New Scaratings

We lost Liz/MILLIE Friday afternoon to a combination of conditions, some of which prevented effective treatment of others, including infection, cancer, and heart attack, plus something that no one was ever to diagnose that kept her from getting nutrients. She was part of the Coaches Pub Showdown team before COOGS and I ever joined (at the invitation of her life partner Mike/WALTER). She was also very fond of SIX. As I write this, I'm watching our black fluffy cat Brie whom Liz and Mike rescued from a feral mother and gave us five years ago.

Because of the problems with our healthcare system, Liz spent the last couple of months of her life anxious about how she was going to continue her coverage and consequential treatment. Liz was a nurse who devoted her working life up to age 63 making sure other people got critical care, but the hospital who employed her didn't take the same care of its employees in determining long-term scenarios for those who like Liz became unable to work due to illness in that if she went on long-term disability, her insurance would be discontinued, and she could at best pay the large COBRA premium or try and figure out how to do something with the marketplace. We looked into Social Security disability/Medicare options, but as proved true before with people with acute illness, there's simply not enough time to get a claim processed, especially within a system that automatically denies claims unless the person making them is comatose. I'm just sorry her last weeks were so stressful not just by the symptoms of her illness and the effects of attempted treatments but by knowing that a medical institution didn't have any structure in place to cover a predictable situation that I'm sure affects many of the patients they see every day.

Brooke/AARDVK