THE FINANCIAL FALLOUT

Prolia is an expensive drug.  It could cost in the neighborhood of $2000 +/-  per year if paid out of pocket.  Medicare covered it for me.  But the financial fallout from my Prolia disaster promises to exceed this.

Neither Amgen nor the University of Chicago are taking any meaningful remedial role, so identifying and implementing care and rehabilitation associated with this debacle mostly comes from my own pocket.   http://www.joansbackbonedisaster.com/2018/07/seduced-and-abandoned_5.html)

But without the items below, almost all paid for by me, I don't think I'd have a prayer of recovering my strength or ability to lead even a fairly normal life.  (A doctor told me I looked better than most people who had this happen to them.  I could only think about how much better those other people would have been if the institutions involved in purveying Prolia had also taken responsibility to clean up the messes associated with this drug.)

My expenses include rehabilitation therapy as well as costs of activities of daily living that I can no longer carry out by myself.   Without these, I'd likely have wound up in a nursing home.  While cancelling long-anticipated travel plans (because this debacle left me unable to travel) freed some funds, this was definitely not where I planned to spend the money.  Here are just a few of the items involved.  

1.  Physical Therapy.  Neither Amgen nor the University of Chicago offered physical therapy so I had to find this on my own.  Fortunately my long-time chiropractor helped me identify a skilled physical therapist at a nearby location with whom I work twice a week to correct the spinal curvature that resulted in the course of this debacle and to safely regain some my former strength and mobility. Twenty visits per year are covered by Medicare.  I get P.T. twice a week, so add it up!  I am fortunate to live in a building with a pool and fitness room to carry out my prescribed exercises.  

2.  Diet.  I'm post menopause but hoped that dietary changes could still be helpful and asked for a referral to a clinical dietician to advise me.  The University of Chicago was not able to do this, so I'm researching this my own.  I would have appreciated knowledgeable guidance. 

3. Activities of Daily Living.  Fortunately I live in a well-staffed building for help with things I cannot do now (from changing overhead light bulbs to handling heavy packages of things delivered because shopping is too difficult, etc.)   Of course I compensate them for this.   I also need a few hours of housekeeping help each week for cleaning and laundry tasks I used to do myself.  

4. Help with Food. The first few weeks when I could hardly move I used various meal services.  Now I order groceries online that are too heavy to carry, but at least now I can stand upright without pain long enough to do some simple food prep.   But this still costs more than when I was doing my own shopping. 

5. Transportation to physical therapist, doctor, dentist, means a lot of taxicabs, often to places where I would otherwise have walked or taken the bus.  More expense, all uncompensated.   I’m just grateful I live in the city and not in the suburbs!

6.  Where will I live?  Right now, nearly a year after the Prolia disaster I am considering a move to a senior residence with more safety and services, but half the space I now enjoy.  I never would have considered this at this age before this disaster!   This may be considerably more expensive than my living arrangements now.