When I was dealing with the pneumonia issue while being homeless, I had numerous chest x-rays at the hospital. On one, they saw two spots on my lungs. I tried to convince myself that they were two spots on the glass or on the film, but the doctors were convinced they were in my lungs. They did an MRI and a CT scan to check them out. By the way, when they tell you that the dye they are injecting into your vein will be warm, they ain't kidding. The heat was a delayed reaction. Then, they want you to lie still, while you feel like you are baking on the inside. Not a fun time, unless you are a masochist.
The hospital doctors suggested I go to an oncologist and recommended one off of Greystone Blvd. I really didn't think I had lung cancer. I had quit smoking in 1984. This was 2010. I had been around a lot of people who smoked and had inhaled second-hand smoke. My friend Gayle had died from lung cancer, and she hadn't smoked a day in her life. So, I decided to go to the oncologist just to confirm my belief that these were just spots.
When I walked into that office, it looked like the Taj Mahal of doctors' offices. There were windows everywhere, as well as aquariums. They had a gift shop and snack bar. I wondered how many patients they had that allowed them to afford this. I went up to the receptionist. She asked if I had any insurance. I didn't, so she sent me downstairs to the financial assistance office. I talked to them and qualified for their assistance. I didn't have to pay for anything. That was a blessing.
I was sent to the blood draw office. There were a line of chairs with patients in each one. There was a nurse at each chair. I told the nurse that my arm veins rolled, and it would be better if she got it out of my hand. She told me not to worry, and that she would go for the vein in my arm. Before I knew it, she had taken two vials of blood out of my arm with precision. It really was amazing. I told her that she was much better than the nurses at the hospital, and she said that this was all she did all day and was quite proficient in drawing blood.
I was then assigned a doctor. Mine was Dr. McElveen. He was wonderful. My blood work came back without a sign of cancer, but he said he wanted me to come in once a month to be sure. I told him that I couldn't possibly afford all of this, and his response was: "We are all in this world together". I was so comforted by his words. So, every month for a year I went back to be checked. Blood work and examination. No signs of cancer. They did a PET scan on me to be sure. Everything came back negative. For about seven years after, I would get a bill in the mail from them for $202. I wouldn't pay it, because I had indigent care. However, it turned out that my care had overlapped a year from the first day, and I owed them $202. So, I eventually paid it just to get it off of my credit report.
About 8 years later, I had to go into the hospital, because I couldn't breathe. They did a chest x-ray on me and saw those two spots still there in my lungs. The doctors looked at my medical history and found my oncologist exams. They also compared it to my chest x-rays in 2010. The spots had not changed. They decided that the spots were scars from the pneumonia. No cancer. I feel for all of my friends who have had to deal with that issue. By the grace of God go I.
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