InTheShop said...
Eight years ago during the holidays I was between diagnosis and treatment. That was when I joined the forum.
It's been a strange ride, but I'm still here with a nice low PSA. It is possible to get through this thing. There have been a few bumps along the way, radiation proctitis, a bit of ED and urgency. All treatable and all annoying.
The last few years my overall health has been fine and I'm now thinking of an early retirement at 61 or 62. That means retirement before I'm eligible for Medicare and I have no retirement benefits through an employer so I'd have to get a private plan. I'm having trouble trying to estimate what a health plan might cost. My healthcare budget is the one gating item on when I get to stop this working thing.
Andrew
Andrew, I feel your pain, Bro! ;) First, congrats on that 8 years! You and I both got started with this during the holidays, I think I was bit after you, in 2013, RIGHT AFTER I RETIRED on July 7th! But, I retired- for various reasons- a bit early for Medicare. My wife and I had been paying something like 12K/yr with a 5K deductible, which we had been using up most of that 5K in recent years(but after the deductible it went to 100% coverage). And that was 6 or 7 years ago and before I had PC, so no doubt it would be more now. We had already been paying that, with increases every year, for severl years before I retired. But since I retired some months before I could start Medicare, it seemed like an even larger thorn in the side until I was able to stop paying that. I was still on that plan once diagnosed around Thanksgiving, but by the time I got the surgery in Feb, I was on MC. Bad for my docs- since MC would not pay them near as much as my private plan did. But good for me, as I did not have to deal with a brand new 5K deductible.
But I can relate to health insurance cost influencing both employment and retirement decisions.