Mammogram + Ultrasound is essential

[Dive Bar Casanova]

My wife is a Oncology Nurse at one of the top 3 Cancer University Hospitals in the world.
The latest and greatest treatments and study treatments.
23% success rate when she started, low 90% cure rate now. Even stage 4 lung cancer they're curing 1 in 5.

She got me into a new cancer drug study and wiped my colon cancer out without radiation and other radical methods and most of all, no colostomy.
Yeah I was a guinea pig but top doctors told me it's promising and they were right. Could have been a big risk.

Wife recently got the "boob crusher" mammogram and of course like most the women in the family and her friends doesn't like that method.
It came back negative.

She then though what the hey, pay the $175 and try the ultrasound deep fiber test for a comparison. This was only 10 days later. Hold that thought.

Came back positive and needle biopsy's proved cancer. Needle Biopsy's are brutal. Not just a stick and test.

So she caught the cancer early enough to avoid the dreaded Red Devil chemo.

Actor Ken Jeong (Chow in the Hangover movies) was a Doctor at Kaiser. His wife went through the mamogram, it was negative and her cancer spread. Different course of treatment but they did survive it

So now wife has gone through all the surgery and rebuilding her boobs in 3 months and we're glad she caught it early.
Soon back to RVing and fussing over the dog.

 

[SGT ROC]

Glad to hear things worked out well for you guys, and really like the positive impact of some new testing and treatment methods!

 

[WhittleBurner]

It is great she was persistant on getting that ultrasound. I asked about alternate tests several years ago and they replied it is for those who need further testing or confirmation of the old school mammogram.

Glad today things are a little different or the turnout could have been totally different for her.

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

Kind remarks thank you.

Wife returned to work with the drain bottles attached. Simply hid them in her scrubs pocket. Had the last of them removed yesterday and is in the healing process.

When I was a kid, an illness like this,, ya died.

Soft spoken, girl of few words, kind, compassionate and generous. Never had a bad day in her life nor a bad meal and shes ate at Arby's.

When I was 22 years old I joined retirement plans and saving plans and was able to retire 17 years ago. Cost a lot of my paycheck. A kid that age doesn't think much about that but I had an fossilized aunt that woke me up to planing for the future. I'll never forget that day and that walk and that talk.

My wife is much younger but this is a "qualifying event" and can retire and draw generous benefits off my plan that I never realized will be very important one day, a day like this. One benny being health insurance in the meantime and when the day eventually comes full reimbursement for any Medicare costs + PPO supplement. From my experiences is essential.

All those empty paychecks with deduction to pay for all this has paid off, was worth it.

Lemons turning into lemonade.

So with the new Momentum 398M we will take a victory lap around the USA when the weather breaks.
When figuring our how to silence a rogue alarm on our Momentums refer is my only problem, life is once again good.

 

[Captcolour]

My wife is much younger but this is a "qualifying event" and can retire and draw generous benefits off my plan that I never realized will be very important one day, a day like this. One benny being health insurance in the meantime and when the day eventually comes full reimbursement for any Medicare costs + PPO supplement. From my experiences is essential.

As a cancer survivor for over 12 years, I can understand some of what you and she were going through. Stage 3 rectal cancer and yes I have a colostomy. Better than being 6 feet under.

Can you explain your health insurance comments including the Medicare comment?

I retired at 62 and when Cobra ran out after 18 months (which is a stupid government rule), had to go on Obama care which was crappy insurance and cost more than Cobra! I'm on Medicare now and happy.

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

Medicare isn't free, some parts cost are deducted from Social Security. You probably know that but many people don't know that.

Also, and just mentioning it, I'm not retired military but Social Security is less for retired Military that may qualify. At least it is for friends of ours that earned SS benefits as civilians. Everyone's situation may be different so eyes wide open.

Lots of retirement plans out there that will cancel part of a persons SS is my point. But that's a different thread from some other time, some other forum.

All kinds of retirement bennys and plans out there that cover this loss. Pays to shop around.

My retirement plan covers me and my spouse and pays all medical insurance costs and medicare costs. Plus when I tap-out wife still draws 100% of my pension with a generous COLA.

I was sold a valuable piece of paper. Tough sell, glad I participated.

Her hospitals retirement plan offers very little, kicks in at a much older age but it was a free plan. No payroll deduction. Longs ways off until she can draw her Social Security and her retirement plan.

We landed on our feet.
My friends were buying Z28's, Bass Boats, Winnebago's and I chose save for the future instead. They all have nothing.

When it looked like my colon cancer was fatal, glad I had a good financial plan in place for the family.

I love the opening minutes of the Movie "Saturday Night Fever"

Paint store owner tells Vinny "Dont say ___ the future, the future ___ you!"

I was walking the Grand Children through a 130 year old one-room school house museum.
Teacher employment requirement's for that schoolhouse were framed on the back wall.
"Teachers must save 15% of their monthly pay for their future."

I digress, not going to mention specific plans, I'm not here to sell insurance.

Friend got broadsided on the dunes and none of our vehicles could tow him off.
A kind, good Samaritan showed up and towed him back to camp.

I mentioned it an off road forum post and pointed out the unique and amazing tow strap the good Samaritan used. Didn't mention the name of the tow strap because I didn't know the name, never seen it used before.
Fantastic strap.

Thread blew up that I was trying to sell Tow Straps and I came close to being banned.

So I'm not selling insurance,mentioning plans and I digress.

 

[Steven@147]

Tami and I participated in both our employers matched 401Ks and put back what we could through our young years at the same time raising 2 kids. After years thinking we had made the right decisions, both of the companies we worked for eliminated their pension plans. So for me my company just dumped a calculated retirement amount into an investment company and said go away. Tami worked for a hospital and lost her pension and they pretty much did the same thing to her, dumped a calculated amount into an outside investment firm. So what we had, we had.

Through the years we have seen a lot of our family members wait too long into their late 70's to retire and by that time they couldn't really enjoy what they had saved for. In their 80s were shutin's. Now nursing homes and assisted living are sucking their savings dry, their homes are gone, they have to be financially broke then medicaid will kick in. One just sits around in a wheelchair sometimes face down in his oatmeal. I told Tami I'm not going out that way, that's not living.

Fast forward a few years, so we decided to retire at 62 and collect SS, still in great health, go fulltime RVing, travel the country before we can't. Sold the house for an exceptional amount, paid off bills and dumped a lot into conservative investments. Used the affordable health care act till we were eligible for medicare. We've been fulltiming now for about 5 years, both of us in our late 60's.

Well 2024 is turning out to be a bad healthcare year for us both. I've been in the hospital twice this year multiple days, different hospitals, different parts of Texas. They ran all kinds of tests and scans and come to find out I have an inherited condition and pre-cancerous tumors removed. Now and in the future I have to be screened for new tumors appearing.
Meanwhile, Tami is having a lot more problems with her asthma and arthritis. Tami has to pay a little more for her inhalers because drug plans won't cover it all. Most drug plans won't cover her inhalers. All other prescriptions are covered.

Thing is you never know what's coming, what you will face, guess work at best, but you better plan well. We chose well our medicare plans for the last three years just in case we thought we might need good coverage someday. Well someday is here and so far this year with the medical plans we chose, we have only paid out $500 for us both including medical & hospital stays, prescriptions, eyecare (new glasses) and dental cleanings and extraction and bridge/partial plate.

Back when we were younger, it was hard to see what may be in our future. Saved what we could through the years planning to retire earlier than most. So far we have not regretted our decisions. Hopefully this year is just a blip in the road of life but it isn't going to stop us enjoying what time we have left.

The savings plans and medical decisions you make are personal choices each individual has to make and one plan doesn't fit all. Y'all be safe out there.

 

[kb0zke]

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I've seen and heard too many people say they kept on working well past when the could have retired so they would have more money when the finally retired, only to retire and a month or two later either drop dead or have some medical condition that eliminated their travel plans. Start financial planning for retirement as soon as you get your first paycheck, then retire when you can, and you can actually enjoy retirement. Fail to plan financially and you won't be able to retire. Keep working full-time when you don't have to and you may not be able to enjoy retirement.

With people living longer we have more years of retirement available to us. Jo Ann and I, like many others, have chosen to use some of our retirement time in volunteering. We've done a bunch of RV Care-A-Vanners Habitat For Humanity builds, worked on several Laborers For Christ projects, and been campground hosts at several State parks. Loved every bit of it. We've given up on the construction work BEFORE we had any mishaps, but still do the campground hosting.

 

[BigSwick]

DBC- glad everything worked out for you. Would you mind sharing the name and location of the facility your wife works at?

 

[Captcolour]

Tami and I participated in both our employers matched 401Ks and put back what we could through our young years at the same time raising 2 kids. After years thinking we had made the right decisions, both of the companies we worked for eliminated their pension plans. So for me my company just dumped a calculated retirement amount into an investment company and said go away. Tami worked for a hospital and lost her pension and they pretty much did the same thing to her, dumped a calculated amount into an outside investment firm. So what we had, we had.

I had a pension plan at work, but like many large US companies, they froze the calculation probably around 2012. So my pension amount was fixed on those dollars. I contributed to a 401K starting with the matching amount. Then as I got raises, I put the raise into the 401K. By age 30, I was contributing the max 15% of my money into it, plus the 5% company match. Only thing I would have done differently was to put a portion of that money into a Roth IRA so at retirement age, I could decide to take taxable or tax-free money. The other thing I didn't know was how Medicare premium cost was calculated. All retirement seminars were focused on income and SS. I took money out of 401K after retirement but before age 65 to pay some things off. While that money isn't income against SS, it is income impacting your Medicare premium. Needless to say I'm paying a penalty for me and my wife for the next year or two until my Medicare "income" stabilizes. The penalty is still cheaper than what we were paying for the government's "affordable care".

 

[MN-Mark]

I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I've seen and heard too many people say they kept on working well past when the could have retired so they would have more money when the finally retired, only to retire and a month or two later either drop dead or have some medical condition that eliminated their travel plans. Start financial planning for retirement as soon as you get your first paycheck, then retire when you can, and you can actually enjoy retirement. Fail to plan financially and you won't be able to retire. Keep working full-time when you don't have to and you may not be able to enjoy retirement.

With people living longer we have more years of retirement available to us. Jo Ann and I, like many others, have chosen to use some of our retirement time in volunteering. We've done a bunch of RV Care-A-Vanners Habitat For Humanity builds, worked on several Laborers For Christ projects, and been campground hosts at several State parks. Loved every bit of it. We've given up on the construction work BEFORE we had any mishaps, but still do the campground hosting.

We also started saving early. Fist paycheck from first real job maxed out 401k. Paid Credit cards in full every month. Slowly but surely the savings added up. Our children would sometimes ask why we didn’t have a cabin like their friends, but we did have a travel trailer and we’re able to take them all over the country and make great memories for less cost than a cabin.

The last few years we had a few friends get sick or die. My wife also is a cancer survivor. It was more important to me to spend my time with her rather than my coworkers. We decided that we wouldn’t save all that much more working a few more years and we could afford to retire so we did. Never regretted it.

As far as keeping busy, every single charity in the whole wide world is looking for volunteers so there is something out there that matches with anyones interests. Gotta stay busy and active and young!

Mark

 

[CedarCreekWoody]

As a cancer survivor for over 12 years, I can understand some of what you and she were going through. Stage 3 rectal cancer and yes I have a colostomy. Better than being 6 feet under.

Can you explain your health insurance comments including the Medicare comment?

Regarding medicare find a good independent agent that will review your situation in detail. Your medical needs and medications will affect your choices. In brief Medicare Advatage plans cost less monthly but may not pay as well as a supplement. There are many plans available in most areas.

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

In my situation:
HMO supplement meant lifetime colostomy and crippling radiation with a 3rd world doctor at a community hospital.

PPO supplement meant modern treatments of no radiation and no colostomy at any point of treatment nor after with top, renown doctors at a cancer speciality and research hospital.

For anyone else may be different.