the Most unlucky person you will ever meet...

[FATAL_FATE]

My Name is Rusha, I am male 26, living in CA, I am CC patient since 3 weeks now, stage 4, lever mets, meeting lot of surgeons now for my surgery options, my story starts when i was 21, i have severe pains in lower abdomen with lot of blood in stool, that time, i thought it may be as i eat lotta spicy stuff,so i just took heavy doses of tylenols, and never dicussed with anyone, that lasted for 3 months and than life goes on....
now a moth ago, same problem,26 now, this time it was real real bad that I almost fained with pain, and again lot of blood in feaces,finally a freind took me to ER, and after 5-6 hours of testing i was told i had CC.
Anyway, I m in too much truouble, I have no one, no relative,just one friend(roomate), I have no insurance, nothing, I have no idea how i am going to cope up with this, I am working in macdonald right now and making 6.75 /hour, is there anyway i can get some medical assistance?

[Mali]

rusha
i cannot give you any practical advice about medical insurance. i am in the uk. but as a fellow human i just want to say that i hope there is somebody who can advise you. this is a great site and there will be people here that have a broader breadth of knowledge than i do.

is there not a safety net in the states for people with no medical insurance? is there a church or charity that can help?

you are in my thoughts
mali

[Magnolia]

I think in California a cancer diagnosis qualifies a person for MediCal. It's state funded insurance. The same as Medicaid in other states. It's worth checking into. A social worker at your county health department could help you. You would have to have a low income, though. If not, you would have to deplete your existing resources before you could start using state funds. Still it's worth looking into. And there are clinical trials at the university medical centers. Often treatment is given free to study participants.

Stay hopeful. People do survive.

[Magnolia]

I just re-read your post. You do have a low income, and on chemo, you probably will lose some or all of that. I'd definately check into MediCal. Soon. It can take some time to process. California is pretty good with state aid, but no one is quite good enough. The key is to hook up with a social worker and get things started. Get in the system as soon as you can. And don't be quiet about it.

[Magnolia]

Rusha,

Contact the American Cancer Society or your local hospital and see if you can find a support group in your area. Finding others who can lend friendship and support can be a huge help to you. And you always have the Colon Club. Keep in touch with us. We care.

[ASTEPHENS33]

Don't have a comment about insurance, but in California your employer should be paying SDI - Shortterm Disability Insurance. Its managed by the state. The telephone is 800-480-3287 or internet www.edd.ca.gove/dirq2501.htm. You have up to 49 days from the first day you were disabled to make a claim.

[northern lights]

I don't want to be down on you, but maybe now that you have been given some good advice you could change your title to "lucky to have support" or "lucky to have access to medical services"

We all have colon or rectal cancer and have been through varying degrees of surgery, chemo and radiation. Maybe we could all agree that a positive attitude does affect the way we approach fighting to survive.

I wish you all the luck in the world, we have all been given a hard hand to deal with...I hope you find your silver lining.

Sharon

[Christine]

I too live in CA. I was diagnosed with stage IV in August of 2005. At the time, I was working a temp job so I had no benefits, no insurance. I have not worked since my diagnosis. I immediately applied for state disability which kicked in right away. I also applied for Social Security disability, which I did receive, but payments don't start for 6 months after diagnosis. Finally, I applied for MediCal and they have covered almost all of my expenses which include two major surgeries (43 days in the hospital total), six months of chemotherapy and countless blood and diagnostic tests. AND I have been able to receive all of my treatment from UCLA which is an excellent hospital.

As scary as it is to be diagnosed and completely unprepared for such an emergency, it is possible to get through it. Most hospitals have social workers who can help you with all of this paperwork and if you don't have access through your doctor or hospital, contact the American Cancer Society and they should be able to help you or at least point you in the right direction.