CC free goal is going to have to be delayed

[AmbitiousSaver]

How do people hold it all together so well in the face of obstacles?

This isn't finance related directly... but because of this I'm probably not going to be so ambitious with paying down the debt cause I now have something else to think about... medical bills.

We've been having issues with my son... he's been one walking roller coaster since I've had him and he was hospitalized for E Coli Sepsis, then he got eczema all over his body, and around 18 months started getting frequent nosebleeds. We tried humidity, hydration, any home remedies we could. So finally I took him into a Navy doc in October of last year.

Felt like I was getting the run around, his bloodwork was coming back as mildly anemic despite giving a flintstones vitamin and iron supplements, even started upping the iron to 2x a day. Went to an endocrinologist who looked at us, said he was fine and didn't know why we were there... did a bone age scan... finally I had enough, no course of treatment... so I switched him to a civilian provider.

I saw her today since his sister goes to the same doc, and she mentioned thalessemia. My DH works in the medical field so I had him look it up cause I know nothing... he thinks if my son does have it then its a mild case, but his platelets are high so he's not sure if it would be thalessemia. The only real way to find out is a bone marrow biopsy.

I'm just so tired of this... my one son has more going on with him than my three daughters combined. I want to cry every time they have to do more tests on him.

But because he's now likely going to have to need referrals, in order to avoid military doctors... I need to switch his health insurance. So now I need to start budgeting for copays & deductibles. This puts the "credit card free" goal off a bit... but I really want to trust the people who take care of my son, even if I have to pay out of pocket for it.

Not sure what to think of all this... my son turns 4 next month and instead of thinking what type of cake to get him, I'm having to think about this ugly mess.

[Caoineag]

I am sorry about the set back. Its really important that people be their own advocates for the health of their children and themselves. Unfortunately some diseases take a long time to diagnose because they are so rare or act like other diseases. Hopefully you will be able to find an answer soon.

As to what people do when faced with a financial setback. I personally, hate them, have had them a couple of times on my journey and am always frustrated by them but I have kept trying and have made a lot of progress as a result. As long as you don't give up, you are still doing something to improve your financial situation.

[SnoopyCool]

I'm sorry that you are going through this. It is the worst when your child is sick.

Frustrating when you have a plan and a track and then life sidetracks that; it's happened to us quite a bit. Hang in there and keep posting. Don't forget the main, most important goals of the health of your son and getting out of debt (no matter how fast or slow on the debt part). Bring a sense of hope and happiness to each day.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

If he gets thalassemia as a diagnosis, I would definitely hook up with a family support group as soon as possible. Someone may be able to advise you as to whether your military health care can deal with it well once the diagnosis is made. Besides all the medical & psychological support, they may be able to advise about likely out of pocket expenses, and even the possibility of using Medicaid. One does not have to be totally indigent to qualify for Medicaid, but only medically indigent---my understanding. However, it is administered by each state individually, so what is covered or not can vary.

[ThriftoRama]

This probably isn't helpful, but I got chronic nosebleeds at that age too. While searching for an answer, I eventually just outgrew them. (around age 6) Maybe I was just lucky, but then again, maybe your son could be too?

[tigger98]

If you do not qualify for Medicaid because of your income, there should be some sort of Child Health Insurance in your state. Call your local health dept. and they should be able to direct you where to apply.

[AmbitiousSaver]

Thanks for all the insight.

ThriftoRama... we thought maybe it could just be a childhood thing too but then the docs started running bloodwork and he's got a mild anemia and elevated platelet count... which has stayed that way for the past year. He gets a lot of ear infections too, which I don't know. I try not to look online too much for what it could be cause one site said high platelets and anemia could be Hodgkins. The internet can tend to scare me more than help me when it comes to diagnosis... went thru this last year with my Dad when he was dx with cancer.

It does make me wonder if he does get a diagnosis if this will affect his ability to get health insurance later on in life. And if DH had any hopes of getting out of the military, one of our kids being dx with something serious would then keep us in till he's eligible for retirement benefits since we've looked at health insurance prices and I don't know how they afford it. Right now I'll just need to start saving up for $300/yr deductible and $1000 catastrophic cap and 15-20% copays. Which when I compare that to other healthcare plans, is nothing.. but because we've been so used to paying 0 for healthcare - it starts to hit home even more how much we've been taking benefits for granted and not planning for "what ifs?"