Diary: My Hard Experience from Requesting Medicines from a Politician
As a financially hard-up dialysis patient, I had a lot of experiences going to politicians to make a request to give me either some financial assistance or for medical assistance. The process requires me to get a clearance from our local council. Depending on where you are, you can get it for free or you may have to pay for it.
Then I also have to make a request for an indigency certificate on the town council where I have to undergo an interview. The officials there knew me well because of my frequent visitations so I was only interviewed for a short time. Nonetheless I must travel and spend some money to get it.
I also have to produce some laboratory results to complete my papers for my request for assistance which is usually for my needed medicines. Now the hard part is getting in line to submit my papers and get another paper that they will indicate how much fund will I get. Then I will go in line again to have it signed by the politician that will finance it.
After that, I have to go to the city which will require me to ride a bus and then the metro to the hospital that I will again have to go in line again to submit my papers a few times which often won,t complete in a day because of so many people doing what I am doing. The places in the hospital are far apart and sometime's I have to run just to beat the closing time of 4:00 o'clock for paper processing.
Processing the papers requires me to get some clinical tests in order for the doctor to see me. That I have to go in line as well, long lines. Then after the doctor had seen me, he will give me prescription for my medicines. Then I will have to go now to the Pharmacy to go in long lines again and hope that I will catch the day's quota which I rarely don't.
Note that these process doesn't complete in a week sometimes because sometimes there are no doctors because they are in a conference or something like that or I didn't finish because it is time already due to long lines of people on the queues.
Before the final stage where I have to go to the hospital's pharmacy to get on queue again hoping to snag the quota in the wee hours of the morning where the metro only opens from 5:00 o'clock A.M. I will buy some grapes to bribe the lady guard just to include my papers on the day's queue, that line for the pharmacy that she is assigned to manage.
Sometimes a poor folk would breakdown and cause a scene because of being not given their medicines because of either no supply or the pharmacists insists of the brand name in the prescription be given and not its generic counterpart. So they will stop the dispensing when that happens and also when there is a problem in the queue line, frustrating infuriating everyone, wasting all our time and hard efforts from that day alone.
Sometimes I have to go home not getting any medicines because of scenes like that with the lady guard managing the people's long lines enjoying my bribe of grapes. It's OK for me to give her gifts tho, she deserves it because they had given her a hard job, but not getting my hard-earned medicines really makes me cry. Also a funny thing and I am not laughing about it, after getting my medicine, I calculated my expenses and it turned out that my expenses was also worth my medicine's price. I got victimized by a red tape, bureaucracy, and corruption. I never did returned back to that politician again.
That's a helluva story. I'm sorry to hear of your circumstance; I followed and looked at your blog. :) Having a disability is a job in itself, isn't it? And eye-opening. The level of predation upon the poor and the corruption in the medical industry is stunning, which becomes "the job". I'm also disabled, and I think the people who truly care about the sick and the poor, and our loved ones, but who aren't sick, often don't know about the little things, and what it does to you inside. I think it's because we don't speak up for fear of sounding like complainers, which doesn't help them when they try to help us, or us because we bottle things up. So here we are on Steemit! :) Nice chatting with you @cryptopie, thanks for looking at my photos!
Yes I had been through a lot of hardships and this I think is my final leg. I have a rare disorder, a complication that stemmed from another serious medical condition and is still blossoming a myriad of heartaches for me. Some people just judges me because I got this condition, others have no understanding about it, others just chose to ignore me and that makes me sad at times.
But some people just does unspeakable kindness to me like here in steemit. I am thankful for them and for that I try not to mind all the bad things that brings me down but embrace only things that are good and the things that make me well inside.
Well said, @cryptopie!! I have to 'let go' sometimes when I'm upset, but that's the idea - let it go. I'm so glad Steemit has been positive for you!! It's been a miracle of a kind for me, too. I didn't come on for money, although I always think about it and know that I will only make as much SBD as the work I do, but I came on originally after seeing a vid on youtube where a guy explained that "steem" is short for "esteem," where anyone can do anything that they do, and if you make some money, too, then great. I tried to do a small transfer a couple months ago when the stock shot up, but the amt I did was so small it didn't take it, LOL. That was to the first wallet before BTC. Their % fee probably wasn't high enough. THEN, I realized my security is so bad I would probably get my money hacked anyway. hahahahaha.
I know dialysis must be so hard. I don't actually know, it's that I've managed stage 3 kidney disease for over 20 years. I don't know how, luck and timing, hard work, and a feeling that God has left me here for some dumb reason, I guess. Haha. I have myriad symptoms, too, from an autoimmune disease, lupus, which affects the kidneys more than any other organ. So I know the deal, and I will 99% be on dialysis myself one day, if something else doesn't happen first. ;)
I hope that you have a way to enjoy nature, even if you aren't an outdoor person, it can be very healing, like just being by water. Right now I can't go much past my yard, but am glad to have that! I've also taken up growing more plants indoors. And I have a gang-green thumb, haha. Or so I thought. Whatever you enjoy, enjoy it, cryptopie!
Sorry for the delay on response @cubbyworks
I have to scuttle out because my dialysis had gotten earlier than expected and then I rested after getting home plus I am getting arm cramps until now.
I started here at steeemit because I am familiar with STEEM coin as I am trading it then I saw some video about it. I am also quite desperate to earn some money for my medical needs and thought to give it a shot since I have some experience in social blogging a few years before. But I am only lucky here because of the support of some heaven-sent people that understands my condition. I really am thankful for them.
Dialysis itself isn't that hard, what is hard are the complications especially the bone complications. It all just have to be managed to prevent all that like what happened to me because in my case, due to financial constraints that resulted from and lack of or insufficient medical management, here I am now and in deep trouble. It's quite worrisome and I am in the mercy of my own fate.
I just hope that you won't end up in dialysis but your condition should be well-managed like what I see that you are doing right now. Proper management is the key for our situation, like what I had done for my breathlessness problem and now it is quite fixed and made me well than the last few days that made me miserable.
I also loved the outdoors, I like going to the riverbank just to sit and enjoy the breeze of the warm wind, cheer that the sun gives, the smell of the water and grass, and the occasional mourning dove calls. That is why I appreciate them more now than before because going out even outside my home is impossible due to back pain and weakness. Nonetheless it's OK, all the good memories are stored in me and will cherish them forever.
Hello, @cryptopie! Thank so much for the kind response. I saw your earlier post, and was glad it went well, and that the post-discomfort is better - that you are getting a good night's sleep. ;) It's 0330 now for me, I was snoozing on the couch and now off to actual bed, and am powering down the computer. I'm bummed to hear that your situation was one of lack of access to medical care. I wondered if that's what happened, because that is exactly what by meant by timing and luck. It is everything, oddly enough. I was diagnosed in the early 90's, while unemployed due to the illness, and took my next job, where I then worked for 14 years, completely for the 100% insurance coverage offered by the company. I didn't even know what the job was when I took it, lol. All I cared about was the health care, having just been diagnosed with this lupus. (It was customer service for an intl airfreight company. While stressful, I ended up enjoying it very much.) Timing: at that time in the economy, things were good (you remember, if you are in the U.S.?), and that's why the health care was available. I was the only young person there who was excited about insurance, lol. So, of my peers and colleagues, I also was the one who understood and was concerned how our benefits coverage began dropping like a stone as the years passed. I was acutely aware of the timing. Now everyone understands, cuz we all get old, hahaha.
Good, I will check in with you soon! Take care.