spreading, and about the size of a lime. Yes, I've experienced phantom 1st trimester symptoms like nausea, sleep disruption, bloating, abdominal discomfort, and more.
My new OB/GYN described all of my options, but by this point, my PCP and I had discussed hysterectomy as a medical necessity, and honestly the thought of these symptoms decreasing even minimally brought me to tears. My pain has been at a 2-4 on a daily basis and a 7-9 during my menstrual cycle. Just for reference, labor and delivery never hit more than a 6/7 on my pain scale. So needless to say, this has been incredibly painful and frustrating.
My surgery gives me the opportunity to heal, to restore, and to get back some of my life.
Needs: While low risk, it's still a significant surgery. I need help with meals, with some house help, and with finances. The insurance I am so grateful for will cover about $207,000 of the $209,000 surgery. This still leaves me with about $2500 in out of pocket expenses to pay. This does not include anaesthesia. I'm also going to lose about 4 weeks of paid work. This would have supplemented my 0.5 income with about $6000. I'm hoping to recover enough of that to cover one month of rent so that I don't have to stress about rent in August.
I'll send another update next week.
Comments
Joe Wilkerson 4 months ago