Battling Healthcare

You may be like I was. Too trusting.

In 2004, I found a golf-ball sized lump under the skin on my torso — just to the right of where my stomach is.

It really scared me …. so off I went to my family doctor who seemed perplexed, too. He sent me to a surgeon who removed that lump. It was no more of a hassle than having a tooth pulled, or getting stitches in your leg. Eight stitches later, home I went.

When I heard two weeks later that I had been diagnosed with a rare, aggressive and deadly form of lymphoma, I was completely blown away. Over the course of the next three months, I went from my very trusting, very reliant, relationship with my doctors, to my complete lack of distrust for the American healthcare system. Please note, that doesn’t say I distrust all the people who are part of it. No — it means that what I learned was that the system is set up to fail patients and it fails them every day.

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Greetings readers — and thanks for stopping by.

Being a part of Hart’s Battling for Health Series is an exciting opportunity for me to HELP and LEARN from all of you.

By way of introduction — I call myself Every Patient’s Advocate. I’ve been battling the system for my own care, and advising others how to navigate it themselves, for more than three years, ever since suffering a heinous misdiagnosis myself.

I’ll be bringing you commentary on health-related news across North America, tips and advice on navigating healthcare, and for those who are state-side, some consumerism and thoughts about the upcoming presidential elections as they relate to how we access, and pay for, care.

Please feel free to shoot me an email (http://advocate.battlingforhealth.com/contact/ ) at any time — I’m here to help! I look forward to getting to know some of you through comments and questions over time.

Thanks for stopping by.

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