Bob......please check out Moffitt in Tampa

I hope you have nothing more than run of the mill localized skin cancer, but if this has slightly spread get your original medical opinions locally, but Florida has a premier cancer center in Tampa. Make sure you get a second opinion as to treatment. Do not go just with one opinion if there is spread. I had my gastro guy give me bad news with a blood and urine test and order my otreotide scans......before I had even seen the results from the scans, I had scheduled with Moffitt. Please be proactive if this starts to show signs of spread. I know you have some issues with your health insurance, and the deductibles can be a bitch, but once you make your deductible, do not be satisfied with one opinion........I have had some terrible terrible mistakes in medical advice in my journey, and a simple second opinion would certainly have extended my probabilities. Always be polite, but take control of your destiny.

2seaoat wrote:I hope you have nothing more than run of the mill localized skin cancer, but if this has slightly spread get your original medical opinions locally, but Florida has a premier cancer center in Tampa. Make sure you get a second opinion as to treatment. Do not go just with one opinion if there is spread. I had my gastro guy give me bad news with a blood and urine test and order my otreotide scans......before I had even seen the results from the scans, I had scheduled with Moffitt. Please be proactive if this starts to show signs of spread. I know you have some issues with your health insurance, and the deductibles can be a bitch, but once you make your deductible, do not be satisfied with one opinion........I have had some terrible terrible mistakes in medical advice in my journey, and a simple second opinion would certainly have extended my probabilities. Always be polite, but take control of your destiny.

Thanks for the advice, seaoat. But unfortunately it's not just the deductibles which I have to cope with. Even after I reach the deductible, the worthless insurance policy I have mostly pays when I'm hospitalized and this medical care will be outside a hospitalization scenario. Meaning I'm going to have to foot the bill for most all of it.
And I cannot let it deplete all my retirement funds because then I won't have anything left to live on. So the high priced providers are not really an option for me.

I have watched people crying in the waiting room of my pulmonary doc. They could not buy food and were only getting half their medications for breathing issues with a person who had been successful and had worked their entire life. I sat there with one lobe missing knowing what it was like not being able to breathe, and I changed that day. I have always been a republican. I believe free enterprise is a system which works.......but health care and profit is obscene......some things simply must be a societal priority. I am hopeful that you will be able to upgrade your insurance in 2014 and your precondition will not stop you from moving into improved insurance.

You may have to consider relocating to a state which has competitive insurance pools like Vermont who will not turn you away because of your diagnosis.....but here is the bitch.......time and delay with cancer....where you delay treatment......well you know the answer. You need to actively be looking at enhancing your insurance once your preconditions are allowed, and you need to look at a place which maxmizes your retirement dollars vs expenditures on health care......

Now, I do not want to pry too much, but I hope most of your assets are in qualified plans. If not try to maximize your contributions, such that any unpaid medical bills will not expose your liquidity....your home will be protected with the homestead exemption, but you need to review Florida's judgment exemptions, and create a plan. Again, I hope this is simply a scare, and you can move into a better medical plan next year.

I become Medicare age on Feb 1st.

I become Medicare age on Feb 1st.


You have my luck.....let us pray for a contained and treatable status on the identified problem.

You may also want to check out MD Anderson in Houston. They have some really great oncology doctors there.

This is why Romney and the Republicans want to stop Obamacare. The political donations they all receive from the Medical Industry make it crystal clear. The Medical Industry Corporations are making money hand over fist while everyone who is without insurance struggles to the end. They think it is better for Americans to die in poverty than lose the incredible wealth they are sucking in.What a shame!

Ghost_Rider1 wrote:You may also want to check out MD Anderson in Houston. They have some really great oncology doctors there.

One of the physicians I worked with had a malignant melanoma and he was treated at MD Anderson....12 years ago and he is still going strong.

Joanimaroni wrote:

Ghost_Rider1 wrote:You may also want to check out MD Anderson in Houston. They have some really great oncology doctors there.

One of the physicians I worked with had a malignant melanoma and he was treated at MD Anderson....12 years ago and he is still going strong.

Same with my sister, she also had a malignant melanoma and is still going strong.

I worked at MD Anderson and Methodist hsp in another life... it seems that way.

Are there any local oncologists who are trusted and proficient enough that we can rely on their skills...?

We have the number one rated hospital in the nation, and a world class orthopedic clinic in the Andrews Institute.

It baffles me that we have to travel for quality cancer treatment.

I'm a cancer survivor....prostate w/ early onset which would not have been detected w/out a very dedicated PCP. He saved my life.

Without my urologist's follow up actions, I would be dead. Tits up.

And it all took place here, in Pensacola, and Baptist Health Care saved my life.



I know that some folk regret that I survived, but that's another treatable cancer.

NEO-CON PUSSY wrote:Are there any local oncologists who are trusted and proficient enough that we can rely on their skills...?

We have the number one rated hospital in the nation, and a world class orthopedic clinic in the Andrews Institute.

It baffles me that we have to travel for quality cancer treatment.

I'm a cancer survivor....prostate w/ early onset which would not have been detected w/out a very dedicated PCP. He saved my life.

Without my urologist's follow up actions, I would be dead. Tits up.

And it all took place here, in Pensacola, and Baptist Health Care saved my life.



I know that some folk regret that I survived, but that's another treatable cancer.

The oncology center at Sacred Heart Hospital is affiliated with MD Anderson Cancer Center. So I would have to believe that there are a few local oncologists that are qualified enough to trust their skills.

Ghost_Rider1 wrote:

NEO-CON PUSSY wrote:Are there any local oncologists who are trusted and proficient enough that we can rely on their skills...?

We have the number one rated hospital in the nation, and a world class orthopedic clinic in the Andrews Institute.

It baffles me that we have to travel for quality cancer treatment.

I'm a cancer survivor....prostate w/ early onset which would not have been detected w/out a very dedicated PCP. He saved my life.

Without my urologist's follow up actions, I would be dead. Tits up.

And it all took place here, in Pensacola, and Baptist Health Care saved my life.



I know that some folk regret that I survived, but that's another treatable cancer.

The oncology center at Sacred Heart Hospital is affiliated with MD Anderson Cancer Center. So I would have to believe that there are a few local oncologists that are qualified enough to trust their skills.

Not to stir the dust, it just seemed there was a prevailing notion that we have to travel for quality medical treatment.

This is what I would do,Bob. Get the best plan you can now. They can't exclude you for a preexisting condition (thanks to Obama) and pay that until FEB.2014 and then switch to Medicare. If you know anybody in Massachusetts you could move there. That's what my friend did when she got cancer and had no insurance. It's free there. Keep your house and money in Fl.in a retirement fund. They can't get it. That's what OJ did. They can put a lien on your house for medical bills but if you have money in the bank they can take it.

Bob wrote:

2seaoat wrote:I hope you have nothing more than run of the mill localized skin cancer, but if this has slightly spread get your original medical opinions locally, but Florida has a premier cancer center in Tampa. Make sure you get a second opinion as to treatment. Do not go just with one opinion if there is spread. I had my gastro guy give me bad news with a blood and urine test and order my otreotide scans......before I had even seen the results from the scans, I had scheduled with Moffitt. Please be proactive if this starts to show signs of spread. I know you have some issues with your health insurance, and the deductibles can be a bitch, but once you make your deductible, do not be satisfied with one opinion........I have had some terrible terrible mistakes in medical advice in my journey, and a simple second opinion would certainly have extended my probabilities. Always be polite, but take control of your destiny.

Thanks for the advice, seaoat. But unfortunately it's not just the deductibles which I have to cope with. Even after I reach the deductible, the worthless insurance policy I have mostly pays when I'm hospitalized and this medical care will be outside a hospitalization scenario. Meaning I'm going to have to foot the bill for most all of it.
And I cannot let it deplete all my retirement funds because then I won't have anything left to live on. So the high priced providers are not really an option for me.

Don't you have social security?

Dreamsglore wrote:

Don't you have social security?

Yes but alone it's not enough to live on so I need to either spend down my savings or invest it to produce income.

I'll be okay unless it gets to be something REALLY expensive. I have some savings that's not invested exactly for this reason. It has in effect been a medical savings account for when this happens. IF the cost doesn't become so much that I deplete that and then need to cut into the investments too.

I feel for you,Bob. The waiting must be agony. Several years ago I had a lump taken out my surgeon thought was cancer but it wasn't. Waiting was terrible but I have a feeling you're going to be alright.

Bob, you will find out more about it this week?