Colon Cancer, how much does it cost in America?

[Terry]

Cancer, and how much does it cost in American?
I've heard of cases where young children get cancer, and young people in their 20's, 30's, 40's and up.
It can surprise otherwise healthy and active people with no rhyme or reason as to who gets hit.
You may be hiking in the mountains, playing softball and active as all getout. But you can't plan for it.
You get your health coverage and hope for the best.
So.........Will I be able to ski this year?

Some forms of treatment call for a bug zapper.
This machine is for zapping cancer cells.

The top part rotates in a circle, Left, Top and Right.
Radiation destroys cells, and the new cells grow back cancer free.

Before they put you in the bug zapper, they take pictures of the inside of your body.
My pictures showed the happy images of a tumor that had not spread.
If it had spread, I wouldn't be smiling.
Okay, maybe I would have smile for the camera anyway.
In this picture I'm happy because I have been told, that they see the enemy and the enemy will be "taken out!"

Now I'm finding out about costs.
Roche XELODA (capecitabine)
Chemo is six pills a day at a cost out of pocket of $144.00 per day.
6 x 500mg tablets a day.
If I pick up the same pills in the same package in Canada, it's $35.00 a day.
Same company, but charging differently depending on the country they are selling to.
The Generic can go for as little as $10.18 a day.

x120 x1 x6
Mauritious
(generic.CIPLA) $204 $1.70 $10.18
Costa Rica $488 $4.06 $24.38
Sweden $516 $4.30 $25.80
Norway $608 $5.07 $30.42

Mauritious (Brand) $638 $5.32 $31.89
South Africa $656 $5.47 $32.80
Ontario $720 $6.00 $36.00
Australia $743 $6.19 $37.15
Barbados $765 $6.37 $38.25
Denmark $837 $6.98 $41.85
Ontario $840 $7.00 $42.00
Guatemala $856 $7.13 $42.78
Argentina $924 $7.70 $46.20
USA $2,880 $24.00 $144.00

 

[FloridaOrange]

Again, glad your doctors seem to have this under control.
The cost of prescriptions is rediculous. The pill cost to insurance is likely a great deal more than the out of the pocket expense.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Cookie]

Those gowns are damn sexy.

You look great Terry.

 

[Ian Gills]

If you can afford healthcare in the US Terry, which judging by the pics you can, then you have access to the best healthcare on the planet. Period. So rest well (and get better) with that in mind. The issue is whether it is worth what we pay for it. It is the best, but God it costs a lot.

For the less fortunate uninsured in America, I worry. And I am concerned about their drug costs too, although the question is always asked whether drugs will get developed at all if the cost is too low? Part of me thinks America is footing the development costs for the rest of the world. So, it's a bit of a chicken and an egg. But all Americans should have access to affordable healthcare and if that means me paying more taxes, and a few more of my Washingtonian friends being employed by the Federal Government, then so be it.

I cannot stand all this ridiculous talk in the media of if you have a risky lifestyle then you should pay more in premiums.

As someone who is overweight, why should I pay more than a skydiver or even a skier? Why should a smoker pay more than a bungee jumper? Or an electrician more than a plumber? We all take risks and insurance is supposed to spread these: something that has fundamentally been forgotten in America's insurance industry today.

But I would ask you to check whether the bug zapper has been correctly plumbed? I cannot see a vent, but perhaps it is on a septic tank.

And the sharpies have been installed upside down which is against code: Article 210 of the NEC addresses "pens with permanent ink" (as opposed to pencils or dryboard markers) and states that these must be placed "lid up" on "any grounded appliance". An exception permits sharpies to be installed without lids as long as the disconnecting means for the appliance is lockable in the "open" position.

 

[Cookie]

Terry, I love the choice of magazines you got there, lol.

 

[NHmaster]

Dunno about the cost of cancer but 7 bypasses will cost you close to a million. Thank god for good health insurance.

 

[NHmaster]

You should a seen me two years ago

 

[NHmaster]

Yo Terry, even in the hospital gown your hair is .. perrrrrrrfect.

Wish I still had some

 

[hj]

magazines

Cookie. Those are the doctor's magazines, not the patients. The patients have to read articles such as, "How to survive on $70.00 a week", or "Hemlock. Is it for you?" Or as Ceasar said when asked if he had eaten any of the hemlock leaves, "Ate two, bruté."

 

[Terry]

The control Center for the Bug Zapper.

Cookie, thought you would like this,
A picture outside the bug zapper room.

This stuff does slow you down a bit.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

I am very glad its good news....

so from what I gather,
I guess it could have been a way whole lot worse..


are they still doing the "full round" of chemo on you
or something much mildler,???

,

 

[Terry]

are they still doing the "full round" of chemo on you
or something much mildler,???

I think it's going to be a bunch.

 

[Ian Gills]

I will post a ten dollar check to you Terry if, without asking, you go into that control room and start pushing the colored buttons visible on the left of the picture.

Just start punching them, in any order.

 

[Terry]

Just start punching them, in any order.

They do that already.
Sometimes you get a long buzzzzz, then a couple short ones.
Makes you wonder if they are just holding them down by hand.
Wait, that one was a little longer.
Yeow!

I like to think there is a method there with the big zapper hovering over me.

 

[Terry]

Today's my last Radiation day, the 28th time I've been zapped.
Then I get a 4-6 week break before surgery.
So I guess that means around the first of the year for that.

By the way, how many of you guys have gone in for your standard colonoscopy?
Either do a two hour visit for a routine procedure, or wait until it's something serious.
You normally do these at 50, and then every five years.
It's easy and keeps you running well.
Wait, like I did, and you're into this stuff for a year.

28 days of radiation will slow you down.
When I did a 5K run with Cathy, I was getting kind of tired.
Now it will be interesting to see what it's like to ski between the radiation and the surgery.
Skiing after the surgery will be interesting too.
So what happens if I fall on my side with the little bag?
Does that mean I will need to carry an extra shirt in my back pack?
I get the bag for six months, and then they take it out.
I will still have some time left in Summer I guess after it's removed.
I went out dancing last Thursday and Sunday.
I couldn't dance as long as I normally dance.
I'm looking forward to getting that all back though.
Fun Stuff.

 

[FloridaOrange]

It looks like you have the right frame of mind, keep it up. Dance, hike and whatever as much as you can - it beats staying inside and brooding all day.

10+ years until my first colonoscopy......hopefully.

 

[Cookie]

It's okay to brood too Terry, I know you didn't mean anything by it Matt, but so many times people don't understand that never had to battle the beast & it can put more stress on that person. It is okay to be sad & be holed up, or mad or depressed too, it's all part of it.

 

[Smith333]

Try to keep things in perspective. If you had been around just 100 years ago instead of today, even if your last name was Carnegie or Rockefeller, all doctors could do for you is pump you full of morphine and watch you die.

 

[Terry]

Try to keep things in perspective.

Jar8832,
The procedure I'm up for was invented 20 years ago in Russia.
It's a nice little staple gun for connecting the colon back together again.
So twenty years ago, I would have been SOL.

Yeah, both Cookie and I would have had some worse times if this had happened sooner in this time period.

It doesn't really help much to think we would have died that much sooner though.

Cookie and I are just trying to get as much as out of this life as we can now.
I'm expecting to go another 40 years or so after this.
I didn't even know I had Cancer until two months ago.

Are you suggesting we just suck it up, get it over with and free up hospital staff and rooms for healthier people.
Those without problems?

I stil more then hold my own against healthy people.

 

[Smith333]

Sorry if that came out wrong. I wasn't questioning anyone's character, I was simply addressing the original topic. God speed in you recovery!