How much? For one WEEK of the same hotel room that cost me $89 a day plus 15% hotel taxes which only equalled $433 in November? I'm over 25 miles away from Miami Beach, & right around the corner from the airport in a hotel which is one of the few that seem to be safe for someone with an open wound to stay in.
Okay, so I've been referred down to The Cedars Medical Center to be followed by one of the two premier doctors doing work with Pyoderma Gangrinosum. One of his partners is one of the few graft specialists that works with both artificial skin called Actigraf & the collegen injection graft. One of these two grafts is probably what I'm going to need to finally close the ulcer that has the damage from my over 2 years old brown recluse spider bite. After months of wondering why we couldn't heal the infection or what was causing the infection; there is a clue; I have probably sensitized to the stainless steel rod/nail, if not the screws that held together my broken tibia until it healed from a 2003 auto accident.
I have a timeframe. I'm a 15 year veteran of working for the Daytona International Speedway for Speedweeks. I'm a front line supervisor & need to BE there in some kind of condition to work. I've been saying this for over a quarter of a year to these self same people. And my timeframe has simply been laughed at, been blown off. No patient's time frame is important to medical personnel, its like only their personal time frames are important. The threatened loss of my leg, you would think would "keep me in line" but I have to be able to make money to PAY for these treatments, I don't know why medical people simply blow off our priorities.
But what's REALLY scary, is not that we're beginning to tick down to the beginning of speedweeks & I STILL haven't had the operation to remove the rod & screws; but that the black out dates or high season of Miami has completely eaten my rainy day fund that I had painstakingly rebuilt after my last bout of hospitalization & taking off from work.
No insurance covers outpatient costs that come with the treatment. Just finding the codes to GET the treatment have been stress raisers...But not even AFLAC covers outpatient living expenses. Its over 268 miles each way from my home to the hospital with the specialists. I can't do that every day. I have to be in the hyperbaric chamber by 0730 at the latest & they would rather I was there by 0700. Gas is running $2.97 a gallon near Miami at the Racetrak gas stations if I'm lucky to $2.75 if I'm REALLY lucky at home near Orlando. I demanded & maintain a 4 cylindar car for my last new car & the gas mileage is like 27 city & 33 highway. I take care not to make any frivolous trips but even so, it is a tank to a tank & a half a week for the traveling there & back & also from the hospital to the hotel & back, plus getting groceries & even the act of going to the Racetrak gas station.
I try to maintain a budget of $50 a week for groceries to use at the hotel, including fresh, frozen & dry stores. I use a lot of stuff from my home & cart it back & forth if necessary. I eat a lot of Asian canned & preserved foods which drops my budget a little more but still it runs from $60 to $150 just for gas & food.
The hotel is another huge bite, taking between the aforementioned $433 to over $600 per WEEK chunk out of my dwindling budget. That's not anything special, its a one room with a kitchenette attached so that I don't have to add constantly going out to eat to my outlay. Its a SAFE hotel, with FREE parking which I used to take for granted. FREE parking however, isn't the norm for Miami. So this was another search topic that took me over a month to figure out & then finally act on. I had to be close enough to make it into the hospital within a certain time frame without being too close & with the sorts of danger that inner city life can lead you to. Also the reviews had to show that the place was clean & that the amenities were also clean & useable.
I need help. No one again helps to pay for these things. My Discover Card is down for the count what with the November through 1st week in January having eaten the entire balance. Even paying it down a couple of hundred with a Christmas gift; I still can't use it for hotel payments any more, not with the high season eating me alive. No matter how careful I am; it is over $600 to $800 a WEEK to maintain my outpatient status & keep my treatment contiguous with ONE set of caretakers who don't mind communicating with eachother on REALTIME.
I'm going to have to do something about this...maybe asking for help online. I just want to be able to get back on track & get working. Any ideas? I'm ready for suggestions.
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